Bunbury gets heaviest rain for 16 years

Bunbury has experienced its wettest first eight months of a year since 2000.

The high rainfall has been met with a mixed reaction from a South West farmer, who said it brought benefits and challenges.

Victor Rodwell, who is a second-generation dairy farmer based in Boyanup, said the season had been “tracking along pretty well” after a good start due to early rains.

“The season got off to a really good start but was much drier down south,” he said.

“The rain is a positive because we know there is a lot of good moisture heading into spring but the challenge with animals is there is nowhere for them to sleep.

“I would say that most farmers are in the same situation.”

He also said the last month had been “the wettest August we’ve had to manage in a long time”.

Bureau of Meteorology data backs up Mr Rodwell’s claim, with the 155.2mm of rain posted in Bunbury during August the most since 2006.

Bunbury has experienced 676mm of rain for the year, which already exceeds what was recorded for the whole of last year.

It is also more than the annual rainfall for 2010, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001.

BoM’s month-by-month rainfall figures show the last time Bunbury had more rain to this point of the year was in 2000, when 745.6mm had been recorded.

Only 2000 and 1999 have been wetter than this during the January-August period since BoM started using its Carey Park site in 1996.

Mr Rodwell said he would continue to watch the weather forecasts closely for the remainder of the year.

While he knew how to manage wet seasons, he hoped for an easing of the rain in the short term and also hoped the rain “doesn’t forget us” in October and November.