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Showers and gusty storms over southwest WA with an approaching low. Cloud, rain, and storms about eastern WA and western SA with an advancing trough of low pressure. Patchy rain areas extending east across remaining SA, Vic, and Tas in brisk W'ly winds behind a second trough.
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Today, 7:11AM UTC
Outback October heat records broken in three states
Temperatures have soared to previously unrecorded levels for October in numerous locations in outback South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. While we can’t report the official maximums (as they are calculated on the 24-hour period from 9am to 9am), Monday’s record-breaking readings and notable temperatures included: Queensland Birdsville reached 44.9°C, the hottest temperature recorded thus far in Queensland this Monday, and just 0.2°C shy of the statewide record for October. The mercury soared to 44.2°C at Ballera in the Channel Country. This broke the old October record of 42.9°C at this weather station situated near a gas field which has been operational since 1998. Thargomindah, also in the Channel Country in Queensland’s far southwest, reched 43.1°C. This broke the record at Thargomindah Airport (data since 1999) and equalled the old Thargomindah Post Office site record (data since 1879). Image: Turn left for extreme October heat. Source: iStock/TonyFeder. South Australia Moomba Airport was SA’s hottest place up until 5pm (ACST) with a reading of 44.1°C recorded earlier in the afternoon. That beat the old October record of 43.5°C (data since 1995) which was also the record at the old town site (data since 1972). Oodnadatta hit 44°C just after 3:30pm. The tiny town of 100 residents holds SA’s October record of 45.4°C and jointly holds Australia’s heat record (any month) of 50.7°C. New South Wales Tibooburra in the state’s far northwest corner had the state's equal-highest temperature of 42.6°C to 5pm. This beat the old October record of 42.4°C at the post office site (data back to 1886) and also beat the monthly record of 42.1°C at the airport site (data since 1997). White Cliffs, about 250 km southeast of Tibooburra, reached 42.3°C. That comfortably exceeded the old record of 41.7°C (data since 1901). Image: Predicted maximums on Monday, October 20, 2025 across the areas covered in this story and slightly further afield, according to the ECMWF model. The pool of unseasonably warm air in Australia’s interior will begin to dissipate in South Australia on Tuesday, however the SW corner of Queensland and the NW corner of New South Wales can expect another scorcher on Tuesday. Tuesday’s temperatures at some locations could even potentially exceed Monday’s, which obviously means that more records could tumble. The heat will push all the way to the east coast by midweek, with Sydney in potentially record-breaking October heat territory on Wednesday with a forecast maximum of 38°C in the city and 39°C in the west. Brisbane should reach 35°C on Thursday with the mercury rising a few degrees higher west of the city in places like Ipswich.
Today, 12:27AM UTC
October on track to beat hottest November on record for Sydney
Sydney’s days have been so hot this October that the city is currently on track to break the average maximum temperature record for November. Frequent westerly winds, a lack of cloud and rain, and repetitive bouts of hot air from inland NSW have caused Sydney’s daytime temperatures to run about 4 to 5°C above average so far this month. Based on current forecasts, which include highs of 33°C on Monday and 38°C on Wednesday this week, Sydney’s average maximum temperature for October could come in at just above 27.1°C. This would be roughly 5°C above average for this time of year. If this happens, it will not only beat the previous October record of 26.2°C from 1988, but it will also trump the November record of 27.0°C from 2019. No spring month has ever been this hot in Sydney’s meteorological history, which dates back to 1859. Image: Forecast air temperature and wind at 2pm AEDT on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, showing warm northwesterly winds flowing towards Sydney. Why is Sydney so hot and dry this month? In a typical October, Sydney would experience periods of warm and dry weather interspersed with bursts of mild and stormy weather. This month, however, the dry and hot days have been plentiful, while cooler and wetter days have been scarce. One of the main reasons for Sydney’s extremely warm weather this month has been the ongoing influence of a negative Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in the Southern Hemisphere. A negative SAM occurs when the belt of westerly winds that flows around Antarctica becomes displaced to the north. Because this westerly wind belt passes between Australia and Antarctica, a negative SAM during spring typically causes westerly winds to become more prominent over southern and eastern Australia. For eastern NSW, a negative SAM in spring promotes hot and dry westerlies. The SAM has been in a negative phase for most of September and October in response to a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event that occurred high above Antarctica over the past several weeks. Image: Geopotential height anomalies for the polar region south of 65°S over the past four months. The red shading on the top graph shows a period of sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in September and October. The blue bar graph at the bottom shows that this SSW has been associated with a predominantly negative southern annular mode (SAM) this spring. Source: NOAA This month’s prolonged and strong negative SAM is likely a big reason for Sydney’s relentless run of warm and dry days. Climate change is also likely playing a part, with Sydney’s springtime maximum temperatures having increased by close to 0.7°C since 1910.
19 Oct 2025, 1:40AM UTC
Severe storm aftermath in eastern Australia
Thunderstorms developed on a southerly change and trough moving north across northeast NSW and into southeast Qld during Saturday afternoon and early evening. Image: Archive image of a thunderstorm and lightning over Brisbane City. iStock:Credit:EyeEm Mobile GmbH Image: Infrared satellite images with superimposed radar (green-yellow shading) and lightning strikes (blue-red boxes) for 2:45pm (left), 4:45pm (middle), and 6:45pm (right) EDST. Reports came flooding in on social media of hail, strong winds and intense rain as severe thunderstorms developed inland from the north NSW coast mid-afternoon and then proceeded across southeast Queensland later in the afternoon before finally weakening and contracting off the Wide Bay coast mid-evening. Images of golf ball sized hail were posted from Samford (Qld) along with video of small to medium sized hail covering property yards across southeast Queensland from places such as Bellmere, Narangba, Jimboomba, and Moggil to name a few. Very strong winds were also captured on video as a storm passed over Jimboomba. The path of individual thunderstorms can be seen from detected lightning strikes during Saturday afternoon. Image: Lightning strikes (red dots) captured by DTN's Global Lightning Network between 2pm and 5pm EDST. Black arrows show the path of stronger individual thunderstorm cells. Overall, the total lightning strike count from DTN's Global Lightning Network for this event was near to 272,000. The strongest observed wind gusts within storms were reported in Queensland. The more notable wind gusts were (times reported in AEST): Dalby (Qld) - 80km/h at 3:16pm Amberley (Qld) - 80km/h at 4:09pm Gayndah (Qld) - 70km/h at 5:30pm The higher rainfall totals during this event were observed across more elevated areas through inland southeast Queensland with many centres under the path of stronger thunderstorm cells experiencing totals ranging between 25-30mm. For the Brisbane Metro and Gold Coast regions, rainfall totals were generally less than 10mm. Image: 24-hour rainfall totals to 8:15am 19 October 2025. Source: Bureau of Meteorology Saturday was a wild ride for many residents over northeast NSW and southeast Queensland. Thankfully, the weather pattern across the broader region today is more settled as gentler E/SE winds bring milder temperatures and a couple of lighter showers developing in the afternoon about the coast and neighbouring inland regions.