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Satellite Photos Show Southeastern Australia Recovering From Drought And Bushfires

Satellite Photos Show Southeastern Australia Recovering From Drought And Bushfires

Slowly but surely the environment is bouncing back.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

There's no denying that Australia has seen some pretty brutal conditions over the past few years.

We've battled crippling droughts, devastating and deadly bushfires, torrential rail, hail and winds that have decimated homes, taken lives and left tens of thousands with little to nothing.

While the rebuilding of homes will take some time, it seems like our environment is bouncing back.

NASA's Earth Observatory routinely takes snaps of the planet at different times to see how things are progressing. One photo was taken in May 2018, showing Australia's southeast looking like a dry, barren, scorched place.

But, two years on it's starting to look a little greener.

NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

Earth Observatory wrote in an update: "From January 2017 through October 2019, the southeast Australian state experienced its lowest amount of rainfall in nearly a century. During that time, farmlands were parched, lakes dried up, and millions of fish died.

"After more than 34 consecutive months of dry conditions, steady and occasionally heavy rain finally arrived in New South Wales. From January to May 2020, southeastern Australia received above-average rainfall and even broke records in Victoria."

Records certainly were broken for Victoria. There was a whopping 400 millimetres that fell in Melbourne between 1 January and 1 May, which was nearly eight times more rainfall than last year during the time period. It was the biggest rainfall the city had copped since 1924.

The amount of greenness of the vegetation between May 16 to June 14, 2020.
NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported that April and May of this year was the first time in four years that there was close to average rainfall in New South Wales and the Murray-Darling Basin.

There are also predictions that the next two months will be wetter than average for parts of Western Australia and parts of South Australia. Victoria is expected to have a drier than usual winter.

Sadly though, we aren't completely out of the woods just yet.

While the record rainfall was welcome, it didn't hit in all the right places and, according to NASA, water 'storage levels are still very low'. The Bureau of Meteorology reckons it will take several of these massive rainfall events for the drought to be broken.

"The wet start to 2020 has alleviated short-term water deficiencies in eastern Australia and helped provide a better start to the winter farming season. However, the rainfall has not yet compensated for the effects of the long-term drought, which is still evident in the Murray-Darling Basin," NASA said.

Featured Image Credit: NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

Topics: News, Australia