Prosper in a dynamic world
Search

A great week for solar

Much of Australia will not see a drop of rainfall this week, with clear skies expected to increase solar output.

The satellite image below shows much of Australia basking in Autumnal sunshine on Monday morning. 

Image: Himawari-9 satellite image at 12:20pm AEST on Monday, May 20 

The relatively dry week comes as a stubborn high-pressure system parks itself over southern Australia for the week. 

The map below shows the forecast rainfall over the next 7 days. While most of Australia is expected to see a dry week, the largest totals will fall in Far North Qld, western Tas, parts of NSW, and southwest WA. 

Image: Accumulated rainfall forecast to 10pm on Sunday, May 26, according to ECMWF 

A cold front will sweep across Tas on Thursday, bringing showers to the state. Meanwhile, another cold front is approaching southwestern WA, which will bring showers and thunderstorms on Friday as it crosses.  

Far North Qld will see the largest daily totals from mid to late week as a southeasterly airstream strengthens and feeds moisture into the region. The south-facing coastline around central and northern NSW should also see showers stream in on Tuesday, before easing later in the week. At this stage, the good news is that the week should be free of severe weather. 

Weatherzone Business and Solcast are a market-leading partnership delivering highly specialised solar data to the Australian renewable energy industry. For more information, please contact us at apac.sales@dtn.com.   

 

Latest news

Satisfy your weather obsession with these news headlines from around the nation, and the world.

El Niño Is Here: What a Potential Record Event Means for Southeast Asia and Australia

  El Niño was officially declared in June 2026, raising the prospect of widespread impacts across Southeast Asia, from extreme heat and water shortages to higher energy demand and agricultural stress.   The World Meteorological Organization has warned countries to “prepare for it to be severe”, while several global forecast models suggest the event could rank among […]

How El Niño will shape Australian port operations in winter-spring 2026

Australian ports and marine pilots can expect a season of shifting wind and swell patterns through winter and spring 2026, as a developing El Niño brings the likelihood of drier conditions and more variable operating windows across the country’s coastline.  Will El Niño develop in 2026?  There are clear signs that an El Niño pattern is becoming […]

From Kimberley to northern NSW: Bushfire outlook flags risk for resources sector this winter

Bushfire risk doesn’t usually make headlines in June, but AFAC’s winter seasonal outlook is putting mining and resources operators on alert from the Kimberley to the NSW.  Australia’s official seasonal bushfire outlook for winter 2026 was released by AFAC on Thursday, May 28. The outlook predicts increased fire risk across the northern parts of the Great Sandy Desert and surrounds […]

The signal was there weeks earlier: forecasting one of the year’s biggest wind events

In mid-May 2026, DTN APAC meteorologists flagged a strengthening Southern Ocean pattern in model guidance, signalling an extended run of record-challenging wind conditions across the NEM.  Nearly three weeks later, NEM wind generation climbed from around 1.5GW to more than 9GW, supplying roughly one-third of the grid and coming within 1GW of the all-time generation record.  The event highlighted […]