Greater Sydney Local Land Services

On-ground conditions generally remain steady across the region, declining further in the northwest.

• February rainfall was below average across the region.
• Areas in the northwest have seen a decline in the underlying indicators, with additional parishes transitioning into the Drought Affected category during February.
• Continued rainfall will be important to ensure positive production outlooks are maintained into autumn.
• The drought forecast suggests that further regions will likely transition into the Drought Affected CDI category by the end of May (with moderate model agreement and moderate past accuracy).

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Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

Plant greenness levels remain above average for most of the region for the December to February period.

Note that some of the extremely negative NDVI areas (brown patches) are water bodies or changes due to urban development.

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 remain high across the three locations, although a declining trend can be observed.

• The outlook remains positive entering autumn at all locations.
• However, further rainfall will be needed to ensure regions such as Richmond do not transition into the Drought Affected category.

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