Bureau of Meteorology predicts Tamworth's wet year is likely to continue

The Bureau of Meteorology's Monthly Climate Summary shows Tamworth received 37mm of rain at the airport over July. It's slightly below average.

But the Bureau Climate Outlook shows Tamworth has a 55 per cent chance of above average rainfall over August.

The Outlook shows that trend is likely to remain the case for the medium-term, with a 65 per cent chance of above average rainfall in the three months to October.

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Tamworth has already received over double last year's rainfall total, with 536.6mm of rain which has fallen so far at the airport in 2020 smashing the annual total of 263.6mm that fell in 2019.

The town's water storage is slowly recovering after last year's long drought.

Tamworth remains on highest-level water restrictions, but the region's dams have reached their highest levels in months after solid rainfall last week.

Chaffey Dam was measured at 22.6 per cent at 11am on Tuesday, according to the Water NSW website.

The improved reserve at Tamworth's major water supply triggered a decision by Water NSW to restart environmental water releases last week.

On Monday staff for Minister for Water Melinda Pavey shared photographs of a section of the Peel river between Chaffey Dam and Duncans Creek they hoped last week's massive three day 62 megalitre release would rejuvenate.

The region has recorded a relatively wet July, with Armidale receiving an above average 59.4mm of rain, with Glen Innes receiving 52.8 mm, also above average.

Gunnedah received 29.6mm of rain, slightly above average.

NSW as a whole recorded the wettest July since 2016, with 10 per cent more rain than average.

The August to October period is likely to be wetter than average, with a greater than 65% chance of good rain over most of the eastern two thirds of Australia.

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