Ground zero: rain-starved southern Australia is grappling with one of the worst droughts in memory
by Josh Nicholas from on (#70360)
Rainfall picked up in June and July in some areas but it may already be too late
In a normal" year, Bernie Free would start seeing green shoots in the paddocks of his dairy farm in early May. This year the germination did not arrive until July - which means naturally less sunshine, less warmth and so on - the grass grows slower", he says.
In the two years to September, southern Australia has had much lower than average rainfall - the lowest on record in some parts of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. It is a drought so bad that some farmers are searching for comparisons in the 1960s and even as far back as 1914.
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