Victor Szwed
Several locations in Victoria have experienced extreme weather conditions with temperatures hitting a record 48.9 degrees in Walpeup, near Ouyen on Sunday 27th January.
Major fires hit many communities with the Longwood fire destroying many homes and buildings as well as killing large numbers of animals. The high fire-risk conditions may continue through to the second half of March as the cooler Autumn conditions typically do not come in until the Autumn equinox on the 20th of March. Farmers need the Autumn rains to get their pastures and crops growing before colder winter conditions slow them down.
Conditions across much of Victoria have been very dry. Here in Daylesford, for 2025 we received around 785mm of rain, 92mm below the long-term average of 877mm. Over the two years of 2024 and 2025 rainfall deficiencies have been “severe” in parts of southern South Australia and south-western Victoria. Stream flows are below average in many areas of Victoria.
Daylesford’s water reservoirs were still 90% full as at 27th January compared to 75% last year. Melbourne’s reservoirs have dropped to 74%, 11.5% less than at the same time last year. Our reservoirs are relatively small and can drop fairly quickly when there are dry and very warm conditions.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s 3 month forecast expects drier than normal conditions for much of south-eastern Australia. January rainfall for Daylesford was a miserly 3.2mm compared to the long-term average of 46.1mm. It is most important that we all have our fire plans ready and also carefully utilise our water resources.
Victor Szwed is a Daylesford resident who contributes a monthly weather update to The Wombat Post.
