IT has been the driest start to the year in Wangaratta in six years with 119.4mm recorded, just 0.6mm more than that previous dry year to date in 2019.
Zero rain has been recorded at the Wangaratta Weather Station this month by the Bureau of Meteorology and only 3.2mm fell in April.
Whitfield in the south usually has a healthy rainfall but just 2.4mm has been recorded since the end of March.
It has impacted local cattle producers, with about 3000 head offloaded at Thursday's May store cattle sale, with weights noticeably lower due to the poor conditions.
AWN livestock agent Ryan Hussey said people were banking on rain around ANZAC Day, but it never happened.
"There's no growth, no grass and the last resort is to sell now," he said.
"The cattle on offer are extremely well bred, plenty of frame, not so much with the weight, but they are the cattle you'd traditionally sell in August/September - that's how far forward they are."
Producers from southern NSW, Victoria and South Australia were selling, with stock predominantly heading to northern NSW and Queensland.
But it's not all doom and gloom with an auctioneer announcing just before bidding that "fortune favours the brave".
It's a sentiment that Mr Hussey followed when speaking about the season last year which was similar to the current conditions.
"For those who spent a bit on fertilisers, they had as good a spring as they could have asked for," he said.
For residential and commercial water users, North East Water this week called on Myrtleford residents to reduce their usage as ongoing dry conditions, low stream flows and reduced raw water storage levels point to possible water restrictions in the coming months.
But the authority said restrictions for residential and commercial customers in Wangaratta are not expected at this stage.
Environment, systems and operations general manager John Day said with permanent water saving rules in place and by encouraging customers always to conserve water, there are no triggers for change to present conditions in Wangaratta.
“But it is dry and we need rain across the North East,” he said.
“We’re monitoring the situation closely.”
The low rainfall has impacted district storages with Lake Buffalo and Lake William Hovell dropping to concerning levels.
Lake Buffalo is just over half full at 53.31 per cent, while Lake William Hovell is at 44.18pc full.
Dartmouth Dam is 75.21pc full, compared to 94.16pc at the same time last year, and Lake Nillahcootie in the south is at 47.48pc compared to 78.40pc 12 months ago.
Region wide all storages are at 54.01pc capacity or 5.248ML below full.
A graph on the latter shows a sharp decline compared to the previous three years and unless there is rain soon restrictions could intensify for irrigators.
GMW Water delivery services general manager Mark Bailey said storage levels tend to reach their lowest point during autumn before increasing during the winter and into spring.
“Low rainfall and high irrigation demand have seen water levels at Lake Buffalo and Lake William Hovell steadily decrease throughout 2025," he said.
“As irrigation demand is decreasing, water levels in these storages are likely to remain steady or increase if they receive inflows from rainfall.
“There are currently restrictions in place for diversion customers on some streams in the Ovens and King systems.
“Whether further restrictions are implemented will be dependent on rainfall and stream flows in the coming months.”