A little worry hangs in the air over some Maitland farms when the month of June rolls around each year - and it's nothing to do with the beginning of winter.
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It's actually all about what the month of June could bring, and when you take a look back at what the month has dished up since 1900 you might feel a bit of worry too.
It seems to have a reputation as a 'flood month' in Maitland, and with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting above average rainfall for the Hunter region again this year, Oakhampton farmer Austin Breiner has been ready for another soaking.
But so far, he has been pleasantly surprised.
"I always worry about June - that's the Pasha Bulker month and the 1949 flood month and the 1913 flood month and if you look back through the records June doesn't have a good record for delivering good weather," he said.
"The La Nina is still persisting and they're thinking it may fire up for next year as well which means it could be another wet year next year, and that would be most unusual for Australia," he said.
"Then you've got the Indian Ocean Dipole with the warm water going from one side of the Indian Ocean to the other, and it seems to be warming up off the Kimberley - and that is going to bring a huge pool of moisture and we usually get a lot more rain from that.
"A lot of our big floods have come from the north west cloud bans. I'm hoping it doesn't happen and we've been very lucky so far - even this year we've had a big flood just to the north of us and just to the south of us and we've only had minor flooding here in comparison."
Mr Breiner said July and August were usually drier months, but in 1952 Maitland had a flood not far behind the size of the 1955 flood, and it came in August.
"It probably came from north west cloud bans drifting across," he said.
"You're not safe, you are never safe."
With today signalling the arrival of the shortest day - and the winter solstice - the days will slowly become longer and initially colder.
According to Hunter Weather, the exact time of the solstice is 7.30pm.
Mr Breiner is hoping for a little rain over the coming months so the seedlings he has planted can have a chance to become established before any more bad weather hits.
He has already replanted a few times this year after wet weather destroyed a number of vegetable crops.
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