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Lola now earliest Category 5 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone on record

Tropical Cyclone Lola has become the earliest Category 5 tropical cyclone to form in the Southern Hemisphere on record as it bears down on Vanuatu. Tropical Cyclone Lola first developed on Sunday evening in Fiji’s Area of Responsibility and...

Tasmania puts on a spectacular light show

Over 35,000 lightning strikes have been recorded over Tasmania on Saturday night as a line of thunderstorms marched across the state. Image: 35,055 lightning flashes, with 15,451 ground strikes were recorded by the Total Lightning Network (TLN) overnight into...

How wind changes grow bushfires

Winds are a key component to understanding the behaviour of bushfires. But what happens when the wind suddenly changes direction? Typically, a fire will tend to spread along the same direction as the prevailing winds. In a strong wind,...

Positive IOD keeps getting stronger

This year’s positive Indian Ocean Dipole is gaining strength so quickly that it’s getting close to the record-challenging 2019 event that underpinned Australia’s warmest and driest year on record. While the Pacific Ocean’s El Niño has been getting a...

Flooding, snow, wild winds as front passes

The wild weather which has lashed southeastern Australia is moving out into the Tasman Sea, leaving in its wake dangerously swollen rivers, wind damage, and even a decent dusting of spring snow. Overnight, winds howled their way around a...

Heavy and chaotic swell building off NSW

A powerful northeasterly surf will build off NSW on Wednesday, followed almost immediately by a strong southerly swell, as an unusually strong transient low develops over the state.  A cold front and trough crossing western NSW on Tuesday afternoon...

Rain drenching Vic after driest Melbourne September on record

It’s set to be a huge few days of wild spring weather across southeastern Australia, and Victoria is already copping it this Tuesday morning. After Melbourne registered its driest September in 168 years of records with just 10.8 mm...

Australia’s driest September on record, one of the hottest too

Australia has had its driest September on record, led by huge rainfall deficiencies in the Murray-Darling Basin. Most of the country was well above average for maximums too, with NSW, Victoria and WA setting new records. Rainfall Australia as...

El Nino and positive IOD declared

The Bureau of Meteorology has today declared the arrival of El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a climate driver double-up that significantly increases the likelihood of unusually warm and dry weather across large areas of Australia...

Latest news

Satisfy your weather obsession with these news headlines from around the nation, and the world.

Australia’s 2026-27 Tropical Cyclone Season: Late Start, Real Risk

Australia’s tropical cyclone season is officially underway, but we may not see much activity for few months yet.  The season runs from November to April, and for mining operators and businesses across northern Australia, 2026-27 is shaping up to be a season where the headline numbers and the real risk may not line up.  On […]

Positive IOD declared: Not a typical dry signal for Australia

A positive Indian Ocean Dipole is underway, but this one is unlikely to deliver the textbook dry spring and summer that businesses have come to expect from the pattern.  The Bureau of Meteorology officially declared a positive IOD on Tuesday, October 27, which typically like El Niño can cause drier and warmer conditions over parts of […]

Signs of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, but it may not follow the textbook

Waters off Indonesia have cooled in recent weeks, an indication that a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event could be developing. It’s an important climate driver for Australia, and it could shape rainfall and temperatures heading into summer, with flow-on effects for farmers, energy and other industries.  What is the Indian Ocean Dipole?  The IOD […]

1.3 million lightning strikes and a record September downpour: the storms testing WA’s Goldfields

Leonora, WA, had its wettest September day on record earlier this month. Three weeks later, more than 1.3 million lightning pulses were detected within 800 km of the town in 48 hours. Why is a stalled trough delivering storms to mining country, and what it could mean for operations?  The DTN Total Lightning Network detected […]