The 2019-20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfire season was catastrophic for parts of eastern Australian and the worst fire season NSW has recorded. Now, with more hot and dry weather forecast this spring and summer, some people may be wondering if this fire season will be as bad as the 2019-20 Black Summer. What conditions contribute […]
After a month in which the record for the Earth’s hottest day was shattered more than once, then the record for the Earth’s hottest week melted away, is it any surprise that July 2023 turned out to be the world’s hottest month on record? News came through overnight from the Copernicus Climate Change Service […]
A wintry blast, with severe storms, potentially flooding rains, and bitterly cold temperatures are on its way to southwest WA, abruptly ending the region’s taste of spring on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the mercury was five to eight degrees above the August average, reaching 25°C in Perth and Esperance, and 28°C in Eucla. The state’s north saw […]
Tasmania and a few places on the Australian mainland just had their warmest July on record, while mid-winter rainfall was below average in much of southern Australia. The national mean temperature in July 2023 was 1.19ºC above the 1961-1990 average, making it the country’s 9th warmest July in records dating back to 1910. Image: […]
A series of cold fronts will cause a burst of windy weather across a large swathe of southern Australia during the next 4 to 5 days, with potential for widespread damaging winds this weekend. The satellite images below show speckled cloud being driven over southwestern Australia on Wednesday morning as a complex low pressure system […]
Parts of Western Queensland are already having their wettest July on record after copping 10 to 15 times their monthly average rainfall in the last 24 hours. A northwest cloudband has been causing rain in far Western Qld since Friday, although the heaviest falls in most areas have been occurring from Sunday into Monday morning. […]
Unseasonably heavy rain and flooding could cut off roads in the Kimberley and central Australia this week. The satellite images below show a large northwest cloudband extending across Australia on Monday morning. This colossal cloudband, which is being fuelled by tropical moisture from the Indian Ocean, will produce widespread rain over a broad area of […]
Rare outbreaks of thundersnow, inversion lightning, and even a squall line have all hit NSW in the past 24 hours, as an unusually active winter storm system sweeps over the state. Thundersnow A rare outbreak of thundersnow has developed over the Australian Alps on Tuesday afternoon, as a brief burst of heavy snowfalls was accompanied […]
El Niño and the typically drier-than-usual weather it brings across much of Australia is now officially one step closer after the BoM issued an El Niño Alert this Tuesday, June 6. “The Bureau’s *ENSO [El Niño Southern Oscillation] Outlook has been shifted to El Niño ALERT, indicating a 70% chance of El Niño forming this […]
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 […]
