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Unstable air behind a cold front is bringing showers, storms & small hail to Vic, southern NSW & the ACT. Showers are falling as snow in the Alps & highland Tas. Storms also for northeast Qld in unstable N'ly winds. Hot winds in WA: dry in the south, humid in the north.
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Today, 4:31AM UTC
Fire and snow: Australia's chaotic first week of summer
The opening week of summer will feature a dynamic mix of weather across Australia, with extreme fire danger in multiple states, temperatures soaring to the high-40s and a burst of unseasonable snow. An unusual weather pattern will become established over Australia in the opening days of summer, featuring a large high pressure system centred much further north than usual for this time of year. This vagrant high pressure system will drive two contrasting air masses over Australia in the opening days of summer: A large pool of hot air will be pushed over Australia’s west A much cooler air mass will spread across the country’s southeast The map below, which shows Monday’s forecast maximum temperatures across Australia, highlights the contrasting temperatures on the first day of summer. Image: Forecast maximum temperatures in Australia on December 1, 2025. Source: Weatherzone. Cold in the southeast Anyone waking up to the first day of summer in southeastern Australia would have noticed that it was unusually cold for early December. This chilly start to the season was caused by a cold Southern Ocean air mass being driven across the country’s southeast ahead of the approaching high pressure system. Temperatures dropped below 0°C in parts of NSW, Vic and Tas early on Monday morning and some places are likely to have their coldest first day of summer on record due to this unseasonable burst of cold weather. Impressively, this system’s low temperatures have allowed snow to settle on the high mountains in southeastern Australia, giving anyone willing to hike to higher altitudes a chance of some rare Australian summer skiing. Heat in the west While parts of southeastern Australia have shivered trough the start of summer, those living in the west are dealing with intense heat and Extreme fire danger. A large pool of hot air is being pushed over western and northwestern Australia by the high pressure system. Perth is forecast to reach 37°C on Monday and Geraldton had already exceeded 40°C by 11am. Unfortunately, this heat is elevating fire danger ratings in parts of WA, with Extreme fire danger forecast in the Midwest Coast, Midwest Inland, Lesueur, Yarra Yarra and Swan Inland North districts. On Monday morning, emergency warnings were in place for fires burning around Geraldton and total fire bans extended from around Kalbarri to near Perth. Heat spreading east The hot air that is targeting WA on Monday will spread to other areas of Australia later this week as the high pressure system drifts over southeastern Australia and eventually off the country’s east coast. Image: Forecast 850 hPa temperature and mean sea level pressure at 5pm AEDT on Friday, December 5. Source: Weatherzone. The hot air will drift over southern Australia in the middle of the week before intensifying over central and eastern Australia later in the week. Adelaide is forecast to reach the low to mid 30s on Wednesday and Thursday Melbourne, which only reached the mid-teens on Monday, is predicted to hit 29°C on Wednesday and 33°C on Thursday Hobart should reach the mid to high 20s on Wednesday and Thursday Canberra could exceed 30°C for three days between Thursday and Saturday Sydney could also have three days over 30°C starting from Thursday, possibly reaching 37°C in the city and 42°C in the west on Saturday Brisbane will see a few days in the low 30s towards the end of the week Image: Daily forecast for Penrith, NSW in the Weatherzone app. By the weekend, the hot air mass will be extending from WA to NSW, with 40°C heat extending more than 4,000 km across the country.
