Heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and damaging winds will hit parts of WA this weekend as another strong cold front sweeps over the state. Earlier this week, a cold front and northwest cloud band provided some much-needed rainfall to some drought-stricken parts of WA, with 50 to 100mm of rain falling in parts of the southwest […]
A series of cold fronts will deliver much-needed rain to southwestern Australia this week, easing a drought that has broken records over the past seven months. The animation below shows cloud streaming over WA on Tuesday morning ahead of an approaching cold front. This is the first in a series of cold fronts and low […]
There’s a feature on this week’s weather charts which we haven’t seen for many months in Australia and which is a sign that winter is almost upon us: a northwest cloudband. Northwest cloudbands are vast layers of cloud that flow over Australia from the northwest. Once fully developed, the cloudband stretches across the country like […]
A series of cold fronts are setting their sights on southern WA in the next 10 days, bringing fierce winds, showers, thunderstorms and cooler temperatures. The stubborn high-pressure system that has sat over the Bight for weeks, preventing cold fronts from making it to WA, will finally move east this week. This will cause an […]
The BoM has officially placed Australia on a La Niña watch, less than a month after El Niño was officially declared over. “There are some early signs that a La Niña might form in the Pacific Ocean later in 2024,” the BoM reported in its May 14 update. “As a result, the Bureau’s ENSO [El […]
Days of rain and thunder are on the cards for some western and central parts of WA, with the potential for some decent falls in the region. The map below shows showers and thunderstorms approaching the Gascoyne and Upper West districts on Monday morning. Image: Himawari-9 satellite image combined with Weatherzone radar and lightning data, […]
Total Lightning Network captured over 32 thousand lightning strikes in the Kalgoorlie region on Sunday and Monday, with more rainfall to come at the end of this week for the state’s southwest. The image below shows a 500km line of thunderstorms stretching between Leinster and Salmon Gums on Monday morning as the sun rises. Image: Himawari-9 […]
Parched areas of southwest WA have finally seen some rain this week, with Wandering recording its highest May rainfall in more than 82 years and the most rainfall the town has seen in 13 months. The rain event began on Wednesday, with Bunbury recording a 2-day total of 55 mm to 9am on Friday, […]
Signs are pointing to the second consecutive positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) developing in the next few months. However, May is shaping up to be a time to make-or-break this event. What is a positive IOD? The IOD is a coupled ocean-atmosphere climate driver that changes the circulation patterns over the Indian Ocean. A positive […]
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 […]
