Weekly Australian Climate, Water and Agricultural Update, 4 December 2025

Key issues

• In the week ending 3 December 2025, rainfall was recorded across parts of northern, southern and central Australia, while south-western areas remained comparably dry.
  • Across cropping regions, rainfall totals were highly variable with the heaviest falls recorded across the parts of the northeast and southeast.
    • In southern cropping regions, rainfall this week have likely disrupted the harvest of winter crops but has unlikely impacted crop quality as this stage. Little to no rainfall across large areas of northern New South Wales, south-western Queensland and Western Australia would have provided for an uninterrupted harvest of winter crops.
• Over the coming eight days to 11 December 2025, limited rainfall is expected across most cropping regions, with exceptions in parts of the east.
  • In northern New South Wales and Queensland, these falls will likely support soil moisture levels in summer cropping regions but may result in some harvest delays for winter crops in northern New South Wales.
  • The relatively dry conditions expected across much southern cropping regions are likely to support harvest activities following a slow start due to cool wet conditions during much of November.
• Nationally, November rainfall was average to well above average across much of the country, with large areas of New South Wales and southwest Queensland seeing below average rainfall. This average to well above average rainfall has benefited both upper- and lower-layer soil moister levels across much of the country. However, low levels of lower layer soil moisture across some cropping regions particularly in central and southern New South Wales present an ongoing downside production for late sown winter crops and pasture growth.
• Improved pasture growth for the three months to November 2025 across large areas of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and north-western and southern New South Wales will likely provide opportunities for some graziers to increase stocking rates and production.
• Water storage levels in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) decreased by 129 gigalitres (GL) between 27 November 2025 and 4 December 2025. The current volume of water held in storages is 14,246 GL, equivalent to 64% of total storage capacity. This is 12% or 1,995 GL less than the same time last year. Water storage data is sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology.
• Allocation prices in the Victorian Murray below the Barmah Choke increased from $311/ML on 27 November 2025 to $357/ML on 4 December 2025. Trade from the Goulburn to the Murray is closed. Trade downstream through the Barmah Choke is closed. Trade from the Murrumbidgee to the Murray is closed.