Queensland Weather Foreshadows Rain; A Dicey Balance for Farmers

Article by: Hari Yellina

Some farmers in the Lockyer Valley in south-east Queensland are concerned about the prospect for further rain later this week since their farms have only just begun to dry out after months of wet weather. Due to an upper trough moving east over Queensland, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, there will be more clouds, rain, and colder temperatures by the weekend. Troy Qualischefski, a farmer, warned that rain could delay planting of crops like onions in preparation for the summer. If it’s between 10 and 20 mm, it should be manageable, but anything beyond 50 mm will likely start to upset people again, according to Mr. Qualischefski. The majority of farmers in the Lockyer Valley, in my opinion, would be closely monitoring the rain.

After being affected by floods in February and May, Mr. Qualischefski said growers were slowly making a recovery, but the full impact of the natural calamities hadn’t yet been seen. He explained, “What we’re harvesting now is between the two floods. According to weather predictions, the Sunshine Coast might receive up to 100mm between Saturday and Monday after receiving roughly 15mm between Tuesday and Friday this week. The Sunshine Coast was experiencing its busiest June school holiday time ever, so accommodations weren’t really concerned about the rain. According to Landmark Mooloolaba managing manager Brett Thompson, the COVID-19 lockdowns had released so much pent-up energy that poor weather was not anticipated to have an impact on reservations. He predicted that July would also be a banner month.

“We’re already booked to around 84 percent of our capacity,” according to Mr. Thompson. People are taking advantage of the opportunity to walk on the beach and the wonderful weather that has prevailed over the past month. Wet weather, according to Mr. Thompson, would be unpleasant for those who made reservations in advance, but he did not believe that cancellations would result. He responded, “They’ve already secured their lodging, so they’ll be coming whether the weather is bad or not. For the rest of this week, north-west Queensland is expected to experience far below average maximum temperatures, rain, and moderate winds.

One of the region’s premier rodeos, the Saxby Round-Up, which is hosted at Taldora Station, 180 kilometres north of Julia Creek, has been cancelled due to the expected rain. President Colin Blacklock stated, “We have 600 to 700 people coming, so we don’t want them stuck 180 kilometres out on a gravel road if we get the forecasted prediction.” Mr. Blacklock, a grazier himself, was pondering what the forecast would entail for his own animals. Although most of our stock is in such health that I believe they can withstand a little bit of cold weather, if we can come close to what they are forecasting, I think it will set the back half of our year up.

Australia’s wet weather, according to meteorologist Chelsea Jarvis of the University of Southern Queensland, is being caused by warm waters off its north and west coasts. We’re kind of sandwiched in a warm water bath, she remarked. “La Nina has been present for two years, which is why we have a lot of warm water accumulating. Storms and conduction use that heated water as a source of moisture. Between now and October, according to Ms. Jarvis, there is an 80% likelihood that Queensland’s median rainfall totals will be surpassed.