One of Australia’s key climate drivers is gaining strength over the Indian Ocean, firming up the odds of a wet spring for large parts of the country. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) refers to an index that measures the difference in sea surface temperature anomalies across the tropical Indian Ocean. It’s an index watched closely […]
A surge of monsoonal winds and rain across northern India will top up an already plentiful monsoon season. The Indian Southwest Monsoon to date The graph below shows the distribution of monsoonal rainfall across the Indian sub-continent since the start of June. Image: Daily and cumulative monsoonal rainfall across India’s four homogeneous regions since June […]
A vigorous cold front is unleashing wild wintry weather on the southwest corner of WA, with storms, heavy showers and strong wind gusts battering the region this Tuesday. The severe weather has so far stayed south of Perth as it pushes in from the Indian Ocean in a northwesterly stream – and indeed the WA […]
Increased fire danger across parts of northern Australia, including Darwin, comes with a surge of hot and dry winds from the interior. 75 days without rain The dry season is living up to its name for Darwin and the Northern Territory, with over 75 days since the last rain recorded in Darwin. This allows the […]
Severe thunderstorms producing heavy rain, large hail and lightning are impacting parts of Queensland and NSW on Thursday. Winter is a quiet time for thunderstorm activity in eastern Australia because there is less atmospheric instability and surface heating for the storms to develop compared to spring and summer. However, there are rare cases where all […]
Abnormally warm oceans surrounding Australia and a developing negative Indian Ocean Dipole will increase the likelihood of abnormally wet weather across large parts of the country this spring, along with an increased risk of flooding and severe thunderstorms disrupting businesses and industries. Spring in Australia runs for three months from the start of September to […]
Sydney’s soggiest August weekend in nearly three decades adds onto an already well above average month of rain as moist onshore winds stream into eastern NSW, with saturated grounds leaving NSW businesses and industries in a vulnerable position. Video: Radar imagery showing rainfall moving across the metropolitan region on Sunday, August 10, 2025. A moist […]
A powerful low pressure system off Australia’s East Coast in early August generated long period wave energy directed towards the coastline – some of which threaded under the Great Barrier Reef into Queensland’s Central Coast. Easterly gales wrapping around the system between Sunday and Tuesday were around 1,000 nautical miles away from Hay Point, a […]
A strong positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is about to occur in the Southern Hemisphere, increasing the likelihood of wet weather in eastern Australia and reducing snow prospects in southern Australia over the coming week. What is the SAM? The SAM is an index that measures the north-south displacement of a belt […]
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 […]
