HISTORIC records indicate that rainfall in March 2025 broke all records across the districts.
The month opened with heavy falls influenced by Tropical Cyclone Alfred beating a slow path down the eastern seaboard which became a tropical low once it crossed land north of Brisbane.
In the latter part of the month, more heavy falls were brought to the region by the remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Dianne. That cyclone formed north of Western Australia, moved inland from the Kimberley coast and was still dumping rain as it reached South East Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s rainfall station at Tallegalla recorded a total rainfall for the month of 363mm (14ins).
The station was installed in 2001. Prior to that time, rainfall for the area was reported from a location along the Rosewood Walloon Road. Those records date back to 1894 but ceased in January this year.
As the two reporting stations are some distance apart, comparisons can only be described as indicative.
But indications are that March 2025 was the wettest since 1908.
In the three months from January to March 2025, a total of 545mm (21.5ins) was recorded at Tallegalla, which equates to 66 percent of the average annual rainfall.
At Amberley, the rainfall for March totalled 343mm (16ins) making it the wettest since records began in 1942.
The total rainfall for the first three months of the year at Amberley was 454mm (18ins). The normally wetter months of January and February were unusually dry, however with the March rainfall boosting the figures, the area received more than 65 percent of the annual average rainfall.
Rainfall records at Franklyn Vale in the Mt Mort district date back to 1886 but ceased in 2024. An automatic rainfall station was installed by the Bureau of Meteorology in 2001.
Using a combination of the two sets of data, March 2025 was the wettest on record.
In that district, rainfall for March totalled 478mm (19ins) and followed a particularly dry February when only 15mm (60pts) was recorded.
The Franklyn Vale rainfall station recorded a total fall of 590mm (23ins) from January to March 2025, which equates to 78 percent of the annual average.
Will Milligan has been keeping rainfall records at Walloon since he and his wife moved to the district eight years ago.
Will reported that in March 2025, a total of 327.5mm (13ins) at Walloon.
His rainfall records also show that the January to March rainfall this year totalled 509.5mm (20ins).
