Western Local Land Services

Rainfall totals and warm temperature contribute to variable conditions across the region.

• April rainfall was highly variable, driven by isolated storm events, with autumn and winter rainfall patterns yet to establish.
• Some locations received timely follow-up rainfall while other locations, particularly in the west and south, continue to experience longer-term rainfall deficits.
• Regions with continuing rainfall deficits continue to manage drought conditions and implement management decisions around stock numbers, water supply and pastures.
• On ground reports suggest supplementary feeding of stock in areas where drought conditions have persisted for some months.
• Further rainfall will be critical to improve 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 July (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 February to April 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 across the region.

• For some regions, particularly in the south, the drought indicator values continue to remain low.
• Other areas remain steady or are seeing an improvement in response to recent rainfall events.
• Further rainfall is needed to improve conditions in the south, and maintain positive production outlooks in other parts of the region.

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