Tag Archives: extreme rainfall shortage

21stC Rain Shortage August 2020

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

Manilla extreme and severerainfall shortages from onset to breaking January 200 to August 2020.

New data for monthly rainfall totals at Manilla up to August 2020 show an altered pattern since October 2019 in this worst-ever drought.

[For explanation of this graph, see below: “About drought duration graphs”.]

Shortages January 2000 to August 2020

At Manilla, acute seasonal droughts ceased in 2019

Two periods of extreme rainfall shortage had extended through the mid-winters of 2018 and 2019. These were acute shortages of seasonal to annual duration. However, by the end of 2019 these very short-term rainfall shortages had ended: they were no longer extreme shortages in the 1st percentile. Although they were not even serious shortages, the fact that monthly rainfalls were below average prevented district water storage levels from rising.
As the 15-month, 18-month, and 24-month shortages persisted beyond January they ceased being extreme (1st percentile), but became merely severe (5th percentile). By that time, these two to three-year rainfall shortages had lasted longer as extreme (1st percentile) shortages than ever before (such as in 1965 or 1912).

Continuing extreme rainfall shortages

Extreme rainfall shortages linked to the 2018-19 drought at Manilla are now concentrated in the mid-range of duration – about 3-years to 10-years.
From 30-month duration up to 240-months duration, nearly all the selected durations are coloured red for extreme rainfall shortage, persisting up to the current month (August 2020). In this super-drought, extreme shortages of longer duration consistently had onset earlier than those of shorter duration: the longest, that of 240-month duration, started before 2000. (At Manilla, historic droughts differ in their pattern of date of onset versus date of drought-breaking.)
Not all very long-duration shortages are currently extreme.
At 108-month duration, the severity ceased to be extreme in March 2020. Neither the 120-month duration nor the 150-month duration reached beyond a severe shortage at any time. At the longest duration on the chart (360-months), not even a serious shortage has yet appeared.

Complete Manilla drought record to Oct 2019

Compete record to October 2019

For context, I have re-posted the graph for the whole historic record to October 2019.

About drought duration graphs

These graphs show the onset, persistence, and breaking of episodes of extreme and severe rainfall shortage (droughts) at Manilla. The Continue reading →

21stC Rain Shortage Oct ’19

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

Record of rainfall shortages Jan 2000 Oct 2019

Since the graph for May, the drought at Manilla has become more severe at all durations, from two months up to 240 months.

[For explanation of this graph, see below: “About drought duration graphs”.]

Shortages Jan 2000 to Oct 2019

Seasonal rain shortages recorded to October 2019 are extreme (1st percentile) in the winters of both 2018 and 2019.
For durations of 9 months up to 96 months, extreme shortages now occur at all of the durations shown . This is much worse than in May. At that time, shortages had not been “extreme” (red), but merely “severe” (grey) at the durations of 36-, 42-, 48-, 60-, and 96-months.
By May, “severe” shortages had already appeared at the very long durations of 120-, 150-, and 240-months. Now, there are also severe shortages at 108-months and 180-months.
The shortage at 240-months has now also become extreme (red). Very low rainfalls since May have dragged down the 240-month total to make it the sixth driest on record at Manilla. This links the short extreme drought of 2002  to become a part of the current drought. That would have seemed unlikely during later deluges, as in summer 2011-12.

Complete Manilla drought record to Oct 2019

Compete record updated to October

When the graph of the complete record of months of rainfall shortage at Manilla is updated to October 2019 it is clear that the current drought is one of the greatest droughts in history.
Now that an extreme rainfall shortage has appeared at 240-month (20-year) duration, along with a complete suite of extreme shortages from 2-months to 96-months, only the droughts of 1912 and 1946 are comparable. The Federation drought of 1902 may also have had a 20-year extreme shortage, but data for that duration are incomplete.

About drought duration graphs

These graphs show the onset, persistence, and breaking of episodes of extreme and severe rainfall shortage (droughts) at Manilla. The Continue reading →

Rainfall shortage: series of contour plots

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

This graph is one of a series. All are copied here.

Sequence of rainfall shortages to May 2019

Twenty-five months to May 2019.

The above graph is described here.

Sequence of raiinfall shortages to April 2019

Twenty-five months to April 2019.

The above graph is described here.

Sequence of raiinfall shortages to March 2019

Twenty-five months to March 2019.

Continue reading →

Rain Shortage Jan 2000 – May 2019

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

Record of rain shortages Jan 2000 May 2019

The current drought now has a severe rainfall shortage of 240 months duration that must have commenced in 1999.

[For explanation of this graph, see below: “About drought duration graphs”.]

[These graphs have been updated to October 2019, showing much worse shortages.]

