Praying for rain

Headlines on radio the other day told South Aussies pretty much what we already know: we're struggling through the driest start to winter on record:

Sure, the skies are frequently overcast, but it almost never rains ... and when it does, it's a tiny patter of drizzle, not enough to make the garden moist, let alone get the winter graze growing to save the herds, or get the crops moving.

Dave and I took a drive across back roads in the Myponga - to - Tooperang region, and, well, see for yourself:

Above: Myponga Reservoir. In almost fifty years in this state, I've never seen it this low. The treeline shows you where the water level ought to be. Yes, there's plenty of water still in the catchment, but the levels how you what's happening in the hills, where rain ought to be falling, and isn't...

The small farm catchments are getting dangerously low; some have dried up entirely. I've seen cattle standing beside a six-inch lake of mud, with no grass in sight. Makes your blood run cold, while graziers across the country are reported as being "suicidal," as they watch their livestock stuffer and, eventually, cull numbers both to save what they can, leave the opportunity to start again later when the drought breaks, and to minimize suffering.

As you can see in the second picture, above, this paddock -- which by May should be green grass to the skyline -- looks like the beach. The wind blows, and the sand just drifts out into the road. This specific paddock is on the hill above Tooperang ... it's beef cattle grazing country:

Above: This is not the beach. It's the roadside. And that is scary. Want it charted scientifically? No problem. A quick hop over to the Bureau of Meteorology produces this:

...which gave the picture on March 31. Now add another month. It hasn't rained more than a day in April, in any one area, and even on that day it didn't rain enough.

To quote my favorite RCMP Mountie ... "Oh, dear."