Brisbane’s average rainfall is around 1200 mm a year. Of course, rainfall patterns vary across the large metropolitan area.
The pattern is for a dry period from April to September, which receives only around 400 mm, and a wet season from October to March getting twice as much rain (about 800 mm).
For your information, here is the official Bureau of Meteorology map showing average annual rainfall (in mm) of Brisbane and areas throughout Queensland, as well as a chart breaking down Brisbane’s average rainfall by month.
How To Harvest Your Rainwater (and calculate your savings)
Throughout the country, water truly is the most precious resource we have, and it’s for that reason that so many clever Australians are setting up simple rainwater harvesting systems at their residences.
In these systems, roof guttering collects water runoff and directs it to water tanks. From that point, the stored water can be used to clean, irrigate the garden, wash clothes, or even filtered for potable household use.
Just how much water can you collect from your roof?
Here’s how to calculate it:
Number of square metres of roof X the number of millimetres of rainfall = litres harvested
For example:
If you have 150 square metres of roof, and the average Brisbane rainfall is 1200 mm per year, then you could collect over 180,000 litres a year (150 x 1200).
A 10mm rainfall would yield 1500 litres! In both cases, it’s safest to subtract 10% to allow for absorbtion, evaporation etc.
Find out more about rainwater harvesting here, or find a good water tank for Brisbane here.