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SYDNEY - Eastern Australia had its warmest autumn on record after record high temperatures in May, though drought-hit agricultural regions also got much-needed decent rainfall, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said.
Average to above-average rainfall in eastern states provided short-term relief to many agricultural systems, and an easing of the severe drought caused partly by the 2006-07 El Nino weather event, the bureau said on Monday.
The four eastern states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania all sweltered in the warmest May on record, it said. Western Australia was also much hotter than normal, but did not exceed the exceptionally high temperatures of 2005.
Over the entire continent it was the warmest May since the record of 1958, the bureau said.
Some areas missed out on the good rainfall which accompanied the warm temperatures, most notably eastern Queensland, southern Victoria and western parts of Western Australia state.
Many catchments in eastern Australia were still excessively dry from the protracted period of below-average rainfall and above-average temperatures, the bureau said.
Below-average rainfall in Western Australia in May meant there was little or no improvement in the dry conditions there.
The worst long-term rainfall deficiencies across Australia were likely to remain for some time, the bureau added.
Australia's worst drought in 100 years hit in 2002 and re-emerged in 2006, cutting crops by 60 per cent and leading to a mass slaughter of livestock.
- REUTERS
