It certainly did. Just a couple of days after we had had a heatwave with maximum temperatures of around 39° C we had steady, soaking rain accompanied by thunder and lightning for all of yesterday. There was so much rain in fact that we received the total March average rainfall in one day. Given our dry climate this is a very good thing as long as there isn't major damage and there wasn't this time. We're not always that lucky, though. We've had some severe storms in March - one about ten years ago came with huge hail which battered cars, wrecking body work and smashing windscreens, and damaged thousands of homes leaving many without power for up to a week.
The forecast for today is a possible shower or storm but for now the skies are clear so I've taken the opportunity to put the sheets in to wash in hopes they'll dry before the rain returns. If it comes to the worst I'll finish drying them in the dryer but like most folk here, unless they live in an apartment without access to a clothesline, I dry my washing on an outside line. I wonder if this will change soon since blocks are getting smaller and smaller and without an outdoor space this will be impossible. While I understand the reason this is happening - a city can't expand outwards forever - it does seem somewhat irresponsible in a time when we should be cutting energy using. Back in the day all apartment buildings here with a communal laundry used to have to provide an external clothesline. Doesn't seem to be the case now, sadly.
For the rest of the week it looks as if there'll be more rain and cooler temperatures so there's that to look forward to. I've just been out to check and I think the sprinklers can stay off tomorrow - our rostered watering day - and if the forecast is right it may even stay damp enough to skip watering on our next rostered day (which is Saturday). Any water saving is desirable here where our climate has changed significantly and we now get far less rain than we used to even twenty years ago.
It's oddly cool given we're currently in Bunuru, which, according to the local Noongar people's seasons, is usually the hottest time of the year. Bunuru roughly covers February and March which are generally very hot but the seasons seem to be slipping somewhat with everything now starting two to three weeks later than it used to be so we may yet be in for hotter days before we move into Djeran around the start of April..
2 comments:
Climate change is occurring everywhere, Helen, and some regions seem to be feeling its effects in the direst of ways. Based on some of the projections I have read, much of Australia has the potential to become uninhabitable.
That potential is very real, David, and south western Australia is particularly at risk. We need to act now but particularly on a federal level there's an unwillingness to even acknowledge that need. I truly despair about the future my grandchildren will have to live in.
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