![Illowa Volcano Produce owner Ben Pohlner holding smaller-than-average broccoli plants due to sustained dry weather. Picture by Jessica Greenan Illowa Volcano Produce owner Ben Pohlner holding smaller-than-average broccoli plants due to sustained dry weather. Picture by Jessica Greenan](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/134792786/f9447aa3-9f95-491e-b543-1d3d47444ccf.jpeg/r0_0_2000_1500_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Weather records show the past five months in Warrnambool and Port Fairy have been the driest ever recorded.
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Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Jonathan Pollock said it had been the driest February to June for the two locales since weather recordings started more than 150 years ago.
"Warrnambool had its lowest February to June rainfall on record with 117.8 mm," Mr Pollack said.
"This is lower than any February to June recordings at any of the weather recording stations since records started in 1867. So, you could say it has been the driest February to June for Warrnambool using combined station records going back to 1867."
He said Port Fairy recorded 104.8 mm of rain across the five months.
"It has been the driest February to June for Port Fairy using combined station records going back to 1884," he said.
In nearby Illowa, Volcano Produce farmer Ben Pohlner said he'd had "12 consecutive months of below-average rainfall".
"Some of those months we hardly scored any rain at all," he said.
"Here we are, we've only just stopped irrigating, and it's the middle of July. We've never encountered anything like that before."
The farmer said that meant he couldn't "get the normal volume out".
"The broccoli, cauliflower and carrots are a bit smaller - they don't get the water that's required," Pohlner said.
"We do have irrigation but we're not setup for large-scale heavy irrigation for longer periods.
"It certainly highlighted to us where our deficiencies lie. Usually in summer we have to irrigate for short periods, we generally haven't had to undertake irrigation like we have. We've been irrigating since October last year until now, which is completely unheard of".
Despite being thrilled to have received 12mm of rain on Saturday, July 14, Mr Pohlner said much more would be needed.
"We really need 100mm of rain over a week or two just to get water down into the subsoil," he said.
"At the moment when we're pulling up veggies the top couple centimetres have moisture but underneath that it's bone dry - it's just dust.
"There's no moisture there at all and that's really difficult to grow veggies in."
Mr Pohlner is not alone in his struggles.
Mr Pollock said Hamilton, Mortlake and Casterton also had their driest March on record in 2024.
"There were severe rainfall deficiencies across much of south-western Victoria for the first six months of 2024," he said.
"This is despite very much above average rainfall for parts of the south-west during January. If we ignore January, there are areas of lowest on record rainfall for the five months from February to June for parts of western Victoria.
"It varies across the district, but most of south-western Victoria has missed out on at least 100mm of rain compared to an average February to June, and more than 200 mm towards Cape Otway."
Mr Pollock said rainfall was in the lowest 10 per cent of records across most of the south-west during February, May and June, and lowest on record for large parts of the south-west in March.
"April rainfall was mixed, with much of the south-west recording near average totals," he said.
The climatologist said the latest long-range forecasts showed the rainfall outlook for August to October showed no strong push towards above or below average rainfall across the south-west.
"At the same time, there are high chances (80 per cent) of above average maximum and minimum temperatures. The outlooks for spring (September to November) across the south-west are similar," he said.
"In recent decades there has been a shift towards drier conditions across south-eastern Australia, with more frequent years of below-average rainfall, especially for the cool season months of April to October."