Shortages at 2018

Shortages of rainfall became alarming in 2018. The winter months had extreme shortages of 2-month to 6-month duration. Earlier and later dry months contributed to longer-term extreme shortages from 9 months up to 30-months.
In months since November 2018 none of the short-term rainfall totals for durations from two months to six months has been even a severe shortage. In other respects, the drought has deepened. Because recent monthly rainfall values have seldom risen above normal, periods of severe or extreme shortage have become longer and longer. As at May 2019, extreme shortages prevail at 15-, 18-, 24-, 30-, 72- and 84-month durations.
Severe shortages have developed at even longer durations, at 96-, 120-, 150- and 240-months. As is clear from the graph, the 240-month severe shortage incorporates the 2002 drought into the 2018 drought. This was not evident until now.
As shown, the severe shortages of 150- and 240-month duration, current in April 2019, did not persist in observations for May. They could resume if later months do not have much rain. [Actually, this was a copy-down error.]

Drought record to May 2019

Compete record updated to May

When the graph of the complete record of months of rainfall shortage at Manilla is updated to May 2019 it is obvious that the current drought is one of the great droughts in history.
Although this drought seemed to have a sudden onset, shortages of longer duration actually began earlier: the longer the duration concerned, the earlier its time of onset.. The 2018 pattern is like the droughts of 1902, 1940 and 1946. Droughts that actually had a sudden onset were those of 1912, 1957 and 1965.

About drought duration graphs

These graphs show the onset, persistence, and breaking of episodes of extreme and severe rainfall shortage (droughts) at Manilla. The first shows detail since 2000. The second shows the complete historical record from 1884. The graph features and the data analysis are explained in the post “Rainfall Shortage History: Manilla”.

Extreme shortages, up to the 1st percentile, are shown in red and severe shortages, up to the 5th percentile, are shown in grey.
The dashed line labelled “Last Good Data” is a limitation of observed cumulative rainfall deficiency. Future observations may make any point to the right of this line more extreme.

Rainfall Shortage Sequence 05/2019

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

Sequence of rainfall shortages to May 2019

Black shows the driest or second-driest rainfall totals. In a record of more than 1600 months, they fall below the 0.1th percentile.

This contour plot shows the progress of the drought at Manilla up to May 2019. Colours show rainfall shortages as percentiles. Dates plot along the top, and durations down the side.

One month rainfall totals (on the top row)

This month (May 2019) like March, had rainfall above normal, but April had no rain. Months of serious rainfall shortage (light brown) had come much earlier, in May, June and July 2018, and also in September 2017.

Shortages lasting less than one year (rows 2 to 9)

As the effects of low monthly rainfall added up, extreme shortages appeared (dark brown). That is, rainfall totals in the lowest 1% of the historical record.
By June 2018, the 2-month and 3-month totals were already extreme shortages. Similarly, by July, the 3-month, 4-month, and 5-month totals were all extreme shortages. By September 2018, extreme shortages extended as far as 9-month totals. That total, adding up the nine months from January to September 2018, included only one month (February) that had rainfall above normal.
In these shorter durations, extreme shortages were rare after September 2018. March 2019 included no shortages (not even “serious” ones) for durations from 2 months up to 6 months. April saw some serious shortages return, but they were gone by May.

Shortages of 1-year to 3-year duration (rows 12 to 36)

By August 2018, an extreme 15-month shortage appeared. The 15-month total then included not only the dry months of winter 2018, but also the dry month of September 2017. By September 2018, the 15-month total became the driest on record at that time (400 mm). In January 2019, extreme shortages were current at 15-, 18-, and 24-months. By that time, some dry months in 2017 were excluded from the totals, but dry months in the current summer were included.
In February 2019, as the extreme shortages of the previous month persisted, the 12-month total became the driest ever (271 mm). March also had four extreme shortages in this group, but now they were at 12, 15, 24 and 30 months.
April saw lowest-ever or second-lowest values for all durations from 12 months to 30 months. In May, they persisted for 15-, 24-, and 30-month durations.
New lowest-ever values increased the percentile ranks of several earlier values that had been lowest-ever. For example, the 15-month total in September 2018 began as a lowest-ever value with percentile rank below 0.04% but, being replaced by new lowest-ever values in April and May, became third-lowest, with percentile rank 0.12%.

A line graph for May 2019

A profile of the rainfall status for May 2019 reveals that extreme shortages also exist at durations much longer than shown in this contour graph: durations of six years and seven years.

Data and method

This kind of graph simply displays the time sequence, month by month, of rainfall shortages that I have displayed on line graphs prepared for each month. In the post for a recent line graph (April 2019) I have described my method of analysis and its limitations.