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A low over central Aus brings storms & rain to western Qld and the eastern NT. An active monsoon across the northern tropics is bringing scattered showers & storms. Onshore winds bring showers and storms to the east coast, most intense over eastern Vic.
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26 Feb 2026, 11:05PM UTC
Sydney flash flooding after 100 mm in six hours
Heavy rain and thunderstorms inundated parts of Sydney, the Illawarra and the Central Coast over the last 24 hours, with locally intense falls causing flash flooding in some areas. A steady stream of moisture-laden easterly winds feeding into a slow-moving low pressure trough caused heavy and persistent rain along the central coastline of NSW on Thursday into Friday morning. The heavy falls started in the Illawarra on Thursday before spreading north into Sydney from the afternoon and then extending further north to the Central Coast overnight into Friday morning. Image: Composite satellite, radar and lightning strikes over the Sydney region on Thursday night into Friday morning. Source: Weatherzone. Some of the standout rainfall totals in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday included: 131 mm at Mount Pleasant near Wollongong 122 mm at Lidcombe in Sydney, with 109 mm in the six hours and 73 mm in one hour 122 mm at Darkes Forest 115 mm at Shanes Park in Western Sydney, including 74 mm in six hours and 45 mm in one hour 103 mm at Avalon 101 mm at Monda Vale 97 mm at Wamberal The intense rain caused flash flooding in some areas. The NSW State Emergency Service responded to around 500 calls for assistance in the Sydney Metropolitan area during the 24 hours to 6am on Friday. In Fairfield, around a dozen properties were evacuated due to floodwater inundating homes. While rain eased for most of central eastern NSW on Friday morning, further showers and thunderstorms are likely during the day as the trough lingers near the coast. Warnings will be issued if any falls become intense enough to cause further flooding, so be sure to keep up to date with the latest warnings in your area.
26 Feb 2026, 3:02AM UTC
Eastern Australia perfectly positioned for total lunar eclipse next week
A total lunar eclipse will be visible from most of Australia next week on the night of Tuesday, March 3, with eastern Australia in the best position to witness the 'blood moon’ in its entirety. What is a total lunar eclipse? A total lunar eclipse occurs when the entire Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, causing the face of the Moon to be shielded from direct sunlight. The Moon does not become invisible during a total lunar eclipse, despite being blocked from direct sunlight. Instead, the moon turns red as its Earth-oriented face becomes illuminated by indirect sunlight being refracted towards the Moon’s surface by Earth’s atmosphere. As sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, colours with shorter wavelengths (like blue) get scattered and filtered out, while colours with longer wavelengths (like red and orange) pass through Earth’s atmosphere and reflect off the surface of the Moon. This ‘filtering’ of light in the atmosphere is called Rayleigh scattering and it is also what causes sunrises and sunsets to appear orange and red on Earth. Image: Artificial visualisation of how Earth’s atmosphere scatters light during a total lunar eclipse, causing red light to reach the Moon’s surface. Source: NASA / SVS Total lunar eclipses are also referred to as ‘blood moons’ because of their red appearance. How to see next week’s lunar eclipse? All cloud-free areas of Australia will be able to witness next week’s lunar eclipse, although the best viewing orientation will be in eastern Australia. Those in roughly the eastern half of Australia will be able to watch the Moon getting darker as it gradually enters the darkest part of Earth’s shadow (called the umbra). The Moon will then turn red once it fully enters the umbra and becomes completely shielded from direct sunlight. People viewing from Australia’s west will miss the first part of the eclipse where the Earth’s shadow gradually darkens the Moon. However, they will still be able to see the total eclipse close to the eastern horizon shortly after sunset. Image: Total lunar eclipse times for the night of Tuesday, March 3, 2026. These are the start and end times for the total eclipse only and do not include the partial eclipse, which extends roughly one hour before and after the total eclipse. Source: Weatherzone. As is the case with all celestial events, next week’s lunar eclipse will only be visible from areas with clear sky. Unfortunately, there is likely to be cloud cover over parts of northern, central and southeastern Australia on the night of the lunar eclipse. You can find the moon phase and moonrise/moonset times for your location on the Weatherzone app. Image: Moon calendar on the Weatherzone app. Source: Weatherzone.
25 Feb 2026, 11:49PM UTC
Bucketing down in Birdsville and Betoota
The outback deluge continues, with the heaviest overnight falls occurring in the area around the town of Birdsville in far southwest Queensland It’s a very rare day indeed when one of the wettest locations anywhere in Queensland is Birdsville, which sits at the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert. But in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday, Birdsville received 93.2mm. That was: 58% of the town’s annual average rainfall of 161.4mm in one day Nearly five times the average monthly rainfall for February in one day Birdsville’s heaviest day of February rainfall this century Birdsville's heaviest day of rainfall in any month since 2011 Queensland’s second-highest 24-hour rainfall total behind only Fall Creek on Cape York Peninsula. Locations near Birdsville also received heavy falls overnight. Image: 12-hour combined radar and water vapour loop showing heavy rainfall on Wednesday night which eased off in the early hours before re-intensifying on Thursday morning. Source: Weatherzone. Durrie Station, about 105km northeast of Birdsville, collected 92mm in the rain gauge, so it’s reasonable to assume that heavy rain fell another 50km east at Betoota, the map speck which is perhaps best known for the satirical news website named in its honour. As the loop above shows, rainfall has re-intensified in southwest Queensland on Thursday morning. Image: The Betoota Hotel in late January 2026, in much drier times. Source: Josh Feek/iStock. Severe weather warnings in place Just after 4am (AEST), the BoM issued its latest severe weather warning for heavy, locally intense rainfall for the Channel Country (where Birdsville is located) and parts of the North West, Central West and Maranoa and Warrego forecast districts. READ MORE: Mount Isa and Alice Springs break longstanding rainfall records The BoM warned that six-hour rainfall totals between 50 and 80 mm were likely, with expected 24-hour rainfall totals between 60 and 100 mm. Isolated totals of up to 130 mm are possible. Dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is possible in all the areas mentioned with slow-moving lines of thunderstorms on Thursday morning, the BoM added. Please check the Weatherzone warnings page for the latest flooding and severe weather information. Why is outback Australia so wet this week? A slow-moving tropical low has been sitting over central Australia for much of this week and is currently located over the southeast corner of the Northern Territory. Tropical moisture has been feeding this system, and thunderstorm activity is occurring along a trough in the southwest of Queensland, as air moving towards the trough is forced to rise into an unstable atmosphere. This wet and stormy outback weather is not done yet, with tropical moisture set to extend towards southern and southeastern Australia at times in coming days. READ MORE: Simpson Desert tropical low causing flooding in four states