Here it comes: heavy rain set to drench us

Jessica Benton
A forecast of rain for days promises to boost the region’s dwindling water storages by almost a third, according to a Geelong weather expert.
Geelong Weather Service’s Lindsay Smail said up to 125mm could fall in the Otways catchment from two weather systems set to soak the region with the most rain in months.
“There’s two systems coming over the weekend and into Monday and Tuesday,” Mr Smail said.
“The first one is on Friday and it’s expected to bring rain right across western Victoria, so we’ll receive patchy rain because Geelong never gets huge amounts out of such a system.
“But later on Sunday there’s a good chance a low-pressure system will form over Victoria and if this happens it could mean we’ll get quite heavy rains.”
Mr Smail expected the Otways to enjoy 125mm over the next seven days.
The drenching could increase storage levels from a low of 18.8 per cent capacity this week to the mid-20s, he said.
“As far as the storages are concerned, that amount of rain will only do a little bit but, if it’s spread over four days, the run-off could certainly bring up our percentages.”
Mr Smail said the region was poised for the most rain since December when Geelong recorded 60mm and the Otways had 100mm over a couple of days.
Forecasts earlier this week had predicted heavy rain for Perth, and then Adelaide but both cities were still waiting for their downpours on Wednesday.
Mr Smail said rain predictions for western Victoria were fairly “optimistic” for the drought-stricken region.
“Perth receives rain from a cold front but we’re not only expecting that cold front but also the development of a low-pressure system, so we’ll most likely get heavier rain than Perth and Adelaide,” he said.
However, not all forecasters were confident of heavy rain in the Geelong region.
“The Bureau of Meteorology is not being very optimistic, rather very cautious, but other models that I’ve been looking at are showing good rainfalls are likely,” Mr Smail said.