A large fire near Narrabri in North Western NSW has produced a fire-generated thunderstorm and a smoke plume so large that it can be seen from space stretching around 1500 km across the Tasman Sea. An Emergency Warning was in place on Tuesday morning for the Duck Creek fire in the Pilliga Forest about 17km […]
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 […]
Queensland’s North Tropical Coast is preparing for severe weather later this week, with Tropical Cyclone Jasper expected to make landfall near or north of Cairns on Wednesday. Jasper got a lot of attention late last week when it became the earliest category 4 tropical cyclone in Australian waters since 2005. However, the system has weakened […]
A strong cold front will sweep across southeastern Australia in the next 48 hours, bringing a dangerous mix of damaging winds, severe thunderstorms and catastrophic fire danger ahead of a welcome cool change. The satellite image below shows a trough extending from WA down to SA, generating a massive line of thunderstorms stretching 700km across […]
There are growing concerns that eastern Qld could be hit by a tropical cyclone next week, although it is still too early to know whether Tropical Cyclone Jasper will reach Australian shores, or where it will strike if it does. Jasper became a tropical cyclone over the Solomon Sea late on Tuesday afternoon. As […]
Large areas of the country are at an increased risk of bushfires this summer, with several dry-phase climate drivers impacting the outlook. The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) has today released Australia’s official Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for summer. The outlook brings together advice and information from AFAC, the Bureau of Meteorology […]
A broad arc of dangerous thunderstorms is moving over eastern Australia this afternoon, prompting severe storm warnings from central Qld to southern NSW. The animation below shows the massive band of storms, which has formed ahead of an approaching upper-level trough associated with an upper-level low centred over southern NSW. At one stage on Wednesday […]
Extremely heavy and in some cases record-breaking rain has fallen across New South Wales in the 24 hours to 9 am Wednesday, with 351 mm falling at one South Coast location. This truly was a remarkable 24 hours of rainfall, and not just because of the massive totals in many areas, but because of […]
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 […]
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 […]
