Australia: Sydney Records Wettest Year Since 1858

Sydney, Australia’s biggest city, has recorded its wettest year since records began 164 years ago following hours of rain on Thursday morning.

With some 86 days of 2022 still to go, total rainfall in the city had topped 2,213mm (87 inches), surpassing the previous record of 2,194mm (86 inches) that was set in 1950, official data showed.

Aljazeera reports that Australia’s east coast has been in the grip of the La Nina weather pattern for three years and more heavy rain is expected throughout the rest of 2022.

A La Nina phenomenon causes the temperature of the western Pacific to warm, creating better conditions for clouds and rain over eastern Australia.

Sydney has been hit by serious floods three times in the past two years, and the city, along with other parts of the state of New South Wales, is bracing for more disruption.

State emergency services minister Steph Cooke said; “We know that our catchments are saturated, our dams are full, and our rivers are already swollen.

So any additional rainfall, no matter how minor, is likely to exacerbate flooding circumstances. Any additional rainfall has the potential to cause flash flooding.”