Weather Maps
Daily Forecast
Rain & storms in the northern tropics due to moist flow from monsoon lows. Tropical moisture is streaming south, causing showers WA's west & south. A trough extending through SA brings showers, some heavy. Showers along the NSW, Vic & Qld coasts with humid, gusty winds.
Latest Warnings
AUS
Latest News
Climate Updates
Weather in Business
Latest News
Today, 12:56AM UTC
Brisbane ends record-breaking run of warm nights
Brisbane just dropped below 20°C for the first time this year, ending a record-breaking run of warm minimum temperatures that obliterated the previous record by more than two weeks. Prior to this morning, the temperature in Brisbane had not dipped below 20°C since the start of 2024. This 74-day run of minimum temperatures above 20°C was unprecedented for the city, beating the previous record of 59 days from 1978. Friday morning’s minimum temperature only just spoiled Brisbane’s record-breaking run, dipping to 19.8°C shortly after 5:30am. While not overly cool by Brisbane’s standards, this was the city’s lowest temperature since Christmas morning. One of the main drivers behind Brisbane’s prolonged spell of warm nights in the opening months of 2024 was abnormally warm water lingering to the east of Australia. Sea surface temperatures off the east of Qld and NSW have been running around 1 to 3°C above average over the last few months. These warm waters have limited the cooling influence of onshore winds and southerly changes in southeast Qld, resulting in muggy days and warm nights. Brisbane’s monthly minimum temperatures have been running about 1 to 1.5°C warmer than usual since the start of summer. The unusually humid weather has also been felt across large areas of eastern Australia in recent months, with dew point temperatures running several degrees above average in parts of Qld and NSW over summer. The dew point refers to the temperature the air needs to cool to for condensation to occur. The higher the dew point, the harder it gets for our bodies to lose heat through the evaporation of sweat. Image: Dew point temperature anomalies during summer 2023-24. Source: ClimateReanlayzer.org Despite this morning’s low of 19.8°C, Brisbane might struggle to drop back below 20°C for most of the coming week. Days will also be warm, but nothing abnormal for early-autumn, reaching the high-20s to low-30s for at least the next seven days.
14 Mar 2024, 5:01AM UTC
Southerly busts Sydney's record March warm spell
A southerly change that blew into town around 3 pm will put a stop to a record spell of nine consecutive Sydney March days with max temps of 28°C or higher, which helped make Sydney's warmest start to March in 109 years. The mercury at Sydney's Observatory Hill weather station reached 32°C at 1 pm on Thursday and hovered in the low 30s until just before 3 pm, when the temperature dropped rapidly by several degrees as the southerly kicked in. Sydney top temps will now reach only 25°C or 26°C until at least Monday – much closer to the March average max of 24.8°C – under the influence of south to southeasterly winds and occasional showers. READ MORE: Water near Sydney warm enough to support a tropical cyclone This has been an unusual start to autumn for Sydney, as for most locations on the NSW coast. Indeed it has been the 2nd-hottest start to the season in 160 years of records with an average max of 28.7°C over the first two weeks. What's remarkable is that there have been no extremely hot days skewing the figure, with only one day (today’s 32°C) exceeding 31°C. Back in 1915, when Sydney had its hottest first two weeks of March on record, that fortnight included days with maximums of 37°C, 35°C, 38°C, and 36°C. This March has been very different in Sydney, with no extremely hot days but a pattern of consistent warmth. Sydney has also been very dry to date in March with just 2 mm of rain recorded. The full monthly average for March is 135.6 mm. Image: No more sunbathing for a few days, sorry Sydney. Source: iStock. We should also give Canberra a mention in this story, as the national capital has also sweltered through March 2024 to date. Over the first two weeks of the month, Canberra has averaged 30°C – a whopping 5°C above the long-term March average max. Like Sydney, Canberra has seen no dramatic heat spikes over that period, with consistent warmth punctuated by a hottest day of 34.5°C. Also like Sydney, Canberra can expect several days of cooler weather from Friday onwards, which will be a welcome relief to most locals. The main culprit for the warm spell that has affected Sydney, Canberra, and much of the southeast, has been a blocking upper level high pressure system – the same system we wrote about earlier in the week which helped drag tropical moisture all the way down to southern WA, causing flooding there. At long last, we are seeing a shift in the pattern, with moist easterlies beginning to affect the whole east coast of the continent as a high pressure system becomes centred over the Tasman Sea by the end of the weekend.
