There's a very realistic chance, and perhaps even a high probability, that Canberra will officially register its wettest November on record after this weekend’s predicted rain.

As we told you earlier today, rain, severe thunderstorms and strong winds are all on the cards for the ACT as well as parts of NSW, QLD, VIC and SA in the coming days, including already flooded catchments in the NSW Central West.

Rain is heading directly to the capital from the west as we write this story, and something in the vicinity of 30 to 60 mm of rain is predicted between Friday afternoon and the end of the weekend, which would nudge the monthly total into record territory.

• Canberra's wettest November on record was 1995, when 138.2 mm collected in the gauge.
• In November 2021 to date, Canberra has recorded 105 mm in the city's official gauge, which is out at the airport.
• That means, 33.4 mm is all that's required from this weekend's system to break the record, and that appears to be a distinct possibility.

And of course, there's still a good week-and-a-half to go till the end of November after this weekend, with more wet weather looming towards the end of next week on long-range forecasts. So it seems almost certain that November 2021 will go down in history as Canberra's wettest on record.

Image: Been a lot of skies like this in Canberra this month. Source: @pattyjansen via Pixabay.

Is the annual record in danger too?

It's a possibility that 2021 could be Canberra's wettest on record, although the total of 1062.5 (in 1950) is a fair way off.

• To date in 2021, Canberra has had 822.4 mm, so it would have to be ark-building type weather to break the all-time annual record. But you never know.
• What we can say is that as of this morning, Canberra has had its fourth-wettest period from January 1 to November 18.
• For the record, Canberra's annual average rainfall since records began in 1939 is just over 600 mm.

And for those who haven't yet played around with some of the terrific new features on our redesigned website, Canberra's consistent rainfall this year (in all months except April) is well illustrated in the monthly graphs for 2021, which you can find here.

That's a pretty remarkable set of data. It's not too often the dry bush capital breaks 100 mm in four separate months in a calendar year. In fact the last time it happened was 2010 (Feb, Oct, Nov, Dec).

And the last time MORE than four months recorded 100mm or more was way back in 1959, when six months saw triple-figure rainfall totals.

Stay dry this weekend, Canberrans!

FROM LAST MONTHS'S WZ ARCHIVES: CANBERRA IS LOOKING RIDICULOUSLY GREEN RIGHT NOW