![The April to June outlook is far more neutral for southern Australia than the March-May forecast. Source: Bureau of Meteorology. The April to June outlook is far more neutral for southern Australia than the March-May forecast. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Q2j7ezUfQBfUJsaqK3gfB/a26f36c1-e780-4e91-90ac-3d48001b6af8.png/r0_0_683_444_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has said autumn is likely to be slightly drier to neutral across the country, with the odds of exceeding average rainfall increasing further into the year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
For March to May there is a statistically significant chance of drier than average conditions over the majority of northern Australia and parts of SA's north-east and southern agricultural districts, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
The Gulf Country is likely to receive a welcome break from the wet conditions of late.
The BOM said unusually low rainfall is at least twice as likely for Queensland's Cape York Peninsula and Gulf Country for the autumn period.
Moving into the April to June outlook, however, and the outlook swings towards neutral for many parts of the country, with much of Western Australia and western South Australia having in excess of a 60pc chance of exceeding the median rainfall.
There are some small spots, such as far western Victoria, the NSW Central Coast and areas north-west of Brisbane that have a lower than average chance of exceeding the median but most of these regions have had heavy summer rainfall and farmers in these regions will not need a wet autumn.
The BOM said the past accuracy of the March to May long-range forecast is moderate to high for large areas of Australia, but low for south-east SA, western and southern Victoria, parts of northern SA extending into north-west NSW and south-west Queensland, and much of WA away from the Kimberley, the far south-west and south-east, and parts of the central inland regions. and north-west New South Wales.