The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed the strong La Nina weather event, which had a big impact in triggering the record-breaking spring rainfall and floods, is slowly breaking down.
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In its latest La Nina update, the Bureau said the event was still in place in the Pacific Ocean but was slowly weakening.
The Bureau forecasts tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures will warm towards neutral levels over coming weeks, with changes in the atmosphere also tipped to head towards the neutral phase.
Dubbo, like so much of the state's west, was impacted by La Nina during the second half of 2022.
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In October, the rising Macquarie River resulted in waters reaching the inside of the Riverdale shopping complex while the Western Plains Tourist Park was evacuated multiple times due to the threat of flooding.
Despite that, Dubbo wasn't hit as hard as the likes of Eugowra and Molong - the former was hit by what was described as an "inland tsunami" in November - while major flooding is still currently occurring in Menindee and the far west of the state.
Temperatures have started to rise since the beginning on 2023 and the mercury is expected to hit 37 degrees each day from Tuesday through to Friday in Dubbo this week.
While La Nina is currently easing, Bureau officials stated January should still be treated with caution as accuracy in predicting change in the El Nino Southern Oscillation index at this time of year was low.
Those looking for drier conditions are warned La Nina is not the only driver of wet weather, with the BOM saying the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is currently set up at present to deliver wet summer conditions in parts of the country.
The SAM is currently strongly positive and will remain that way until at least mid-January.
The Bureau said during summer, a positive SAM increases the chance of above-average rainfall for eastern New South Wales.
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