[Bill Douglas]

I'm not sure if we follow you or you follow us, but in New Zealand and Australia it's rained more than usual.

Our farmers in NZ say it's been the best grass/crop growing summer in over 30 years. I didn't really notice the rain myself as it only rains occassionally in Wellington, but in my drive around the South Island it was green everywhere. Normally it's parched dry dust blown dirt. Australia, phew, it doesn't rain often but when it does it does. New South Wales (Sydney state) was half under water and where our darling gone but not forgotten Lisa Spyder is from in Victoria had big flooding as well.

In other words; an unusual number of low pressure weather systems in the tropics dragged hot moist air down to meet our cooler temeratures resulting in frequent rains.