Farm Group Says Rain Ends SA Drought:
The South Australian Farmers Federation senior vice-president says recent rains mean the drought is as good as over and he expects farmers to start seeding as soon as the ground is dry enough.
April Rains Fail to End NSW Drought:
Despite a wet April in some parts of NSW, drought continues to grip most of the state, this month’s rainfall figures show.
A reminder that Australia’s a big place, I guess, and that definitions of drought and not-drought vary.
There seems to be a distinct lack of science beyond “I feel it in my bones” in the first article. Acknowledging that farmers do often have a good sense of the weather patterns in their local areas, the quoted comments do seem to be making a bit of a leap between evidence and conclusion. Most of the media coverage over here that I’ve read is shading towards the second point of view: it’s rained, but we need more.
There is a real sense of “making news out of anything” going on (as usual) coming through, though. 🙁
(For a real tragedy in drought reporting, I present Exhibit A. )