Watering gardens in Wollongong, New South Wales

Water today

What fell today was not enough to reach the roots.

Updated this morning
Today

Has it rained enough in Wollongong?

Rain soaked in today, and the ground has taken it.

Wollongong has had 100.9mm of rain in the last 30 days. A normal October here brings 75mm, so the ground is roughly where it should be for the time of year.

Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
18 OctToday
Reached the roots Rain that did not 5 days of 14
Thirty years

Rain in Wollongong through a normal year

Across a normal year Wollongong gets about 971.5mm of rain, most of it in March (116.5mm) and least in August (54.3mm).

A normal October in Wollongong has rain on 13 days. Only 8 of them bring enough to reach a root.

That makes Wollongong one of the wetter places this site covers in Australia in October — 4th of 12, against Brisbane at the wet end (81.3mm) and Perth at the dry end (32.4mm).

JFMarAMJJAugSOND
Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What it means

What that means for what you grow

  • Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
  • Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
  • Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
  • Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.