Recent rain has already taken a few South Australian farming towns above the monthly average, but they still have a substantial long-term rainfall deficit to make up.

Snowtown in the Mid North, and Cummins and Kimba on Eyre Peninsula, have received 47mm, 62mm, and 45mm, respectively, so far this month, with most falling last Wednesday. That makes it back-to-back months of above-average rainfall for Kimba.

In isolation or during a normal year, one could be led to believe all has been going well in these farming areas. However, for Snowtown and Cummins, this is the first wetter-than-average month in 13 months and nine months, respectively. For Kimba, it's the first time the northern Eyre Peninsula town has achieved back-to-back wetter-than-average months since 2022.

Despite this healthy recent rain, Cummins, Snowtown and Kimba are still short of the long-term average for 24 months by 310mm, 300mm and 250mm, respectively. Deficits of this magnitude have been observed across much of the agricultural area, with most locations only receiving 50-60% of the average rainfall. As a result, soil moisture has made a promising recovery near the surface but is still quite dry deeper down.

 

During the past month or so, cold fronts and low pressure systems have become more frequent and have some tapped into an increase in moisture fed from the Indian Ocean.

Looking ahead to the next few months, rainfall is likely to continue relatively frequently, occasionally due to a northwest cloudband, resulting in a near-normal season in most areas.