Charts of the Past
BAMOS
Mar 2020
with Blair Trewin
24 January 1941
1940 was a significant drought year in many parts of eastern
Australia. It is the third‑driest year on record for New South
Wales and in the driest ten for South Australia and Victoria. The
second half of the year was particularly dry, with less than 10
mm falling across a large area of the eastern outback.
There was a marked pattern shift in early January 1941, with
regular rain across northern Australia, and widespread heavy
falls in inland NSW and northern Victoria in the first week of the
month. The most significant rain event of the period developed
later in January. A low developed over the Nullarbor on the
23rd, drawing moisture from an active monsoon trough over
northern Australia. The low moved eastwards on the 24th,
linking with tropical systems to draw a moist northerly flow
over many parts of eastern Australia. The southern centre of
the low, which had been near Port Augusta on the 24th, then
continued to move southeast, deepening as it moved offshore
east of Bass Strait on the 26th.
Initially, the heaviest falls were in northern Australia. Alexandria,
in the eastern Northern Territory, had 306.4 mm on the two days
22–23 January, and each of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th had daily
totals exceeding 100 mm at one or more sites in far western
Queensland.
The heaviest rain spread into southern Australia over the next
two days. On the 25th, heavy rain fell in a region extending
from the upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia to the Wimmera
in western Victoria. The heaviest falls were on the eastern side
of the Mount Lofty Ranges, including 173.7 mm at Mannum
and 142.2 mm at Strathalbyn, the wettest day on record at
both locations. A second area of extreme rainfall was located
north of Adelaide, with totals, also records, of 138.4 mm at
Port Wakefield, 133.9 mm at Balaklava and 111.8 mm at Clare,
whilst in Victoria 105.4 mm fell at Natimuk. Severe local flooding
occurred in both regions. Amongst the worst was at Jamestown,
where much of the town centre was flooded and losses of
several hundred thousand pounds were reported, whilst major
damage also occurred at Port Wakefield, Laura, Port Pirie and
Strathalbyn. Numerous moored vessels were swept out to sea
after breaking their moorings at Victor Harbor, whilst railways
were blocked by washouts in many places and several thousand
acres of cropland was inundated near Tailem Bend. Despite the
flooding, the rains were generally seen as beneficial to farmers
and pastoralists after the preceding drought.
The next day, the heaviest rains moved into Victoria. Especially
intense rain fell west and north of Melbourne. A site near
Blackwood recorded 228.1 mm, the second‑highest January
daily fall in Victoria, whilst other falls included 143.0 mm at
Mickleham, 139.7 mm at Watsonia and 135.9 mm at Sunbury.
Melbourne itself had 80.3 mm over two days. A second area
of heavy rain in southern NSW saw 116.8 mm at Narrandera
and 113.3 mm at Berrigan. Local flooding occurred in the
Werribee River and Kororoit Creek, inundating an army camp
at Williamstown, and Melton Reservoir went from near‑empty
to full within a day. Two men were lost at sea in Port Phillip
in westerly gales. The rain cleared to Gippsland next day,
with 101.6 mm at Lakes Entrance. With the dry antecedent
conditions, only minor flooding occurred in major rivers. The
period was also very cool; four consecutive days below 15 °C
at Hobart were a January record, while several South Australian
locations had their coldest January day on record on the 24th or
25th, including Kyancutta (17.2 °C), Snowtown (14.1 °C), Robe
(13.0 °C) and Mount Gambier (12.8 °C).
In total, eight deaths were attributed to the event: two in South
Australia, two in Victoria and four in flash flooding in southeast
Queensland, where several were injured when a train hit
landslide debris on the Toowoomba Range. A circus elephant
was (unsuccessfully) deployed to push a stranded boat back
into the flooded Bremer River at Ipswich.
January 1941 is the wettest on record in some parts of
South Australia, Victoria and inland Queensland, and the
second‑wettest for Victoria as a whole (as well as the coolest
for NSW and South Australia), but it proved to be only a brief
respite. The remainder of 1941 turned generally dry again as El
Niño returned for a rare second consecutive year, and long‑term
drought affected the Murray‑Darling Basin until 1946.
Synoptic chart for 0900 AEST, 24 January 1941.
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