NORTHERN Australian farmers have further tough news to contend with following the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) releasing its the three month temperature and rainfall outlook this week.
The news out of the update was grim for those in Australia's northern agricultural regions that have largely missed out on summer rain this year.
Virtually all of Queensland apart from the south-east corner has a 40 per cent or lower chance of exceeding median rainfall for March to May.
That figure drops to just 30-35pc for Central Queensland.
Should CQ miss autumn rain it will have important ramifications on national grain balance sheets, as it will lower potential yields of that region's sorghum crop.
Nearly all of Australia's tropical regions are predicted by the BOM to have less autumn rain than usual.
The story in the south is less categorical, with a neutral outlook for rainfall in most areas apart from far south-west WA, which is predicted to be drier.
The BOM said its historical outlook accuracy for March to May is moderate for most of the country but low across the WA interior and southwest, western Tasmania, and near the NSW-Queensland border.
Unfortunately some of the highest accuracy has been logged in Central Queensland, where the forecast is worst.
And those looking for some relief from a broiling summer are set to be disappointed.
Warmer than average days and nights are likely for almost all of Australia for autumn according to the BOM.
For daytime temperatures, the chances of being warmer than median are very high, greater than 80pc for most of the country.