Australia seems addicted to warmth as it fights off winter with strong high pressure systems. As autumn was finishing up Australians everywhere having been talking about how unusually warm it was with winter close at hand. The more knowledgeable people around the water-cooler would then comment that it's due to a blocking high in the Tasman Sea. This high was the culprit for blocking the cold fronts reaching the southeast and directing warmth from the north into the south. Winter officially began on Sunday, but the cold still isn't here and neither is the blocking Tasman high. Australia is still holding winter-like conditions at bay, but for the next two weeks the high is instead going to sit over central Australia. This will keep the warmth flowing, but many Australians will see a new trend in the weather. The biggest change in the weather will be experienced on the east and west coasts due to the new placement of the high pressure system. Australia's eastern states have seen exceptionally warm, and generally dry, weather in the past three weeks (except for last weekend). The high off the coast drew warm and dry northerlies across the mainland. During the next couple of weeks the high over mainland Australia will allow troughs to form off the coast, bringing more consistent showers along the NSW coast. However, the warmer than usual conditions will prevail with a lack of strong cold fronts. In the nation's west the story is almost in reverse. During the past three weeks rainfall has been abundant, with Perth recording 11 consecutive days with rain in the gauge and their first wetter than average month in almost a year. This week the high pressure system will direct warm and dry easterlies over the state. The high will also weaken fronts as they approach for the next two weeks, limiting rainfall to small amounts near the coast. In Australia's south, the high over mainland Australia will have a fairly similar affect to when it was in the Tasman Sea. During the next two weeks there will only be the occasional weak front. Otherwise fairly sunny and calm conditions will prevail. The tropics will also continue to stay fairly dry, with only the Queensland tropics likely to see heavier than recent under the new set-up. Australia's interior will continue its descent into its dry season. The high pressure system will produce near to above average temperatures under sunny skies. In two weeks time this high pressure system is likely to break down, allowing stronger fronts to bring more typical winter weather to our nation. Maybe then our nation will cut its addiction to warmth.