Sydney, prep thine (door) cracks and grab your gumboots because 100 millimetres of rain is heading to NSW. La Niña your gorgeous, gorgeous girl card is officially revoked.
Senior Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) meteorologist Jackson Browne spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald. He said BOM was concerned about people not keeping up with weather warnings, pointing to “flood-fatigue”.
“Everyone is acutely aware of the floods over the past couple of weeks, but we are really encouraging people not to be fatigued with it,” Browne said.
“Stay across the messaging, as we know La Niña will be around for at least another month.”
Severe Weather Update: Cold front kicks off persistent showers and storms for south-eastern Aus. Video current: 1.00pm AEDT 22 March 2022
Know your weather, know your risk. For the latest forecasts and warnings, go to our website https://t.co/4W35o8zIoh or the #BOMWeather app pic.twitter.com/2hsOZfyPRy
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 22, 2022
He said that from late Wednesday eve up to 150 millimetres of rain could hit the NSW coast over seven days.
There’s also a risk of flash flooding so NSW hotties should make sure they’re keeping their eyes out for weather warnings.
The rivers and water catchments haven’t had time to dry out after all the rain in early March according to Browne. That means they’re a greater flood risk.
Great and cool and good.
The rain is the result of a cold front moving across South Australia and Victoria. It’ll then travel up through NSW. What’s most concerning is it could mean more rain and possible flash floods for the devastated Northern Rivers region.
SES spokesperson Greg Nash told the SMH it was still unclear if the region would be affected. But SES is prepping just in case.
“It is still a bit uncertain exactly where those rains will impact NSW at this stage,” he said.
“But in line with the BOM’s forecast, we are starting to develop plans in terms of staffing and crew and availably to [help] impacted areas.”
Meteorologists haven’t explicitly linked this week’s bout of rain to climate change. But we know that climate change brings extreme weather including rain and floods.
As put on the NSW Environment website, “long-term climate change is causing the NSW to warm.”
“The average temperature in NSW has been increasing since 1910. This is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and storm surges near the coast.”
Maybe the solution to flood-fatigue is rallying around our communities most affected and acknowledging that we actually do have a role to play in this?
I mean, who can forget the fact the Morrison Government was allegedly warned about the possibility of severe floods in advance and still did fuck all.
So yes, prep for rain this week. But also prep for a Federal Election where we actually have the chance to vote on this shit.
