After one of the driest spells on record, large parts of South Australia have seen decent rain for the first time in more than three months. But it is a fleeting reprieve, with most of the state not expected to see rainfall again for a week or longer.
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00:00After more than 100 days, the rains arrived, and people across Adelaide were delighted.
00:08It's a bit different riding, but it's fun. It'll be fun. We don't get these rainy days
00:12all that often.
00:13I'm just thinking about my water tanks, which are totally dry at home. We haven't had any
00:18rain water all summer.
00:20Gauges saw 5-10mm across the metropolitan area, slightly more in the hills. But it was
00:27the state's west that received the bulk of the downpour, Streaky Bay seeing 15mm overnight.
00:34It's a welcome burst, with some regions not seeing decent rain for months.
00:38We've had a few places across the state that it's been good over 100 days since I've seen
00:4210mm of rain in one event, so that does include the metropolitan area, Victor Harbour, Mount
00:48Gambier and Cleve, just to name a few.
00:51Farmers in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu regions hope it's a sign of more to come.
00:56There's a bit of psychological value in knowing that it can still work at times, but yeah,
01:02we need some decent runoff to put water in tanks and a lot more to put water in dams.
01:09We're going to need to see more sustained rain to feel that the threat of a prolonged
01:14drought has been headed off, but it certainly doesn't hurt to see the rain today and I think
01:19everyone's really pleased.
01:20Earlier this morning I would have been standing out here in the rain, but the showers had
01:24subsided by this afternoon.
01:26While the northern parts of the state will continue to see some unstable weather, it's
01:30a dry outlook elsewhere for the rest of the week.
01:33It's a bit of an isolated event unfortunately at the moment with this rainfall for this
01:36week, so we'll just have to wait and see how we go in the next few weeks.
01:40That's not the best of news for farmers or those not on mains water, but the government
01:44has assured that bulk water collection points will remain open for those with empty tanks.
01:50This rain does not stop any of our actions to be responsive to primary producers' needs
01:55through the experience of drought.
01:57So while today was a welcome surprise, winter and rain remain a long way away.