Sydney's wet spell reaches day 10 as drought intensifies in South Australia, VictoriaBy ABC meteorologist Tom SaundersTopic:Weather Forecasts1h ago1 hours agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 8:34pmHeavy showers and storms sweep north through Sydney on Tuesday afternoon. (ABC News: Tom Saunders)In short:Mixed rain fortunes across southern Australia are likely to continue for the remainder of autumn with wet weather expected in NSW as dry conditions persist in South Australia and Victoria.Sydney has received more rain in April than Adelaide has received over the past nine months.What's next:Modelling shows further showers early next week for both the northern NSW and Queensland coasts.abc.net.au/news/weather-australia-east-coast-drenched-drought-sa-and-vic/105230430Link copiedShareShare articleA prolonged run of showery and stormy days is soaking Australia's east coast this week, while a record drought across South Australia and Victoria continues to intensify.The contrast between the two regions has now been ongoing for 15 months.Since February 2024, Adelaide has only received around 300 millimetres of rain — the driest it's been since the city's weather records began in 1839.During the same period, Sydney has been drenched by more than 2,000mm, nearly 500mm above average, and is facing possibly another 50mm during the coming week.For the past 15 months, the east coast has been getting a soaking, while SA and Victoria have been hit with drought. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)Unfortunately, the mixed rain fortunes across southern Australia are likely to continue for the remainder of autumn, with little sign of relief arriving for farmers in SA or Victoria until at least June.Another soggy week for east coastAfter a brief few hours of sunshine on Tuesday morning, showers and thunderstorms quickly redeveloped in the afternoon over parts of eastern New South Wales.This lifted Sydney's number of consecutive wet days to nine and boosted the city's April total above 150mm, more rain than Adelaide has received during the past nine months.Outside of Sydney, other stretches of eastern NSW have been even wetter this month, including 279mm at Grafton, the region's highest April rain total since 1989.So far this month most of the NSW coast has received well over 100mm, while most of SA has picked up less than 10mm. (ABC News)Showers and thunderstorms will continue across the state's east today as southerly winds off the Tasman combine with a broad trough a few kilometres above the surface.It's a typical wet set-up for the NSW coast, and will deliver moderate falls on Wednesday from the South Coast to the Hunter.The heavy coastal downpours will continue on Thursday, before gradually shifting to the state's north coast on Friday, along with parts of the Queensland coast.Showers will then persist this weekend across much of eastern Queensland, and through the next seven days most of Australia's east coast can expect at least 20mm of rain, with up to 100mm possible on pockets of the NSW coastal fringe.At least another 50mm should fall on a long stretch of the NSW coast before the end of this week. (ABC News)The ongoing downpours will extend Sydney's spell of consecutive wet days to 12, although lingering light showers this weekend could stretch the run to 14.While a fortnight of showery days only occurs every few years at Observatory Hill, it's still well short of Sydney's all-time record 29 consecutive wet days in 1893.So, when can the east coast expect an extended run of sunshine？ Modelling shows further showers early next week for both the northern NSW and Queensland coasts, and possibly another spell of showers around Sydney from Thursday.People in Sydney should keep an umbrella handy over coming days. (ABC News: Berge Breiland)Adelaide's driest spell since at least 1849A few showers and the odd storm also splashed the SA coast on Tuesday, but when your rainfall deficit is in the hundreds of millimetres it will take several months of solid falls to break the drought.Since February last year, Adelaide has received just 309mm of rain, only half the long term average, and well below what typically falls over many parts of Australia's arid interior.Through this spell, all monthly rain totals have been below average apart from June, and the city's 15-month total is the lowest on record since data collection commenced in Adelaide back in 1839.A similar shortfall extends across the whole of agricultural SA, while severe drought is also impacting most of western and central Victoria along with western Tasmania.The past 12 months from April 2024 to March 2025 has seen record low rainfall along parts of Australia's southern coastline. (ABC News)During this period, record low rainfall has been observed through many parts of Eyre Peninsula, York Peninsula, the Mid North, Murraylands and south-east districts.One of the driest towns has been Minlaton on York Peninsula, receiving less than 200mm in 15 months — that's on par with rain levels normally only seen in Australia's most arid region around the Simpson Desert.Pockets of Victoria's west coast are also struggling through record low rainfall, while western Tasmania's totals have been lower than during 90 per cent of all previous years.What's behind the record drought？