BAMOS
Mar 2020
Australian rainfall deciles
for June 1915 showing decile
8 rainfall and above across
some of the worst drought
affected areas of Victoria
and South Australia. Source:
Bureau of Meteorology
Dr Blair Trewin, Climate Scientist from the Bureau of
Meteorology, offered some further comments about the rainfall
around this time as below.
1914 was a severely dry year in both south‑eastern and
south‑western Australia—an unusual combination
(although repeated in 2006). Also, while there was
a general break in the drought in 1915, it was a very
dry year in parts of coastal NSW (a lot of the records
broken in 2019 had been set in 1915).
In addition Dr Trewin remarked on another aspect of the
event—the record warm temperatures recorded in 1914:
1914 in general, and spring 1914 in particular, were
exceptionally warm in south‑eastern Australia.
Records were set for state monthly mean temperature
anomalies (for any month) in Victoria in October 1914,
and NSW in November 1914, which were not broken
until the 21st Century. The peak station maximum
temperature anomalies from October 1914 (around +8
in northeast Victoria) still stand as national records
despite several serious challenges in the last decade.
1914 is still locally the warmest year on record in a few
parts of the Riverina and northeast Victoria.
Looking back, “Fishers’ Little Drought” was primarily an
ENSO‑driven event with the El Niño rating for the period
classified as strong. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) was
mostly in the range -15 to -20 from April 1914 to May 1915,
and in sharp contrast, was followed by the strong La Niñas of
1916 and 1917. In July 1916 the SOI had climbed to +26 and in
August 1917 it reached +34, a record high value 8 .
During these latter two years many of the drought‑affected
areas of Victoria and South Australia abruptly “flipped” into an
above‑average rainfall mode with much of eastern Australia
receiving decile 10, two‑year totals. Ironically September 1916
saw the onset of heavy rains and extensive flooding across
Victoria with a return to high wheat yields for the Mallee and
Wimmera districts.
References
1. 1914–1918 A World Away. South Australia's War. http://
southaustraliaswar.com.au/topics/1914-1915-drought/
2. Bureau of Meteorology, Climate Data Online. http://www.
bom.gov.au/climate/data/index.shtml
3. The Willaura Farmer (VIC), 23rd October 1914, p 2, https://
trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/17841939
4. The Daily Herald (SA), 8th January 1915, p 4, https://trove.
nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/10513116
5. Parliament of Australia, ‘To the last man’—Australia’s
entry to war in 1914. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_
Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_
Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/AustToWar1914
6. The Warracknabeal Herald, 8 December 1914, p 3, https://
trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/14963727
7. The Bendigonian, 30 March 1915, p 7, https://trove.nla.gov.
au/newspaper/page/8557797
8. Bureau of Meteorology, Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)
since 1876. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/
soihtm1.shtml
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