We all know how little rain fell last year, but now it's official - 2019 was Moree's driest year on record, according to annual statistics released today by the Bureau of Meteorology.
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Moree only recorded a total of 125.4 millimetres of rainfall for the whole of 2019, which was 77mm less than the previous record dry year of 1902, and only a quarter of its average annual rainfall.
The rest of the shire didn't fare much better, with Garah only recording 114mm of rain for the year. Croppa Creek saw 147.6mm fall, Mungindi recorded 154mm and Pallamallawa received 189mm of rain last year, all record lows.
Last year was also one of the hottest years.
In fact, 2019 was Moree's warmest year in 131 years and third hottest ever, with a mean daily maximum temperature of 29.3 degrees.
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Moree's hottest ever year was 1888 when the mean daily maximum temperature was 30 degrees, while it was 29.6 degrees in 1885.
Mungindi also recorded its warmest year ever, with a mean daily maximum temperature of 30.8 - the highest in the state.
Overall, Moree is getting warmer, with a record high annual mean temperature of 21.5.
The hottest day in 2019 was recorded on December 22 when the temperature peaked at 45.9 degrees in Moree. In Mungindi it reached a scorching 47 degrees.
This was Mungindi and Moree's hottest December day on record, dating back 140 years since records began.
Overall, Moree broke a number of records in December 2019, recording the highest December mean daily maximum temperature (37.3 degrees),highest daily minimum (27.4 degrees) and record lowest December rainfall total (8.4mm).
According to retired CSIRO weather monitor Peter Nelson, who still keeps track of Moree's records, there have not been many occasions when the December temperature crept above 44 degrees in Moree.
"They previously occurred in 1883, 1897, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1913, 1951 and 1981," he said.
"These years were all followed by hotter than normal Januaries; in a couple of these the temperature reached 47 degrees."
Looking back at these records and the associated weather patterns, Mr Nelson predicts there won't be much rain before the end of January this year, when some moderate rainfalls with thunderstorms are expected. These are expected again during early February, with Mr Nelson anticipating heavier rains during the third week of February and again during the first week of March 2020.
The Bureau of Meteorology is not predicting a quick end to the region's worst drought on record. BoM head of climate monitoring Dr Karl Braganza said climate change of over a degree since 2010 means very warm years are more likely to occur, driving drought and bushfire and making record breaking warm years more likely.
"Unfortunately the outlook is not indicating a widespread return to wetter than average conditions over drought and fire affected parts of eastern Australia," he said.
"But with the likely return of the monsoon by mid-January for northern Australia, it raises the chance that we could see some periods of higher rainfall move south in the coming months."
"It's important the community remains vigilant to the risk of more heat and fire days this summer, particularly given how dry the country has been over the past 12 months."
Rainfall for the coming months is expected to be average to below average in the east of Australia, with temperatures likely to remain warmer than average over the rest of summer, he said.
Statewide, NSW recorded its driest year on record, with less rainfall than the previous record set in 1944 and 2019 was nationally Australia's hottest and driest year on record with January 2019 the hottest month in Australian history.