Recently there's been a lot of talk about South Australia finally ending a long dry spell with some welcome rain but it has been far from widespread - a few remote SA towns, including Marree, are yet to record any rainfall this year.

Promising dark clouds and radar images must have given confidence to those in and around Marree that 'today is the day', ay least a few times this year.

Image: satellite, radar and lightning near Marree on Saturday afternoon on 22nd March.

Image: satellite, radar and lightning and observations across SA, including near Marree, in the north, on Saturday 8th March.

Despite welcome rain falling across SA last week, its usefulness was patchy, mainly benefiting parts of West Coast, Mid North, Flinders and the pastorals, little elsewhere.

Image: Weekly rainfall to 22 March 2025, courtesy of BoM.

Even parts of Adelaide Hills picked up a handy 20mm or so, enough to entice Koalas to town to gulp from street gutters.

For Marree in SA's far north, today seemed like the best chance of rain of any day in the next week or so. The outback town is about to enter a lengthy dry spell again as a high pressure ridge takes over from a moisture-laden trough. Today's nearby rain-and-storm have just been another tease.

If no rain is recorded by tomorrow morning this will have become Marree’s longest dry spell in 18 years, 103 days and counting. 

Image: Year-to-date rainfall to 22 March 2025, courtesy of BoM.

Adding to the torture, when residents flick on the evening news to find out Coober Pedy received another downpour, more than 25mm today. This takes their four-day total to more than 35mm, close to the January-to-March average. 

On the bright side for Marree, the Birdsville track is still open (at least for now) despite some heavy falls towards Birdsville. However, drivers should keep up to date with forecasts and road conditions given heavy rainfall is likely for much of Central Australia where the trough should linger for several more days.