13 Mar 2024, 7:00PM UTC
Adelaide ends its 46-day dry spell
Just when it looked like it would be 47 days since a single drop was recorded in Adelaide's official weather station at West Terrace/ngayirdapira, a band of light rain moved through, stopping the rainless streak at 46 days. It wasn't much, but the 0.4 mm that fell around 8:30 am on Thursday meant that: It was the city's 8th-longest rainless spell on record. For the record, the longest was 69 days way back in 1893, a streak that – like the current one – also extended through the months of January, February, and March. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were writing about the heaviest rain in 75 years in parts of South Australia or running stories with the headline "Yet another soaking for Adelaide". But after a wet first half of summer, the rain taps in southern SA well and truly turned off towards the end of January, which is well illustrated in the last few bars of the 12-month rainfall graph which you can find on the Adelaide weather page on our desktop site. Interestingly, the normally parched northeast of the state saw some decent rain in February thanks to tropical moisture tracking south from Queensland, but many other parts of the state had their lowest or equal-lowest rain on record, Adelaide included. Source: BoM. While another 1.2 mm fell in the city up till noon on Thursday with similar falls in the Adelaide Hills, the Murraylands, and the Southeast, the question now is when we'll see some serious rain that is more than just a tease for thirsty gardens. What Adelaide and the whole of southeastern SA needs is a classic cold front out of the southwest bringing moist unstable air from the Southern Ocean, but there is no sign of that sort of weather system on the immediate horizon.
Weather in Business
31 Jan 2024, 5:54AM UTC
Powerful waves to impact port operations
Deceptively powerful surf is forecast for this weekend, as heavy waves originating from the Southern Ocean hit the NSW coastline. The heavy surf will be whipped up by a low-pressure system sweeping across the south of the continent later this week. The map below shows wave heights of 3-4m are expected across the central and southern NSW coast on Friday and Saturday. Image: Significant wave height forecast at 5pm Saturday, February 3 according to Wave Watch III In Sydney waters, wave heights are forecast to peak at 4 to 4.5 metres on the weekend. These wave heights will create very rough seas off the Sydney and Illawarra coasts on the weekend. While the waves will be large, it's the wave period that will generate the deceptively powerful surf. Wave period is the average time between crests (or troughs) of waves. The larger the time difference, the greater the amount of energy associated with the waves or swells. The wave period should reach 10-12 seconds along the Sydney coast and south on Saturday. The map below shows the high period waves impacting the central and southern coastline on Saturday. Image: Wind wave period at 4pm on Saturday, February 3, according to Wave Watch III Looking ahead, the long period swell should move offshore by Monday easing conditions along the NSW coastline. Weatherzone Business offers a comprehensive suite of services, refined through years of collaboration with the marine, ports and offshore industries, to optimise the safety and efficiency of your operations. For more information, please contact us at business@weatherzone.com.au.
04 Jan 2024, 4:03AM UTC
Why did electricity demand hit a record low?
On the closing day of 2023, rooftop solar boomed in SA and Vic while record low energy demand was recorded in the two states. On Sunday, December 31, mild temperatures and sunny skies were behind the new record low energy demand in SA and Vic. The satellite image below shows the clear skies on Sunday across Australia's southeast mainland, which allowed rooftop solar output to become the leading energy source in SA and Vic. Image: Himawari-9 satellite image at 1pm AEDT on Sunday, December 31, 2023. Source: RAMMB/CIRA According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Victoria’s minimal operational demand was 1,564 MW on Sunday, December 31, which beat the previous record that was set Sunday, November 12, 2023. SA’s demand dropped into the negatives on the same day, reaching as low as -26MW on New Year's Eve, which trumped the previous record low set back in October 2023. These new records superseded the ones set only several months ago, showing the National Energy Market (NEM) has had a period of abnormally low demand in the past couple of months. This has been driven by cooler temperatures under the influence of a positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and the waning impact of El Nino in December. The image below shows that on the same day, rooftop solar (yellow) contributed most of SA and Vic energy needs. Image: Vic and SA electricity generation on Sunday, December 31, Source Wattclarity The Image above also shows that wind and solar farms contributed near zero energy demand during the middle of the same day. It also shows that brown coal and rooftop solar were the two main sources of energy for the grid in the middle of the day in the states. On Sunday, winds were relatively light under the influence of a high-pressure ridge extending from Bight to the southern Tasman Sea. According to AEMO, rooftop solar contributed two-thirds of VIC's & all of SA's total energy needs on December 31. New operational demand records set in VIC (1,564 MW) & SA (-26 MW) on 31 December 2023, with #rooftopsolar contributing two-thirds of VIC's & all of SA's total energy needs. On the day, wholesale electricity prices averaged -$66.54 & -$73.02 ($/MWh) in SA & VIC, respectively. pic.twitter.com/0JUorY4wG4 — AEMO (@AEMO_Energy) January 2, 2024 Rooftop solar has been increasing year-on-year since 2018, driven by a boom in solar installations across Australia. Looking ahead, January looks to be wetter and cloudier than average across much of the NEM. February is expected to see near-to-below average rainfall and cloud, which could increase solar output in the closing month of summer.