An unusual thing in weather happened overnight, with the ground getting wet in every single forecast district in Victoria, NSW, and Tasmania.

That's pretty rare. It's uncommon enough that you'd see rain in every forecast district of a single state as large as New South Wales (which is approximately 1.5 times the size of France, as we noted when rain fell in every NSW forecast district on April 7, 2022).

But as mentioned, overnight we saw rain in every forecast district not just in NSW, but in Victoria and Tasmania too.

Wait, what exactly is a forecast district?

First developed by the BoM in 1910, they are areas for which specific forecasts are issued. There are 86 nationwide and there are:

• 17 in NSW (including the ACT, which is one district)
• 9 in Victoria
• 11 in Tasmania

These districts do not usually match local government areas or any other boundaries. They are basically just areas that share common meteorological characteristics.

And rain wasn't just confined to the three states just mentioned overnight. Every capital city except Perth saw at least some rain up until 9 am Wednesday.

Why is so much wet weather around when we just said "Adios" to La Niña?

In simple terms, climate drivers like La Niña indicate an overall tendency for certain weather events (like rain) to occur, but there are many other factors that can fuel wet weather.

Right now in Australia, troughs in the east are generating rain, while warmer-than-usual sea surface temps around almost the whole coastline are also increasing rainfall potential.

Meanwhile here's the map showing rainfall in NSW and northern Vic in the 24 hours to 9 am Wednesday. As usual, coastal areas got their fair share, but the tablelands and some inland areas did well too.

The NSW Northern Tablelands fared particularly well, with a 24-hour reading of 108 mm at a weather station in the Glen Innes area (the red dot).

Image: Widespread rain to 9 am Wednesday. Source: BoM.