Climatic trends in WA

Reliability of rainfall and potential impacts of climate change are important factors to be considered as part of any investment decision in agriculture.

In the last 30 years the southwest of Western Australia has been affected less by climate change than most dairy regions in Australia. Rainfall has fallen 20-30 mm/10 yrs in the period from 1970 to 2006 compared with falls of 30-50 mm in most other dairy regions of Australia (http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/reg/cli_chg/trendmaps.cgi

A similar trend has occurred with changes in maximum temperatures; smaller changes have been recorded for the southwest of the state compared with many dairy regions of Australia (http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/reg/cli_chg/trendmaps.cgi)