30 Nov 2025, 10:08PM UTC
Snow, bitter cold, on first day of Australian summer
A light blanket of snow has fallen at the highest elevations of three states – Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales – in a very wintry start to the Australian summer. As a cold front sweeps across the southeast corner of the continent, our two southernmost capital cities – Melbourne and Hobart – are both heading for maximums of just 15°C this Monday, December 1. For Melbourne, 15°C is the average maximum temperature in August, the third month of winter. This was the scene on Monday morning as the sun briefly popped out between snow showers at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains of NSW, with settled snow down to about 1600 metres. Image: The date stamp confirms that this is indeed Australian snow on December 1, 2025. Source: ski.com.au. One Snowy Mountains local got out the skis and hiked up to the top of Mt Perisher, where between 10 and 15 cm had accumulated above about 1800m, with snow showers continuing. Image: Mt Perisher, NSW, on December 1, 2025. Source: Steve Smith. You can see the feed of moist, chilly air with polar origins surging across Tasmania and the southeast mainland in the combined radar and satellite loop below. Image: Combined satellite and radar loop across Tasmania and SE Australia on the morning of Monday, December 1, 2025. How rare are summer snowfalls in the Australian high country? As we wrote last week as weather models started predicting Monday's unseasonably chilly start to summer, summer snowfalls on the highest parts of Australia are actually not that unusual. Airmasses originating in polar latitudes tend to brush southern Australia at least once or twice during the three months of summer. These cold outbreaks are usually short-lived, and that will be the case this week. For example, Melbourne is heading for highs of 28°C by Wednesday and 33°C by Thursday. The incidence of polar outbreaks tends to be much more likely during a negative phase of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). As the graph below shows, the SAM is as low as it has been over the past 12 months. Image: Phases of the Southern Annular Mode over the past 12 months to November 28, 2025. Source: BoM. Does today's weather mean Australia likely to have a cool summer? Not necessarily, no. Image: The Kosciuszko Road near Charlotte Pass, NSW, on December 1, 2025. Source: Steve Smith. As Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino explained last week, it is tricky to predict what will happen this Australian summer due to the competing influence of two climate drivers – the negative SAM and the La Niña which has just been declared. There is also uncertainty regarding the future development of the SAM into December. The BoM’s latest climate outlook predicts that daytime temperatures are likely to be above average across most of Australia from December through to February, with overnight temperatures very likely to be above average across most of Australia. The BoM also predicts that despite the typically wet influence of La Niña, rainfall is likely to be below average for parts of the west and inland parts of the east, with roughly equal chances of above or below average rainfall across the south and along the east coast.
29 Nov 2025, 11:17PM UTC
Contrasting start to summer expected for Australia’s west and southeast
As we head into the beginning of December, the contrasting patterns in Australia’s weather can be summed up in one sentence; Melbourne could have its coldest opening day of summer on record, while Perth has its hottest. This may not be an exaggeration come tomorrow night. For December 1st, Perth’s highest temperature on record is 37.4°C in 1979, while Melbourne’s lowest is a wintry 15.5°C in 1987. Tomorrow’s forecasts for Perth and Melbourne are 38°C and 16°C respectively, although Melbourne could stay even chillier than its forecast with a soggy day expected. Image: Forecast temperature and winds across southern Australia on December 1st 2pm WST using ECMWF. Let’s start with the west, where a typical summer setup is developing. A trough is beginning to extend down the west coast of Western Australia, drawing hot air from the interior towards the west coast. This setup is a regular feature of summers for west and southwest WA, with Perth exceeding 35°C an average of 27 times between October and April. Meanwhile, Melbourne—and in fact southeast Australia in general—has been subjected to an unusually chilly November, with multiple days of snow so far over the mainland Alps and the Tasmanian highlands. We wrote a few days ago that a cold front will likely bring snowfalls on the first day of summer, which you can read more about here. For Melbourne, this cold front will bring thick cloud cover and showers, making it feel much more like the first day of winter than the first day of summer. Image: Forecast accumulated rainfall for the 48 hours to December 1st using ECMWF. Victoria's rainfall should be relatively evenly split between Sunday and Monday. You can see the differing patterns in the forecast synoptic chart for Monday below, with very warm to hot winds pushing through the west coast, and cool southwesterlies accompanying the expected rainfall across the southeast. While Melbourne’s official forecast is 16°C, these persistent showers could keep the day cooler than expected.Image: Forecast synoptic chart for Monday across Australia. Of course, these temperatures are a long way off reaching any all-time December records, and there is still a chance that each of these cities don’t even reach their respective December 1st records. However, the fact that we are talking about the possibility highlights the vastness of the country and the massive contrasts that can eventuate in our weather patterns.