Australian agricultural, forestry and fire emergency agencies and industries that were hoping for a wetter than average spring have been left disappointed by a lacklustre start to the season, despite the emergence of a strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole in recent weeks. Official rainfall outlooks at the end of August were pointing to a good […]
A huge northwest cloudband stretching from Indonesia to waters east of New Zealand has delivered the heaviest October rainfall on record to the WA gold mining city of Kalgoorlie. Extending at least 8000km, the cloudband has brought rain over the past couple of days not just to WA, but all the way east to large […]
Severe thunderstorms brought large hail and heavy rain to southeast Queensland’s Wide Bay and Burnett on Thursday, October 2, 2025 – impacting businesses and insurance claims. Clear skies at midday It’s 12pm on an early October Thursday and it’s warm and sunny with barely a cloud in the sky and a light seabreeze coming from […]
Australia’s 2025-26 tropical cyclone season is almost here and the names that will be used for cyclones throughout the season have been locked in. The Australian tropical cyclone season runs from the beginning of November to the end of April. During this six-month period, we usually see around 9-11 tropical cyclones in the Australian region, […]
Despite a brief cool spell early in the month which included Sydney’s wettest September day in 146 years, the harbour city has recorded its second-warmest September since records were first kept in 1858. In September 2025: Sydney’s average maximum was 23.5°C, which was around 3.3°C above the long-term average of 20.2°C. Sydney’s average minimum was […]
Parts of southeast Queensland just had a remarkably dry start to spring, with Brisbane registering its driest September since 1987, increasing the risk of elevated bushfire danger into October. Rainfall was variable across Queensland in September as cloudbands and bursts of tropical moisture delivered healthy totals in the state’s southwest and northeast, while a broad […]
Rain is falling right across Tasmania this Tuesday, in a continuation of the welcome wet weather streak of recent weeks. Prior to September, Tasmania had experienced a very dry first eight months of 2025, with rainfall totals the lowest on record in some areas. Widespread light falls dampened much of Tasmania on Monday night into […]
A developing negative Southern Annular Mode (SAM) will influence weather patterns across the Australian region this week, favouring relatively cool and wet weather in the country’s south bringing increased wind energy generation, and much warmer conditions in the east and north driving higher energy demand. Negative SAM emerging Recent warming in the stratosphere high above […]
Heavy rain and cooler temperatures that impact Indian industries, businesses and communities during the southwest monsoon have begun withdrawing from the Indian sub-continent. The Indian Southwest Monsoon rainfall to date The graph below shows a healthy overall cumulative rainfall across India so far this wet season – currently running about 7% more than normal. Image: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
