By: Chrissy Arthur, 11/29/2013

More storm activity in Queensland's drought-stricken west is forecast, as some graziers celebrate the first decent rain they have seen in more than a year. Patchy storm rain has fallen from the Gulf of Carpentaria down to south-west Queensland, including in towns like Eulo and Cunnamulla. There was also 61 millimetres of rain reported at Mount Pleasant near Hughenden, and 67mm on a property north of Boulia.

Murray Tramby-White manages a place north-west of Winton and says 102mm there will get the property out of trouble. "We haven't had substantial rain here for about 18 months," he said. While across the board, the rain has not been drought-breaking, graziers say it has lifted spirits.

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ABC, By: Catherine Clifford, 11/26/2013

The Rural Fire Service says three fires broke out near Narrabri on Monday despite some good recent rain. RFS Deputy Incident Controller, Brett Loughlin, says the blazes started within a 30km radius of Narrabri. He says one was in the Bobbiwa National Park, another on Pikes Lane and the third was on a private property.

Brett Loughlin says lightning was a factor in all three and significant resources were deployed. "Some 12 fire trucks, two helicopters and a fixed-wing water-bomber were responded to one fire and thanks to co-ordinated efforts crews were able to bring that fire under control without it posing any threat to property," he said. "However, an area of about 25 hectares was burned out."

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ABC, By: Catherine Clifford, 11/24/2013

A woman in her 70s was lucky to escape with her life as a mini-tornado ripped her house to shreds at Tenterden on Saturday. The SES says the elderly woman put a pillow over her head and sheltered in her lounge room as the roof lifted off and her home disintegrated around her. The tornado touched down around 4:00pm at Tenterden, Ben Lomond and Guyra. Elsewhere, strong winds and heavy storms battered parts of the region, with falls of up to 60mm recorded in half an hour at Barraba township.

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By: ABC, 11/22/2013

Communities in Western Australia's far north are preparing for a possible cyclone, as a tropical low develops this weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology said the low was about 450km north-west of Broome heading east-southeast at 19km/hr. The low may develop into a tropical cyclone early tomorrow and is likely to brush the northern Kimberley coast late on Saturday into Sunday morning. Emergency service crews are on standby and people living between Kalumburu and the Northern Territory border are being urged to prepare their homes.

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ABC By: Charlotte Hamlyn, 11/21/2013

A team of water experts has identified a direct link between widespread land clearing and a decline in rainfall in Western Australia's South West region. Researchers from the Centre for Water Research at the University of Western Australia say there is conclusive evidence that extensive logging, which saw 50 per cent of the South West's native forests cleared in the 1960s to 1980s, caused a 16 per cent reduction in rainfall. Honorary Research Fellow Mark Andrich says the findings have prompted calls for urgent reforestation. "Around half of the rainfall decline, at least up until the year 2000, is a result of land clearing," he said.  "By implication it means that if we plant more trees or have more reforestations then there's a likelihood that rainfall could return." He says re-planting native trees would mitigate climate change but it will take some time before it has any impact on rainfall.

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