New data has revealed that the Southern Hemisphere just saw a record-breaking run of positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM) values, and this run is set to continue until at least the end of the year. Here’s what that means for Australia. What is the Southern Annular Mode? The SAM is simply an index that’s […]
However, once the hot air spreads to low-lying regions in norhwestern Australia later this week, temperatures could approach 50ºC. The image below shows predicted surface air temperatures from the ECMWF-HRES model on Saturday and Sunday. Both days of the weekend have the potential to see temperatures of around 50ºC somewhere in the north of […]
Australia’s farmers are expected to post a record-breaking $78 billion agricultural production value in 2021-22, thanks in part to the first back-to-back La Nina events in a decade. Despite flooding rain delaying harvests and destroying some crops in parts of eastern Australia last month, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences […]
A lengthy investigation is underway in the U.S. following a potentially record-breaking outbreak of tornadoes in the country’s mid-Mississippi Valley late last week. Multiple tornado-producing thunderstorms tore across several states in the southeast U.S. on Friday, December 10, into the early hours of Saturday morning. Amid this devastating barrage of tornadic storms was a […]
A tropical low located to the south of the Solomon Islands has the potential to intensify into a tropical cyclone this weekend. The satellite image below shows the low in at 9am AEDT on Friday. The large mass of cloud in the image shows that there is a lot of convection occurring near the developing low, which is common in the early stages of tropical cyclone […]
A low-pressure system will drive heavy rain and strong winds into south-eastern NSW and far eastern VIC during the next couple of days, with flooding possible in some areas. An upper-level pool of cold air passing over NSW will allow a low-pressure system to develop at the surface, somewhere near the state’s southern or central coast on Thursday and Friday. This surface-based low-pressure system will cause two to three days of heavy rain, blustery winds and […]
While the remainder of the country is experiencing cloudy and rainy conditions, Perth’s mercury is soaring this week. A stubborn high-pressure system in the Bight is responsible for this heatwave, with hot and dry northeasterly winds prevailing over the west coast for a week. Perth has already seen four consecutive days over 31 degrees to Tuesday, November 7, and there’s another three days on the forecast. In total, Perth is expected to reach seven consecutive days over 31 degrees. The […]
La Niña just helped Australia register its wettest November on record and wettest spring in 11 years. So, why was this La Niña so much wetter than last year’s La Niña? Going back-to-back La Niña was officially declared during the last week of November 2021, making this the second consecutive La Niña year in a row. This is the first time we have […]
Summer has arrived in Australia after the country’s wettest November on record and the coolest November in 21 years. So, what’s in store for the next three months? A wet end to spring La Niña and several other climate drivers helped deliver record-breaking rain across Australia during spring. The country as a whole just registered its wettest November on record, rounding out Australia’s wettest spring in 11 years. The maps below show Australia’s rainfall deciles for November and spring as […]
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 […]
