Large areas of eastern Australia will be stuck in a stormy weather pattern this week, with heavy rain likely to cause flooding amid daily displays of prolific lightning. A stubborn high pressure ridge over the Tasman and Coral Seas will direct moisture-laden easterly winds across Queensland and NSW over the coming week. This airborne moisture […]
An extremely hot and dry airmass will spread over northwestern Australia later this week, causing temperatures to hit the high-forties in some areas. A stubborn high-pressure system moving slowing into the Great Australian Bight will direct an extremely hot and dry airmass over northwestern WA during the next several days. This prolonged burst of hot […]
La Niña has passed its peak and is showing signs that it may be losing its grip on Australia’s weather. But don’t put the brolly away just yet, because a weakening La Niña can still have a big influence on the weather and climate in Australia. La Niña was officially declared by the Bureau […]
Western Australia is being hit by all kinds of weather this week, with severe thunderstorms, elevated fire danger and extreme heat all in the mix. The satellite image below shows a band of cloud draped across WA shortly after sunrise on Monday morning. Image: Visible satellite image captured at 7am AWST on Monday, February 14. […]
Lightning is one of the most dangerous weather phenomena and awareness of its location or distance from your workplace is paramount to safety. Fortunately, Weatherzone’s lightning detection and lightning alerting systems can reduce incidents in the field, improve awareness of lightning risk and minimise down time in the field. Total Lightning Network […]
A burst of tropical moisture will cause rain and thunderstorms to spread across Western Australia during the next four days. The satellite image below shows cloud surrounding a small low pressure system to the northwest of Australia (south of Christmas Island). This low is embedded in a low pressure trough that extends up towards the […]
While Australia just had its coolest year in nine years, it was also the country’s warmest La Niña-only year on record. The national mean temperature in 2021 was 0.56ºC above the 1961-1990 average. This was the 19th warmest year in records dating back to 1910. However, 2021 was a cool year by modern standards. […]
Australia’s forests are ecologically diverse and vast, covering millions of hectares of the country’s landscape. According to Forests Australia, Australia has 125 million hectares of forest, which is 16 per cent of Australia’s land area. This is about 3 per cent of the world’s forest area, and the seventh-largest reported forest area worldwide. The […]
Parts of the Kimberley have been lashed with the heaviest rainfall in 120 years, with the multi- day deluge leaving towns, roads, and railways underwater. Image: Flooding in Broome on Sunday, January 30, Source: @lauren.hall95 Businesses and residents across northern WA can expect heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and damaging winds to continue as the monsoon trough […]
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 […]
