As we begin 2025, the countryside and many lawns and gardens across the Lismore LGA are searching for a bit of rain during our wet season.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there is a high chance of rain over the next four days with the possibility of thunderstorms; however, it could be very little or close to 40mm. This weather system will be unpredictable, so the rainfall will vary depending on where a storm hits.

The longer-term forecast for January is for above-median rainfall, with a 66% chance of greater than 125.1mm falling between now and the end of the month.

To give you some perspective, January 2024 had 142mm, and December 2024 had 147.44mm fall at the Lismore airport. Both of those examples had single-day falls of 65mm.

The three months to March 2025 have a 62% chance of above-median rainfall of greater than 510.6mm.

The first three months of 2024 recorded 440.4mm, so there is a good chance it could be wetter than last year.

As for the chance of potential flooding this year, that cannot be predicted through the potential rainfall. We have had floods during an El Nino year as well as the more predictable La Nina years.

The signs for the next three months are positive.

It has been three years since a moderate or major flood hit Lismore. There have been four and five-year gaps between the more substantial flooding events. As an example, there were five years between the 2017 and 2022 major floods.

As for minor floods, we have experienced one in each of the last five years except for 2023.

At this stage, there are no alarms bell ringing.