There have been sprinkles. A teasing drop here and there. But Sydney has not had proper rain since August 4. That was 76 days ago, and everyone in Australia's most populous city is super sick of the relentless dry spell.
But the heavens appear set to open, with good falls of rain set for the city on Friday. And not before time, because Sydney has rarely seen a stretch of dry weather like this.
The dry spell, which started in late June, has not broken Sydney's longest streak of rainless days. That's because paltry amounts of precipitation have been recorded at Sydney's official measuring station at Observatory Hill (near the Sydney Harbour Bridge).
- July was a dry month in Sydney with only one decent rain day of 10mm or more.
- August was dry too, with only one decent rain day of 10mm or more. That was August 4.
In the 76 days since then, there have only been four official "rain" days.
- On August 20, 0.2mm of rain fell.
- On August 28, there was a comparative deluge of 1.2mm.
- On September 14, 0.2mm fell -- the only rain for that month.
- On October 14, 0.2mm fell -- the only rain thus far this month.
Do you know how much, or rather how little, 0.2mm of rain is?
It's the smallest increment of rainfall measured by the Bureau of Meteorology and it's barely enough to wet the ground. So basically, the ground has gotten wet once in 76 days, and then only for a few minutes.
But as mentioned rain is coming on Friday. Up to 25mm could fall across Sydney, with heavier falls further north in other parched areas of New South Wales.
And Sydney folk will no doubt act all surprised when the rain hits and find a new thing to whinge about.
Meanwhile Sydney's water storage remains high thanks to super heavy falls way back in March. Dams are currently at 86.3 percent of capacity.