The sharp disparity in rain across our southern states is associated with a significant change in pressure patterns and winds since early 2024.Weather charts through this period show one clear anomaly: the pressure has been consistently well above normal over Tasmania.And since winds blow anticlockwise around highs, this has resulted in a deviation in winds from a westerly to an easterly across the south-east mainland — an onshore and moist airstream for the NSW coast, but an offshore and dry flow for southern SA and neighbouring Victoria.This week's weather map repeats the recent trend with high pressure near Tasmania driving showers onto the east coast. (ABC News)And it's this exact pattern that has again developed this week.The weather map shows a strong high currently near Tasmania that is directing onshore winds and showers onto the east coast, while maintaining dry and stable weather west of the Great Dividing Range.And, unfortunately for farmers in SA and Victoria, long range modelling indicates little hope of meaningful rainfall.The Bureau of Meteorology rain outlook for the first three weeks of May indicates drier than normal conditions are above an 80 per cent chance for most of SA, and above 75 per cent for most of inland Victoria.For widespread drought relief to arrive, southern Australia requires frequent cold fronts embedded in a westerly flow to migrate north from the Southern Ocean, but this scenario is now unlikely to arrive until at least June.Posted 1h ago1 hours agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 8:34pm, updated 1h ago1 hours agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 9:04pmShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesAustralia faces a 'lonelier' world with rules-based order crumblingTopic:National SecurityPhoto shows Two men wearing glasses and suits behind the backdrop of the world map.Data shows shift in views towards Australia's relationship with US and ChinaTopic:Foreign AffairsPhoto shows A graphic shows a defence tank and aircraft over a map of Australia.There's a reason Dutton can't resort to a scare campaign with older AustraliansAAnalysis by Annabel CrabbPhoto shows Peter DuttonHolmes à Court fuels movement that denies he'll have seat at the tableTopic:Political Parties and MovementsPhoto shows shac tealFinal campaign dash as Albanese sweats on Dutton suburban fightbackTopic:ElectionsPhoto shows Anthony Albanese takes a selfie with the public on a street.Related storiesParts of Australia's east set to be soaked this Anzac DayTopic:Weather ForecastsPhoto shows A storm cloud approaching land on an autumn afternoonBOM predicts one of the warmest winters on recordTopic:WeatherPhoto shows People walk along Opera House forecourt on a hot sunny dayRelated topicsAdelaideGraftonNSWQLDSASydneyTASVICWeatherWeather ForecastsTop StoriesAustralia faces a 'lonelier' world with rules-based order crumblingTopic:National SecurityPhoto shows Two men wearing glasses and suits behind the backdrop of the world map.Data shows shift in views towards Australia's relationship with US and ChinaTopic:Foreign AffairsThere's a reason Dutton can't resort to a scare campaign with older AustraliansAAnalysis by Annabel CrabbHolmes à Court fuels movement that denies he'll have seat at the tableTopic:Political Parties and MovementsFinal campaign dash as Albanese sweats on Dutton suburban fightbackTopic:ElectionsJust InDe Minaur powers through at Madrid as Djokovic pulls out of Italian OpenTopic:Tennis9m ago9 minutes agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 10:02pmSome HESTA members 'caught unawares' by super fund outageTopic:Superannuation31m ago31 minutes agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 9:40pmChinese community urges rethink on Labor, Coalition's Darwin Port plansTopic:Australian Federal Elections33m ago33 minutes agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 9:38pmFishing rod returned to owner 40 years after it was lost at seaTopic:Recreational Fishing34m ago34 minutes agoTue 29 Apr 2025 at 9:38pmMore Just InBack to top