Does Sydney get this sort of rain each year?

[nqboy]

The last few years, crowds in Sydney have been heavily impacted at crucial times by heavy rain. I don't remember it always being that way and was wondering if that's just my perception.

Up here, you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of games affected by rain in winter because we get the vast majority of our rain from Dec to March. Is Sydney's climate different in that respect with rain spread more evenly throughout the year or have we just been unlucky in recent years?

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Used to be the norm, I spent many a wet time at a few of our grounds in the 70's and 80's. Last year was a bit wet, 2005 was as dry as a nun's nasty.

 

[Simo]

Its apparently the cycle, we are leaving dry el nino and going into wet la nina.
I remember when I was young playing in wet footy games all the time, has been few and far between the last few years.

 

[Perth Red]

Having sat in the rain at Cronulla at the weekend I can now see why Sydney crowds drop below 10,000. I wouldn't go to a game in that stadium in the rain and certainly wouldn't take my family. As an ex pom it was like going back 20years to an English ground.

 

[Misty Bee]

We are actually leaving La Nina and heading into neutral conditions.

Sydney had the driest May on record in 2008.

In Australia, summer rainfall areas lie north of Sydney. Sydney south has much more even spread of rain throughout the year.

 

[BWNB]

Having sat in the rain at Cronulla at the weekend I can now see why Sydney crowds drop below 10,000. I wouldn't go to a game in that stadium in the rain and certainly wouldn't take my family. As an ex pom it was like going back 20years to an English ground.

It wasn't that bad, you should have been there in the game against the Broncos.

 

[Vossy]

We are actually leaving La Nina and heading into neutral conditions.

not..

it is supposed to piss down for alot of this month..and has been pissing down constantly for the past 2 days and its supposed to rain most of the time till about spring and summer will be starting early..!

 

[Geohood]

I don't know how the players could play, really, during the rain in the second half..

 

[Johnny Bravo]

We are actually leaving La Nina and heading into neutral conditions.

Sydney had the driest May on record in 2008.

In Australia, summer rainfall areas lie north of Sydney. Sydney south has much more even spread of rain throughout the year.

We also had the wettest November - April in many many years. We are leaving the El Nino cycle (hot temperatures, high air pressure, low rainfall) and beginning to hit normality again. La Nina brings low air pressure, heavy rainfalls, and generally poor weather. Something that up until this year, we certainly havent had.

The exact opposite happens in the US. As it's based off the US coastline, what you read as happening with El Nino and La Nino, the inverse happens here.

Some info from wikipedia on the topic

The first signs of an El Niño are:

1. Rise in air pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia
2. Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
3. Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east
4. Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts
5. Warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific.

 

[fatshark]

It always pisses down in June come SOO time. Take a look back at all the SOO games in Sydney..all cold and miserable and mainly very wet.

 

[Timmah]

Sydney had the driest May on record in 2008.

Following the wettest April on record. June is set to rival 2007's atrocious effort also, some very heavy rain today and not a lot of respite in sight. This weekend could be a low weekend for crowds, I think we'll see a couple of sub-10k... although I feel Saints v Brisbane may sell out @ WIN.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

This weekend could be a low weekend for crowds,/QUOTE]







I hope not.

I actually thought last night wasn't that bad because at least it wasn't cold (strangely) however, both sets of fans were looking at each, at times as if to say WTF are we doing here?

 

[Teddyboy]

Since 2005 England has had alot of wet summers as well.

 

[***MH***]

Used to be the norm, I spent many a wet time at a few of our grounds in the 70's and 80's. Last year was a bit wet, 2005 was as dry as a nun's nasty.

lol... i'm tagging that!

 

[Misty Bee]

not..

it is supposed to piss down for alot of this month..and has been pissing down constantly for the past 2 days and its supposed to rain most of the time till about spring and summer will be starting early..!

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/rain_ahead.shtml
The 2007/08 La Niña event in the Pacific Basin has decayed to neutral conditions

El Nino tends to affect north of Sydney anyway. Hence the December floods in the Northern Rivers, and the summer flooding across much of QLD. And our 800mm in April.

 

[Misty Bee]

We also had the wettest November - April in many many years. We are leaving the El Nino cycle (hot temperatures, high air pressure, low rainfall) and beginning to hit normality again. La Nina brings low air pressure, heavy rainfalls, and generally poor weather. Something that up until this year, we certainly havent had.

The exact opposite happens in the US. As it's based off the US coastline, what you read as happening with El Nino and La Nino, the inverse happens here.

Some info from wikipedia on the topic

The first signs of an El Niño are:

1. Rise in air pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia
2. Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
3. Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east
4. Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts
5. Warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific.

It's based off the Peruvuan coastline, not the US.

 

[Knightmare]

Having sat in the rain at Cronulla at the weekend I can now see why Sydney crowds drop below 10,000. I wouldn't go to a game in that stadium in the rain and certainly wouldn't take my family. As an ex pom it was like going back 20years to an English ground.

Toyota Park is probably the worst ground I've been to, in all fairness. The view on the hills is crap. I've never been in there in the wet, but I can imagine it would be a dire experience.

 

[bobmar28]

Its apparently the cycle, we are leaving dry el nino and going into wet la nina.
I remember when I was young playing in wet footy games all the time, has been few and far between the last few years.

La nina is in decline now.

 

[Serc]

We are actually leaving La Nina and heading into neutral conditions.

Sydney had the driest May on record in 2008.

In Australia, summer rainfall areas lie north of Sydney. Sydney south has much more even spread of rain throughout the year.

Misty is right on the mark. However the driest May figure is not as significant for in terms of the footy season as it is for climatology - the driest May ever for 150 years in one of the oldest climate records in Austalia is massive.

Sydney gets most of its annual rainfall between Feb and June, as well as most of its high intensity rainfall events (like the big East Coast Lows during June last year) during the same period - which is what we're also interested in for footy crowds.

 

[brooksy19]

It's ****ing hammering down on the central coast. hope its not the same as last years long weekend floods.