December 2015 wettest on record since 1973
Published Tuesday 12 January 2016
Local resident Peter Ponzo from Miallo has been recording the rainfall for 47 years and says for December 2015 he recorded 917.2mm.
The average Mr Ponzo has recorded for the month of December is 307.6mm which indicates the rainfall for December 2015 was approximately 600mm above average.
The highest previous recording for the month of December was 902.2mm which was in 1973.
The total recorded for the whole year for 2015 was 3,247.5mm and the average yearly rainfall recorded was 3,058.2mm.
“Our highest recorded 12month period was 4,630.1mm which was in 1979,” said Mr Ponzo.
Mr Ponzo will be looking forward to recording the rainfall in March this year which will mark 20 years since the “Daintree Flood” in 1996.
“I recorded 25mm per hour, which had to be emptied every four hours,” he said.
During that time the heavy rainfall lasted for approximately three days said Mr Ponzo.
Mr Ponzo is a retired cane farmer and arrived in Mossman in 1953 and moved to his farm in Miallo in 1964.
Mr Ponzo also shares his recordings with ABC North Qld radio.
