Drought is spreading and intensifying in much of eastern Australia.
But solid rainfall has all but wiped out rainfall deficiencies in Western Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says in its latest monthly drought statement.
A dry March in Australia's eastern two-thirds has worsened the drought in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland but most of WA and western Tasmania had rain that was above, or well above average, the BoM drought statement says.
Reduced monsoonal cloud and rain also led to a warm March for northern Australia.
Queensland had its warmest average minimum and maximum March temperatures since reliable records began in 1910.
Over the past nine months, the drought has spread and become more severe across most settled and agricultural regions in SA, western Victoria, small areas of southern NSW, and the Queensland and Northern Territory gulf coast, which have all had less than 10 per cent of average rainfall over the period.
A region from Ceduna in SA to near the head of the Great Australian Bight has had the lowest rainfall on record.
The same conditions exist in the Cape York region but have not worsened.
Good March rain has eased rainfall deficiencies in western Tasmania and has all but wiped them out in WA.
The situation was more pronounced over the past 30 months, with many farmers in the eastern states facing the possibility of a second or third year of drought.
Since October 2012, western Victoria, southeastern SA, parts of northern NSW and much of inland Queensland have had less than 10 per cent of their average rain.
The drought has spread in range and severity in all those areas except northern NSW, the BoM statement said.
Below average summer wet seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14 added to Queensland's drought woes.
With less than a month left in the below-average 2014-15 wet season, Queensland's situation is unlikely to improve, the statement said.
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