Western Local Land Services

Variable conditions continue across the region.

• March rainfall was average to above average across the region.
• Widespread, timely rainfall across much of the region throughout March, with high totals at Bourke, Ivanhoe and Cobar.
• Other locations continue to experience longer-term rainfall deficits, particularly in the west and south of the region, and are managing drought conditions. Producers are making decisions around ongoing management of stock numbers, water supply and pastures.
• On ground reports suggest supplementary feeding of stock has commenced in areas where drought conditions have persisted for some months.
• Further follow-up rainfall will be critical to aid improvements in the underlying drought indicators in the south, and further recovery in the Bourke region.
• Producers continue to monitor forecasts closely and adjust their enterprise management strategies accordingly.
• The drought forecast suggests that there will be a further expansion of the Drought Affected CDI category by the end of June (with low to high model agreement and low to moderate past accuracy). The DPIRD continues to closely monitor conditions in this region.

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Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

Plant greenness levels are 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

Rainfall deficits continue to influence conditions and for parts of the region.

• For some regions, particularly in the south, the drought indicator values have continued to remain low.
• Other areas remain steady or are seeing an improvement in the indicators.
• Further rainfall is needed to improve conditions in the south, and maintain positive production outlooks in other parts of the region.
• Recent rainfall has contributed to the improvement in the RI values at Bourke.

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