Prosper in a dynamic world
Search

Sydney had its cloudiest fortnight in more than 20 years

 

Over the last fortnight, eastern Australia was hit by major a major rain and flooding event which stretched thick cloud across 1000 km of the eastern seaboard. The relentless cloud reduced solar output across NSW as the event unfolded. 

The thick cloud cover and heavy rain during this fortnight was fueled by an atmospheric river feeding moisture-laden air into a series of slow-moving upper-level low pressure systems. This dynamic weather setup also featured several surface-based low-pressure troughs and East Coast Lows. 

Sydney averaged just 3 hours and 15 minutes of sunshine per day during the fortnight leading up to Tuesday, March 8, well below the city’s average of 6.5 hours per day. This is the cloudiest fortnight Sydney has seen in more than 20 years.  

During this period, the city saw four days without any sunshine at all as thick clouds plagued the city. 

Solar generation impacted by cloud cover  

February and March’s prolific cloud cover reduced solar generation across eastern NSW for a number of days during this event. 

The maps below from Weatherzone’s partner, Solcast, show how thick cloud cover reduced solar irradiance on March 2 and March 6. 

 2nd march 

6marh

Image: Solcast’s Solar irradiance data for Australia on Wednesday, March 2 (top) and Sunday, March 6 (bottom), showing thick cloud impacting eastern Australia. 

Data from OpenNEM reveals a significant drop in solar output during the last week of February into the first week of March in NSW. There was also a noticeable impact on solar output in SA and VIC last month.  

The graphs below show daily solar generation (rooftop and utility combined) during the last 30 days for NSW.  

 nsw

Image: Daily solar generation (rooftop and utility combined) during the last 30 days for NSW. Rooftop is lighter yellow and utility is darker yellow.  Source: OpenNEM. 

Solar power is becoming increasingly important in the Australian energy markets; however, the variable nature of solar generation poses significant challenges for integration into the electricity industry. 

Weatherzone, in partnership with Solcast, provides solar power forecasting and solar irradiance data, for both large-scale solar farms and small-scale PV systems, plus their grid or regional aggregates. 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.

Indian heatwave relief on the way

Rain and thunderstorms are expected to spread over heatwave affected parts of northern India and Pakistan in the coming days, bringing much needed relief to people and infrastructure. Northwest India and Pakistan have been scorched by intense heat reaching well into the 40s over the past two weeks. The capital of India, New Delhi, had […]

Positive SAM and warm oceans dominate Australia’s winter outlook

The Pacific and Indian Ocean climate drivers remain in a neutral phase, with weather around Australia continuing to be dominated by more local effects. Pacific Ocean climate driver The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has returned to a truer neutral phase, after trending towards a La Niña-like phase during summer. Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) across […]

Long weekend rain and storms to impact Victoria and NSW

An outbreak of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms will impact Victoria and NSW over the coming long weekend. As seen in the synoptic image below, this outbreak of storms and wet weather will be caused by a broad low pressure trough and cold front. Image: Synoptic image for Friday, 25 April. As the weekend goes […]

Intense heatwave over northern India pressures people and the energy grid

A heatwave scorching northern India over at least the next seven days will place a tremendous strain on people and infrastructure. The images below show the concerning heating pattern taking hold of India’s north as the week progresses. Maximum temperatures are shown reaching the low to mid 40s on Wednesday, April 23 (top image), the […]