The weather is about as predictable as a hyperactive chimpanzee. Meaning, it is damn unpredictable. Try as they might, long range weather forecasters are not God, they don't have an infallible crystal ball, that provides them the holy grail of meteorological knowledge to know what the weather is going to dish up next week, let alone next month or in six months time.
As recent as last October, a mere three months ago, we had the most knowledgeable and qualified people who work for the Bureau of Meteorology in Queensland telling us that everything, scientifically and anecdotally speaking, pointed to Queensland and the entire eastern seaboard of Australia being literally hammered by "super La Nina" throughout late spring and summer.
A once in a half a century mega deluge of rain. The wet season to end all wet seasons.
Politicians, we'll call one of them Palaszczuk, who were already half paranoid about any tropical cyclone and accompanying rain depression as far away as the Solomon Islands, obviously got heart palpitations many weeks ago when the inane decision was made to release somewhere in the order of 20% of the Wivenhoe Dam's total nominal water capacity, to "prepare" for the onslaught of "La Nina X 3".
The "La Nina X 3" that hasn't even remotely come close to eventuating in Queensland, yet. Yes, in latter 2022, Victoria and parts of southern New South Wales were smashed by a deluge of rain, but Queensland by comparison got sweet bugger all.
The decision to release such a monumental volume of water, the most precious commodity there is in arid Australia, the most precious commodity there is in south east Queensland, with a growing population that keeps tapping into the same reservoir, was absolutely gobsmackingly stupid.
Why did it happen? Because there was a one in a 10 million chance that it might have rained for 40 days and 40 nights during this summer?
Because Palaszczuk and crew are trying to appease all the urban dwellers in inner Brisbane in flood prone areas who are beguiled by the state government's overreaction and flawed preemptiveness to do with water releases from Wivenhoe?
It's just fricken crazy. The bat poo kind. At least wait for the clouds to start brewing, at least wait for a potential cyclone to start forming off the coast of Queensland, or in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Wait for a real and tangible threat in the form of major rain event to emerge in some form before you go and dump 20% of a major population's water supply literally down the creek, or more specifically, the Brisbane River.
This is the message that I am sure many people living in south east Queensland, not just me, feels like emailing to Annastacia Palaszczuk, and CC-ing to SEQ Water.
The message being - believe in the unpredictability of the weather a lot more than even the smartest minds in the field of meteorology, and deliberately releasing multi megalitres of water from a dam that supplies Australia's third largest population base must be the absolute last resort.
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