North West Local Land Services

Widespread, timely rainfall improves conditions for the region.

• Widespread, timely rainfall across the region throughout March, with high totals at some locations, including Wee Waa, Lightning Ridge and Walgett.
• This will see a positive start for winter cropping programs and late season pasture growth for livestock producers.
• Cotton harvest has been delayed in some areas due to rainfall, and other summer crops have also been impacted.
• Other locations did not receive significant falls with ongoing management of pastures and winter cropping program decisions a major consideration for producers.
• At the time of writing, several areas including Narrabri, Wee Waa and Moree, are experiencing flooding following rainfall in the first week of April.
• The drought forecast suggests that the region will likely be in the Non-Drought category by the end of June 2025 (with high model agreement and low to moderate to high past accuracy).

Click on the scroll bar below the map to compare with previous months.

Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

Plant greenness levels remain variable across the region for the January to March period; anomalies remain below average for parts of the region.

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 remain variable across the region, with positive responses to recent rainfall.

• Follow-up rainfall will continue the positive production outlooks for many regions.

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