Some of the heaviest rain ever observed in Australia has hit Queensland’s North Tropical Coast during the last few days, resulting in widespread major flooding and landslips. Rainfall has been relentless over northeast Qld ever since Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall near Wajul Wajul on Wednesday, December 13. This 5-day spell of wet weather was […]
Parts of Australia are having one of their wettest Novembers on record during El Niño. This is a juxtaposition that may seem surprising, but it is actually a timely reminder of Australia’s fickle relationship with broad-scale climate drivers. El Niño has been in the news a lot this year since it was initially declared by […]
Bushfires raged in and around Perth’s northern suburbs overnight and continue to threaten lives and homes on Thursday morning, as the ongoing late spring heatwave bakes western parts of WA. The fires are concentrated in the City of Wanneroo and the City of Swan – local government areas fringing Perth’s north and northeastern suburbs – […]
Tropical Cyclone Mal is set to sideswipe Fiji overnight as a Category 2 or Category 3 tropical cyclone. Tropical Cyclone Mal developed into a tropical cyclone on Monday evening and has since increased in strength to a Category 2 system on Tuesday morning. As of 3pm Fiji time (FJT), Mal has sustained winds of 100km/h, gusting […]
A massive line of storms has marched its way across central NSW reaching Sydney mid-afternoon and bringing with it heavy rain, strong gusty winds, and thousands of lightning strikes. This was a storm front that looked as spectacular on radar images as it did in the sky, with shelf clouds heralding the arrival of the […]
A lone lightning strike from a tiny storm on Friday was all it took to start an intense blaze near Serpentine on Friday, serving as a reminder as to the danger thunderstorms can pose. Image: A single cloud-to-ground lightning strike (circled in red) recorded on Friday afternoon near Serpentine Main Dam from the Total Lightning […]
A burst of rain and thunderstorms swept over a number of active fire grounds in northern NSW and southern Qld on Friday, delivering a bittersweet mix of welcome rain and pesky lightning. Friday is the first day of a prolonged rain and thunderstorm outbreak that is expected to linger over eastern Australia for at least […]
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 has since quickly intensified. Just 36 hours after its initial development it is now classified as […]
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 Sunday morning across Tasmania As reported over the last few days, a low pressure system has […]
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 […]
