North West Local Land Services

On-ground conditions continue to improve across the region.

• The Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) shows approximately 3% of the region being in the Drought Affected category at the end of August. Further parts of the region have transitioned into the Recovery category (29%) during August.
• Average to above average rainfall in August has maintained recovery and improved conditions across much of the region.
• On-ground conditions are reported as ideal for much of the region, with good timely follow up rainfall throughout August.
• Warmer conditions are promoting strong crop and pasture growth and farm water supplies have improved. Producers are managing the high levels of available pasture through agistment or purchase of livestock.
• The outlook is positive, and producers are looking forward to a good spring.
• Producers continue to monitor forecasts closely and are implementing farm management strategies to take advantage of the good conditions, with a focus on crop inputs, summer crop planning and livestock health.

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Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

Plant greenness levels remain above average and improved for many parts of the region for the June to August period.

Note that some of the extremely negative NDVI areas (brown patches) are water bodies.

The NDVI anomaly is a useful measure of vegetation density and plant health. It estimates the amount of green vegetation there is in the landscape compared to what is expected at the given time of year, against the baseline period 1987 - 2020.

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Individual Drought Indicators

Drought indicators continue to improve across the region.

• Rainfall has been effective in improving the drought indicators across the region.
• Further rainfall will continue the improvement in conditions and maintain the good production outlooks for many locations.

To access a Drought History chart for your Parish, visit the Seasonal Conditions Information Portal.