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A front crossing southern waters is bringing gusty winds & showers to southern SA, with showers spreading to Tas & Vic. Showers develop over SW WA in the wake of the front. A high over the southeast is driving onshore showers along the Qld's tropical north coast, SE Qld & NE NSW.
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Today, 1:08AM UTC
Why do clouds float?
Clouds are made up of water droplets and ice crystals. So, why don’t they fall to the ground? Clouds appear to defy gravity by hovering above Earth’s surface every day. If you can’t see any in the sky above you, a quick look at the latest images from a weather satellite will show a variety of cloud formations stretching across the planet. Being an everyday occurrence, a cloud’s ability to hang in the sky might seem unimpressive. But have you ever wondered how clouds manage to float while other precipitation, including rain, hail and snow, fall to the ground? Perfect balance between gravity, buoyancy and updrafts A cloud's ability to float comes down to a delicate balance of forces: gravity against buoyancy and updrafts. In the context of Earth’s atmosphere, gravity is the force that pulls objects towards the ground. It acts on everything in the sky, including clouds. It never switches off. If you throw a ball in the air, gravity is what brings it back down. There are also other forces that oppose gravity in the atmosphere, including buoyancy and updrafts. Image: Low-level clouds are usually composed of small water droplets while high clouds often contain tiny ice crystals. Source: iStock / guvendemir. You may be familiar with buoyancy in water – it’s the force that keeps boats and rubber duckies afloat. But the atmosphere also has buoyancy that tries to push objects upwards in the opposite direction to Earth’s gravitational pull. However, the buoyancy of air is much weaker than the buoyancy of water, which is why boats can’t fly. Why updrafts matter Rising air currents – known as updrafts – also oppose the force of gravity in the atmosphere and the stronger the updraft, the more it acts against gravity when an object is trying to fall. If an object is small enough, the upward force of buoyancy and rising air currents can match or exceed the downward force of gravity. Image: Three main forces acting on rain drops and cloud droplets. Source: Weatherzone. Cloud droplets are so small – typically less than 0.02 mm in diameter – that the force exerted on them by Earth’s gravity is also small. In areas where relatively warm air is rising in the sky, this small gravitational force is counteracted by this updraft and the atmosphere’s buoyancy. Cloud droplets are so small that they fall very slowly, meaning even a weak updraft can keep them afloat. What happens when cloud droplets get too big? The small size of cloud droplets is the key to clouds being able to hover in the sky. When cloud droplets start to get too large, their mass increases the force of gravity, which eventually outweighs the opposing force of buoyancy and rising air currents, causing them to fall towards the ground. Some raindrops can grow to around 6 mm in diameter. An important note about raindrops is that small changes in their size make a surprisingly big difference to their weight. Double the width of a droplet and its volume increases eightfold. When water droplets in clouds get too heavy, they fall as rain, hail or snow. Next time you see a cloud in the sky, take a moment to stop and appreciate the natural balancing act taking place in the atmosphere.
27 Jul 2026, 1:33AM UTC
Midweek cold front to bring rain, snow, strong winds to the southeast
A classic midwinter cold front will surge across southeastern Australia on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing rain, strong winds, and snow to higher elevations of Tasmania and the mainland alpine region. While this will not be a particularly powerful or long-lived system, it will still bring a burst of cold, wintry conditions that will punctuate a period of relatively stable weather either side of it. You can see the system brewing over the waters of the Great Australian Bight, southwest of the WA/SA border, in the satellite loop below. The system will track rapidly eastwards over the next 24 to 48 hours. Image: Satellite loop for the two hours to 10:30 am (AEST) on Monday, July 27, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. As Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino explains, “the low pressure system passing over Tasmania on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning will drive cold air and moisture over southeastern Australia during the middle of this week.” How much rain and snow can be expected? As the chart below shows, the heaviest precipitation is likely in western and central parts of Tasmania, while parts of the South Australian and Victorian coastlines and mountainous areas of the southeast can also expect a good drop of rain or snow. Of the southeastern capitals, Melbourne could do best, with an event total of around 10 mm likely, which would take Melbourne up from its running monthly total for July 2026 of 40.0 mm to around the July average of 47.1 mm. For the mainland ski areas, snowfall totals of 10 to 20 centimetres are likely. This would be a handy top-up, but would definitely not qualify as a season-defining snowfall event. Image: Accumulated rainfall forecast for SE Australia up until 10 am on Thursday, July 20, 2027, according to the ECMWF model. Source: Weatherzone. The most recent reading at Spencers Creek – the highest of three sites in the Snowy Mountains of NSW where hydro-electric operator Snowy Hydro has regularly measured snow depths in the cooler months since 1954 – was 68 cm on July 21. The average depth at Spencers Creek for the end of July over 72 years of data is around 120 cm. The season with the lowest peak depth on record was 2006, with 85.1 cm in late August. Due to snow compaction, it’s possible that we still won’t have exceeded the 2006 high mark after the coming event. Image: A comparison of the lightest snow season on record, 2006 (light blue), and the 2026 season to date (dark blue). Source: Snowy Hydro. Fortunately for snow enthusiasts and snow industry businesses, we still have the whole of August to come – and the recent trend towards a negative Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is historically a good pointer towards the prospects of snowfalls, although it is no guarantee. Please check the Weatherzone snow page for the latest forecasts, live cam images and more.
