IT could be a line straight out of Dorothea Mackellar's My Country poem, this sunburnt country is truly living up to the vivid words in this piece of literature.
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So far this winter, no locations in our region have received even close to the long-term average rainfall.
The driest town has been Nyngan, were just 9.4 millimetres of rain has been recorded so far this season which is well below the average of 62.6mm for the two-month period.
Mudgee has not fared much better with just 11.6mm recorded, also well below the long-term average of 85.4mm.
While Dubbo has received 16.8mm (the average for June and July is 88.8mm) and Wellington has had 17.0mm (average of 99.3mm).
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Bathurst has received just over one-third of its usual winter rainfall so far with just 28.8mm recorded at the city's airport compared to along-term average of 79.3mm.
By comparison, the wettest locations in the region Cootamundra (77.0mm) and Orange (72.2mm) still received well below their average winter rainfall for this point in the season of 116.4mm and 149.3mm respectively.
The average maximum temperature during July was also much warmer than the long-term average for all locations in the region.
Many towns, including: Dubbo, Mudgee, Nyngan and Wellington had an average maximum that was at least two degrees warmer than long term temperatures.
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The Bureau of Meteorology's outlook for August to October predicts drier and warmer than average conditions will continue for the next few months.
"Days are very likely to be warmer than average for most of Australia," senior climatologist Felicity Gamble said .
"Clear nights and dry soils for southern inland areas will raise the risk of frost."
Bushfire season will commence on October 1 and runs until March 31, 2020.
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