1.3 million lightning strikes and a record September downpour: the storms testing WA’s Goldfields
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...
A very low wind power week, likely to continue
A stubborn blocking high over southern Australia will make for a very quiet week for wind generation and the pattern behind it isn’t a one-off. It’s the seasonal signature of a super (very strong) El Niño combined with a positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and both the historical record and the current...
Fastest strengthening El Niño on record: Impacts on Australian monsoon timing and wet season planning
Australia’s Mining and Resources sectors are bracing for a wet season shaped by one of the most rapidly developing El Niño events on record. Looking back at how the strongest El Niño events in Australian history have played...
Australia’s warmest winter on record pushed gas to a 22-year low
Australia just had its warmest winter on record across large parts of the country, and the mild weather produced the lowest gas output since 2004 and cut wholesale electricity prices nearly in half. Despite the unusually warm winter, demand hit a...
Remote WA mining regions hit with nearly 300,000 lightning strikes over past days
WA’s remote mining regions have been impacted by thunderstorm, lightning and heavy rainfall only detectable using remote sensing methods. Nearly 300,000 lightning strikes detected across WA DTN Total Lightning Network (TLN) detected over 288,000 lightning strikes above Western Australia...
A warm, light wind spring ahead for the NEM
A strong El Niño and an unusually stable Antarctic polar vortex are setting up a spring signal of light winds, elevated solar output, and a real risk of high-intensity heatwaves for the NEM. This forecast could be a major flip to what the...
Habagat and successive typhoons trigger widespread flooding in the Philippines
Three consecutive weeks of enhanced southwest monsoon (Habagat) and back-to-back typhoons have flooded Luzon and the Visayas, grounding flights, triggering distribution power outages, cutting off transport corridors, and raising landslide risk across mining-dense provinces like Benguet and the Cordillera....
Australia’s Spring 2026 Bushfire Outlook: Increased Risk Across Seven States and Territories
Fire agencies, land managers and businesses are being urged to prepare as the AFAC spring seasonal bushfire outlook, released on August 19, 2026, warns of elevated bushfire risk across Australia this season. The outlook identifies above-average fire danger across seven...