26 Jul 2026, 3:50AM UTC
Frosty mornings and clear sunny days – a wintry weekend for northeast NSW and southeast Queensland
Residents across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland could certainly be forgiven for reaching for an extra blanket over Friday and Saturday night — and for electing to stay a little longer in bed the following mornings. It was especially cold across elevated inland areas of northeast NSW, where temperatures plummeted well below zero on both nights. Image: Saturday (25th July) morning 6:00am temperatures. Source: DTN/Weatherzone. The coldest minimum across the country on Saturday morning was -9.1 degrees C at Glenn Innes. Other cold centres in NSW and Queensland are presented in the table below. Table: Minimum temperatures observed Saturday 25th July 2026. It was very cold over inland northeast NSW(Glen Innes) It was another cold Saturday night and early Sunday morning across northeast NSW and inland southeast Queensland as the mercury again fell below zero. Image: Sunday (26thJuly) morning 6:00am temperatures. Source: DTN/Weatherzone Glenn Innes was once again the coldest centre this morning (Sunday 26th) dropping down to -5.8°C. While it was a slightly colder morning across inland southeast Queensland as Oakey dropped to -5.4°C this morning compared to -3.6°C Saturday morning. The minimum temperature for other locations across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland for this morning is listed in the table below. Table: Minimum temperatures observed Sunday 26th July 2026. Why have the mornings been so cold this weekend? Late last week, a cold front passed over southeast Australia. In its wake, a cold airmass advanced northward in southwesterlies across eastern NSW, eventually reaching southeast Queensland by the weekend. A key feature of this airmass was its low moisture content, which suppressed cloud formation over northeast NSW and southeast Queensland during Friday and Saturday — and more importantly, overnight — resulting in clear, starry skies. Adding to this, rising surface high pressure and a developing high-pressure ridge across inland NSW stabilised the airmass and brought light to calm winds overnight. The result: clear overnight skies and an efficient transfer of surface heat to outer space, driving those cold morning temperatures. The images below highlight the expansive area of dry air (low dew point temperatures) and the absence of cloud cover over inland regions of northeast NSW and southeast Queensland during the early mornings of Saturday and Sunday. A quick note on dew point temperature — it is a direct measure of the moisture content present in the atmosphere. A lower dew point indicates a drier airmass; conversely, a higher dew point means greater moisture content and that sticky, humid feeling familiar to anyone who has spent time in the tropics. Image: Dew point temperature (moist air [aqua] scaling to drier air [deep orange]), mean sea level pressure (black lines) and cloud cover (light grey) at 6am on Saturday 25th July (left) and Sunday 26th July (right). Source: DTN/Weatherzone. A temporary reprieve from the cold mornings is expected early in the week, as showers across the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands districts of NSW and Queensland's South Coast district bring increased cloud cover and atmospheric moisture to the region. The relief will be short-lived, however — a cold front moving across southeast Australia mid-week is expected to usher in another round of cold, frosty mornings across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland by week's end and into the following weekend. Town forecasts for the next 10 days are available on the Weatherzone website (https://www.weatherzone.com.au). For those living inland across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland, it's not time to pack the extra blankets away just yet — cold, wintry nights remain on the forecast. The good news is that clear skies and sunny days are expected to dominate throughout the coming week.