Kirsty, The Rain Bringer, has been successful: it’s raining. Thank you dear Kirsty.

Opening the curtains to a sky blanketed in grey would normally lower the spirits. But not here. A triumphant ‘It’s cloudy!’ is shouted with as much glee as the announcement of a bright sunny morning on the day of the picnic races.

Just after breakfast, it started to rain. Its pattering on the roof is one of the sweetest sounds we know.

Still in pyjamas, I excitedly checked the forecast. I felt sure we were in for a week of precipitation percussion.  

My heart sank. Today there’s a 95% chance of 10-20mm in this area, with a disappointing prediction of less than 1mm each subsequent day. 

Good rainfall at this time of year, known as the ‘Autumn break’, brings with it the best planting conditions of the year. A combination of still-warm soil and moisture helps plants to establish and seeds to germinate before Winter sets in.

This year, though, any substantial Autumn rain seems to have eluded us.

While the weekend delivered flooding rain to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, along with huge and damaging seas, down here grey skies have looked promising but they’ve failed to produce. Until now.

We heard frogs calling yesterday, usually an indication of falling air pressure. Frogs and ants are our best on-the-ground rain indicators – along with my arthritic knees – although I have heard of old-timers who swear by the flight paths of birds.

I’ve been told that official forecasters plan to scrap their existing long-range weather forecasting methods in favour of models that take climate change into account. It sounds like a good move. 

In the unchartered territory of extreme weather events, long-range forecasting based on past weather patterns is probably much less accurate than basing it on the activity of ants. 

The Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian National University have also invested in a supercomputer to more accurately forecast our weather.

It’s anyone’s guess whether farmers and gardeners at this end of the country will benefit from these changes to meteorological punditry. Let’s hope so. 

I have to dash now to watch and listen to the rain as it falls. It might be a while before I get another chance.