Our small property in southern Tasmania has copped one cold front after another over the past three weeks.
The valley greyed out with each squall, and it looked like it was going to snow on several occasions.
Nonetheless, very little rain fell locally and the Huon River, fed by rain that falls up on the Lake Pedder high country, rose only a little.
Tellingly, as soon as the rain passed, the ground dried out.
Our seepage-fed dams are at the lowest level I have seen. There seems to be no moisture in the soil.
One of our dams has never really dropped much in the eight years I have been here, but this year it is way down.
I have attached today’s fuel dryness maps from BOM. Outside of the West Coast, Tasmania is bone dry.
Having had fires last year, and watching events on the mainland, some of us in Tasmania would be happy to miss out on a summer this year.
Keep those squalls a-comin’!