Rain Brings Relief to Fires in Australia

By Courtney Spamer, Meteorologist

November 11, 2013; 10:08 AM

A storm system bringing rain the past two days across eastern Australia has helped fire fighters to contain the wildfires for Queensland and New South Wales.
Since Saturday night, Sydney received a total of 3.56 mm (0.14 of an inch) of rain. Even though this amount is still well below average for the first eleven days of November, this new rain is more than twice the amount that fell in the entire month of October.
The rain made a very small dent in the drought across eastern Australia. In the short term, the rain has helped contain some of the fires that were still burning in the area. Many fires spreading across the area were pronounced contained early on Sunday.

This containment allowed Dreamworld, located north of Gold Coast and one of Australia's biggest theme parks, to re-open.
The park was closed on Saturday when a fire flared up nearby and smoke began drifting in. The evacuation of guests and zoo animals was a precaution according to a spokeswoman for Dreamworld. However, the amusement park opened back up again on Sunday.
Although rainfall amounts were not incredibly high, the risk for flooding will persist until the storm moves out to sea.
After a prolonged period of dry weather, the arid ground will struggle to absorb the rainwater. Instead the water will pool on the ground, causing flooding.
Rain will continue through Tuesday night before the sunshine breaks out with afternoon high temperatures in Sydney rebounding into the lower 80s.