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A few showers are developing over VIC and TAS, ahead of an approaching cold front. A humid, unstable airmass across the Top End and WA's north brings isolated showers and storms. Moist onshore winds bring a couple of showers to coastal QLD.
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Today, 3:59AM UTC
Heatwave gripping northern Australia this week
A burst of unusually hot weather will cause severe to extreme heatwave conditions across parts of three states and territories in northern Australia this week, with the heat also elevating fire danger ratings in some places. Northern Australia is certainly no stranger to heat at this time of year. The country’s highest temperature ever recorded in October came from the Pilbara town of Port Hedland, where the mercury soared to a searing 46.9°C back in 2002. But even hot places can have heatwaves, and the Bureau of Meteorology defines a heatwave in Australia as: “When the maximum and minimum temperatures are unusually hot over 3 days. This is compared to the local climate and past weather.” Temperatures will be unusually hot for several days and nights in northern Australia this week thanks to a high pressure ridge lingering over southern Australia, which will help trap a hot and dry air mass over the country’s north. The highest absolute temperature this week are likely to occur in the north of WA, although parts of the WA, the NT and Qld will experience a heatwave. Image: Heatwave severity forecast for the three days starting on Tuesday, October 22. Image: Heatwave severity forecast for the three days starting on Friday, October 25. The hot weather in northern Australia this week will be associated with surges of dry air being pushed towards the north from the interior. This hot, dry and windy weather will elevate fire danger ratings in some areas throughout the week. On Monday, smoke from numerous fires could be seen across the NT, including a vast area of smoke that was capture by the afternoon sea breeze along the southwest coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Image: Smoke being pushed inland by a sea breeze from the Gulf of Carpentaria on Monday, October 12, 2024. A fire weather warning is in place for the Exmouth Gulf Coast in WA on Tuesday due to predicted extreme fire danger ratings. Forecast models also suggest that extreme fire danger could occur in parts of the NT’s Barkly region on Friday.
21 Oct 2024, 11:50PM UTC
Melbourne's warmest day since March
Anyone who has ever attended Spring Carnival racing knows that Melbourne's maximum is just as likely to be 12°C with hail as it is to be 32°C with bright sunshine in the period from mid-October to early November. This Tuesday is one of those mid-spring days where temps will be on the upper end of the scale, with a maximum of 32°C in store for Melbourne. That will make it Melbourne's warmest day in seven months and the first time the mercury has reached 30°C since March 18. Temps will also top 30°C across much of Victoria, with a state high of 36°C expected at Mildura, as a relatively short-lasting tongue of warm air pushes across the state ahead of an approaching cold front. There's not a whole lot of bite to that front. As Wednesday's synoptic chart shows, the front will barely clip southern Victoria – although it will score a direct hit on Tasmania where a little midweek snow can be expected at the highest elevations. But winds will still swing around to a southerly aspect and push much cooler air onto the mainland, especially later in the working week. Melbourne maximums will dip to 21°C on Wednesday as a few mostly light showers sweep through, then to a much cooler 16°C and 17°C on Thursday and Friday respectively. Racegoers can then expect a very pleasant and mostly sunny max of 23°C for the Cox Plate at The Valley this Saturday – which for once, will be perfect weather for anyone who has forked out the big bucks to frock up.
21 Oct 2024, 12:19AM UTC
Warm start to the week in southern Australia
Parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania will experience a burst of warm weather at the start of this week, briefly increasing fire danger ratings in some areas. The satellite images below show a cold front crossing southwestern Australia on Monday morning. Image: Visible satellite images showing clouds over Australia on Monday morning. This animation above reveals a large field of speckled clouds on the western side of the front, indicating a cold air mass coming from the southern Indian Ocean. Ahead of the cold front, a much warmer air mass is being driven towards southern Australia by a strengthening flow of pre-frontal northerly winds. Warm air ahead of the approaching cold front will cause temperatures to climb around 8 to 12°C above average in parts of SA, Vic and Tas on Monday and Tuesday. Image: Forecast near-surface air temperature anomaly at 5pm AEDT on Monday, October 21, according to the GFS model. Source: Tropical Tidbits On Monday, temperatures are forecast to reach around 30°C in Adelaide and over 40°C in the west of SA. This heat is expected to cause Extreme fire danger in SA’s West Coast district and High fire danger in other western and central parts of the state on Monday. A relatively weak southerly change will then bring cooler air to southern parts of SA on Tuesday as the hotter air is forced further east into Vic, Tas and southern NSW. Melbourne is forecast to reach 29°C on Tuesday and Hobart should reach around 25°C, which are about 8 to 9°C above average for this time of year. Parts of northwest Vic, western Tas and central and eastern SA could see High fire danger ratings on Tuesday amid the brief burst of warm weather. While this two-day pulse of warm weather is not going to cause catastrophic fire danger, these spells of early-season heat can help dry out vegetation to create more fuel for fires in the summer months. Visit the South Australian County Fire Service, Victorian Country Fire Authority and Tasmania Fire Service websites for more details on fires in each state.
