The heatwave continues in New South Wales, with summer-like temperatures and summer-like fire danger. On Thursday morning, there were 68 bushfires burning, 17 of them uncontained, as dangerous winds pick up strength ahead of a southerly change due later on Wednesday. The NSW Rural Fire Service has declared a total fire ban in three regions: […]
The Bureau of Meteorology has today declared the arrival of El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a climate driver double-up that significantly increases the likelihood of unusually warm and dry weather across large areas of Australia in the second half of 2023. The Bureau made the El Niño and positive IOD declarations […]
Scientists are developing a new way to classify El Niño in a warming climate as rising ocean temperatures make existing methods less effective. This research, led by a team of international scientists, may even shed light on why the atmosphere has struggled to respond to this year’s developing El Niño. Warm, warm water in […]
For Sydney residents, the smell and sight was eerily reminiscent of late 2019 when Black Summer bushfires encircled the city. The smoke caused minor disruptions at Sydney Airport Monday morning as the haze dropped visibility to 8300 metres. Fortunately, the thick smoke haze which descended upon the city overnight was from hazard reduction burns in […]
An outbreak of early-spring thunderstorms has caused prolific lightning over Australia’s southeastern states during the last 24 hours. The animation below shows lightning spreading across central and southeastern Australia on Thursday and Friday morning. These storms were triggered by a large pool of cold air from the Southern Ocean clashing with much warmer air […]
Australia just had its warmest winter in more than a century of records with lean snow cover and prolific lightning rounding out an almost unrecognisable season. Australia’s national mean temperature in winter 2023 was 16.73ºC, which is 1.53ºC above the 1961-1990 average. This was the country’s highest mean winter temperature in records dating back to […]
It’s the sort of stormy day in large parts of New South Wales and Queensland this Wednesday that reminds you that spring is just around the corner. You can see the storms moving across the central and eastern parts of the eastern states on Wednesday afternoon on the loop below, many of them tracking […]
Thick fog affected operations at Melbourne Airport on Monday morning, causing delays at the busy airport All the ingredients for a thick fog were in place overnight across a broad area of central and western Victoria as well as the southeastern corner of SA, including: Calm winds Cool temperatures with temps dropping to the dew […]
Australia’s severe thunderstorm season is about to begin. But with a looming El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole, what can we expect to see across the country this season? Thunderstorms impact Australia all year round. They are most common in eastern and northern Australia, where there is just the right mixture of heat and […]
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 […]
