VISUALISING AUSTRALASIA'S SOILS

Visualising Australasia’s Soils Rainfall mapper RM Case Studies Case Study #1 – VIC Example 2 - VIC - Feb'26

Example #2: Rainfall event at Cowangie Victoria - February 2026

Significant localised intense thunderstorm activity occurred in the Southern Mallee / Wimmera region of northwestern Victoria between the 28th of February 2026 and 2nd of March 2026.

This is clearly visible in the following figure from the Rainbow weather radar plots for 1st and 2nd of March 2026.

Rainbow rainfall 24 hours to 09:00 AEDT 1st of March 2026

Rainbow rainfall 24 hours to 09:00 AEDT 2nd of March 2026

Rainfall Mapper, located in the vicinity of Cowangie, presents the total for the three-day event, with up to 152mm of rain recorded.

Similarly, detail from Rainfall Mapper of daily rainfall northwest from Birchip, Victoria indicates up to 121mm of rain recorded for the same three days.

The growing season was set up well with valuable subsoil moisture from the early March rainfall, but subsequent warm days dried the top of the soil profile quickly. Northwest of Birchip, about 120mm of early March rain was enough to kick-start seeding, although the following drying conditions tested the ability of the germinated seed to bridge the gap to the wetter parts of the soil profile.  Early autumn rain promised a traditional seeding program, but warm days and little follow-up rain have dried things out.

Rainfall Mapper plot showing lack of follow-up rain during April 2026.