Weather in Business
28 Aug 2024, 3:51AM UTC
Gales and crosswinds cause disruptions at Sydney Airport
Gale force west to northwesterly winds are creating havoc at Sydney airport on Wednesday afternoon, with all six landing and takeoff options impacted by very strong cross winds. Sydney airport saw gale force west to northwesterly mean wind speeds of 65km/h at 12:30pm, while the site has been gusting up to 82km/h. These winds are too strong for all three runways (six landing and takeoff options) to be used safely, airport traffic typically peaks during light winds. The image below shows that two of Sydney Airport’s parallel runways are orientated from north to south, and one single runway runs from west to east. Image: Sydney Airport runway orientation showing two parallel runways running north/south and one west/east, Source: Sydney Airport The west-east runway is the longest and can accept the largest aircraft, the A380. The gale force west to northwesterly winds on Wednesday are causing around 25 knots of crosswind on each of the six runway options. Image: Weatherzone’s cross wind calculator in our Aviation Dashboard showing cross wind or X wind of 24 to 25 knots. The term ‘crosswinds’ refers to winds that blow perpendicular to the runway, which can generate a significant lateral force on the aircraft, making it difficult for pilots to maintain a stable trajectory. The strong crosswinds can cause the plane to drift off course, posing a serious risk to both the aircraft and its passengers. Sydney Airport typically changes runways when there’s sustained crosswind gusts above 20 knots (37km/h). However, on Wednesday crosswinds are affecting all runways, meaning that aircraft are often opting to use the two north-south runways to increase traffic. This has meant that some flights have tried twice to land in these difficult conditions. It is very rare for crosswinds to impact all runways and therefore this event is causing significant disruptions at the airport on Wednesday. This event is not isolated to the Sydney area, numerous severe weather warnings for gales and damaging and/or destructive winds are in place across four states and the ACT, as a strong cold front lashes Tasmania and southeastern parts of the continent. So when will these winds die down? Conditions will ease somewhat by Wednesday evening, but not before the Sydney airport peak hour between 5 and 7pm. Winds will intensify again on Friday and into the weekend as further fronts whip through southern parts of the country.
23 Aug 2024, 5:01AM UTC
A great week for Tassie Hydro
Hundreds of millimetres of rainfall are forecast for western Tasmania in the next week, which will help replenish hydroelectric lakes in the region after some of the lowest rainfall on record. Hydropower is Tasmania’s main source of electricity, with frequent rain filling Tassie Hydro’s 54 major dams and feeding into 30 hydropower stations. In fact, during winter, the state usually exports electricity to Victoria, via the underwater Basslink. In summer, when it is usually drier, the state relies on the National Electricity Market (NEM) for a top up of power. Image: Hydroelectricity dam at Strathgordon in Tasmania According to Hydro Tasmania, they produce around 9000 gigawatts of clean renewable electricity from hydropower, enough to power 900,000 homes or businesses. The map below shows the catchments and power stations scattered across Tasmania; the largest lakes used for hydro are the Great Lake and Gordon-Pedder. The rain that falls in these catchments or dams is collected and used to generate electricity. Image: Hydro catchment areas. Source: Hydro Tasmania Usually, the west coast of Tasmania is the wettest due to prevailing westerly winds from cold fronts passing over the state, which tend to be blocked by vast mountains through central areas. During the past three months, unfortunately, this has not been the case for the west coast. Overall, the area has seen below average rain, reaching record lows in the far northwest, while the east coast saw average to above average rain. Image: Tasmania rain deciles between May 1 and July 31, 2024. Source: Bureau of Meteorology During July 2024, rain in western and central Tasmania was in the lowest 10% of Julys since 1900. The below average rain has affected water storage across western Tasmania, with some areas seeing record low or very much below average streamflow. The Great Lake was only 25.1% full by the end of July, which is a 10.4% decrease from the same time last year. Image: Streamflow decile categories for July 2024. Source: BOM The good news is that rain is on its way, with a complex low pressure system set to direct several cold fronts across the state in the coming week. Western Tasmania is forecast to see around 100 to 200mm of rain in the next 7 days, which could help fill up the western lakes, including the Gordon-Pedder. Eastern Tasmania, however, will see slightly less rain, with widespread falls of 30 to 50mm and isolated falls of 60 to 80mm. Image: Accumulated rain forecast for the next 7 days leading up to 10pm AEST on Thursday, August 29. Some of these totals will fall as snow as a cold airmass moves over the state from mid to late next week. Looking ahead, the rain should continue next Friday, August 30, and into the weekend as the low continues to linger over the region.
