Almost a year to the day after flooding in north-west Queensland killed more than 500,000 head of cattle, the monsoonal rain was forecast again.
North-west Queensland's 2019 monsoon was one of the biggest on record, bringing a cold snap and widespread stock losses Since then, the Bureau of Meteorology has been revising its warning system to better tailor it to graziersSummer flooding is a regular event in the area and many graziers rely on it to sustain their businesses for the rest of the year.
But the 2019 monsoon was one of the biggest and most unusual on record and if the cattle survived the raging torrents, they died from a cold snap that coincided with the rain.Megan Munchenberg from the Northern Australia Climate Program has been collecting feedback from the livestock industry on the warnings the Bureau of Meteorology put out during 2019's summer rain. She said the freak event left many wanting authorities to issue early alerts if cold weather was coming so they could stock up on fodder and supplements to keep cattle strong. "We often talk about heat extremes in our region, because it's very hot up here, but most of us just expect it to be hot up here," Ms Munchenberg said. "The chill factor obviously had a significant impact last year so that is something that is useful to know." The BOM acted on this feedback this month, letting graziers know when the monsoon was building and that the weather may cool down the following week."We don't want people worrying about it, but it was just something to be aware of after last year." The Bureau's co-general manager for agriculture, Alister Hawksford, said the organisation was working on its messaging to the livestock sector in these events. "One new project which commenced in 2019 is looking at ways to deliver tailored weather information to the livestock sector," Mr Hawksford said."While it is too early to discuss the outcomes of the project, any new enhancements would supplement the existing public safety and severe weather warnings already delivered by the Bureau."Emergency management coordinator Elliott Dunn said while there were no major changes to the warning system, the Bureau of Meteorology had adapted its alerts to include information relevant to last year's floods. "In this particular event, we related the river heights back to known areas and back to previous floods," Mr Dunn said. "I know that there were warnings put out, locally focused on the cold weather for graziers, just to give them warning."
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