Exceptional water deficits that have dominated southern Australia are expected to disappear, but deficits are forecast for northern Australia, the southwest, the southeast, and Tasmania. These deficits may be intense in Tasmania and in pockets of other aforementioned areas. Moderate deficits are expected along the Darling, Lachlan, and Macquarie Rivers in New South Wales. Surpluses will shrink but persist in the Mackenzie River region of Queensland and in southwest Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Australia & New Zealand: Water deficits in northern Queensland and Tasmania
The overall progression of water conditions in Australia for the next 12 months indicates few significant anomalies. Pockets of exceptional surplus are forecast to persist through May along the southern coast of Western Australia, and east of Port Pirie on Spencer Gulf in South Australia. Moderate deficits in Far North Queensland are expected to persist through August. Deficits may also linger south of Perth and in Tasmania.
Australia & New Zealand: Water surpluses forecast for Warrego River QLD & Murray River NSW
The forecast through January shows water surpluses in the Warrego River Catchment in Queensland, between Port Pirie and Adelaide in South Australia, between the Lachlan and Murray Rivers in New South Wales, and along the southern coast of Western Australia. Mild surpluses are forecast to emerge from King Sound in Western Australia to the western shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Deficits are forecast south of Perth, along the Limestone Coast, southeast of Melbourne, and North Island, New Zealand.
ISciences Worldwide Water Watch List November 2016
Regions likely to encounter significant water deficits in the coming months include: the US South, Oaxaca (Mexico), Chile, Scandinavia, southeastern Ethiopia and southern Somalia, Iran, the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Gujarat, and Cambodia. Water surpluses are forecast for: the US Northwest and Upper Midwest, eastern North Carolina, southern British Columbia (Canada), Nicaragua, eastern Romania, southern Belarus, northeastern Poland, Nepal, Bangladesh, western Myanmar, Java, Shanghai, Fujian, and the Warrego River Basin (Australia). This watch list is based on ISciences Water Security Indicator Model (WSIM) Global Water Monitor and Forecast issued 9 November 2016.