Western Australian Farmers Get Some Heavy Rains

Australia growers are hoping for heavy rainfall to replenish dry fields for wheat planting, reports StormX. The top wheat state Western Australia has been extremely dry since April 1 receiving less than 25% of normal rainfall, they add. Scattered showers have dampened wheat farms in southern New South Wales, but northern portions of that state are still very dry. Wide-scale wheat planting will not begin until soaking rains develop in the key producing areas, they conclude.

Some farmers in the region might be getting what they wished for as a vigorous front has begun crossing the WA west coast in the early hours of Thursday morning say Elders on their website. As well as bringing much-needed heavy rains to some of the states parched wheatlands, the storms also come bundled with winds of up to 115km/hour. A severe weather warning is in place for the region.

Early reports from Queensland, the country's fourth-largest wheat producing state and the first to begin harvesting, are encouraging where rains have been more widespread. Southeast Queensland's major dams have embraced their biggest rain in at least 10 years, causing total storage levels to jump from from 59% to 72% in just three days, according to Elders.