Riverina Local Land Services

Rainfall totals across the region not sufficient to promote widespread improvement in conditions.

• March rainfall has variable, slightly wetter than average in the west and slightly below average in the east.
• Conditions in the east of the region remain challenging. Management of soil moisture and farm water supply remain a consideration for producers.
• Producers in areas that have received recent rain would be more confident in the season and planning winter cropping programs. Others are waiting for autumn break rainfall.
• For livestock producers in the west of the region, seasonal rainfall would have helped maintain soil moisture levels and water supplies, with the potential for late season pasture growth given the warmer temperatures.
• On ground reports suggest citrus growers have likely benefited from the warmer weather.
• The drought forecast suggests that further regions will likely transition into the Drought Affected CDI category by the end of June (with low to high model agreement and low to high past accuracy).
• The DPIRD continues to closely monitor conditions in this region.

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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 continue to remain low in the east of the region.

• The underlying drought indicators remain very low at Gundagai.
• The drought indicator values remain moderate at Hay.
• Substantial rainfall is needed to trigger an improvement in conditions across many regions.

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