There are no active warnings for this location.
Weather Maps
Daily Forecast
A low, trough and a cold front bring storms & rain to the south NT, Vic, NSW & Tas. An active monsoon across the northern tropics is bringing scattered showers & storms. Onshore winds bring showers to the east coast. Clearer over west WA.
Latest Warnings
AUS
Latest News
Climate Updates
Latest News
Today, 12:05AM UTC
How to see tonight's total lunar eclipse in Australia
A blood moon will be visible across cloud-free areas of Australia tonight, Tuesday March 3. Here’s how to watch the total lunar eclipse and which areas of the country will have the best view. What is a lunar eclipse? A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth becomes positioned between the Sun and the Moon, causing Earth’s shadow to shield the Moon from direct sunlight. This alignment causes the Earth-oriented face of the moon to appear red or orange as certain wavelengths of indirect sunlight are redirected towards the Moon’s surface by Earth’s atmosphere. The Moon’s red/orange colour during a total lunar eclipse is why it is also called a ‘blood moon’. What to expect during a lunar eclipse? The most visible part of this week’s lunar eclipse will last for around three hours in Australia. This will start with a phase called the partial eclipse as the Moon begins to move into the central, darkest part of Earth’s shadow, which is called the umbra. This phase of the eclipse looks like a huge bite is being taken out of the moon and it gradually gets larger as more of the Moon enters Earth’s umbra. The next phase of the eclipse is called the total eclipse, which occurs when the whole moon is positioned inside Earth’s umbra. While the moon gradually turns red or orange towards the end of the partial eclipse phase, the strongest colour is seen during the total eclipse. Following the total eclipse, the Moon will gradually exit Earth’s umbra and pass through a second partial eclipse phase. This will cause the Moon to return to its normal colour and gradually grow back into a regular full moon as it moves out of Earth’s shadow. Each of these three phases will last for around one hour on Tuesday night. Image: Total lunar eclipse times for Australian capital cities. Partial eclipses will occur for roughly one hour on either side of the times mentioned here. Source: Weatherzone. Where will there be cloud during the eclipse? Total lunar eclipses are safe to watch with a naked eye and can also be viewed using binoculars or a telescope. The main thing that will spoil your view of a blood moon is cloud. Large areas of northern Australia will be covered with cloud on Tuesday night due to an active monsoon trough in the tropics. This could prevent Darwin, Cairns and Broome from seeing part or all of the eclipse. The remnants of the low pressure system that caused flooding rain across central Australia in the past week will also bring cloudy skies to parts of southeastern Australia on Tuesday night. This will obstruct the view of the blood moon in parts of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Some lingering cloud over central Australia could also spoil the show in areas of southwest Queensland and some southern areas of the Northern Territory. Most other areas of southern and western Australia will be cloud-free on Tuesday night. Image: Modelled cloud cover at 8pm AEDT on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. You can check local cloud cover forecasts and track the latest satellite observations in the Weatherzone app. When is the next eclipse in Australia? If you miss Tuesday night’s eclipse, you’ll have to wait nearly three years to see the next blood moon in Australia. The next total lunar eclipse will occur on the night of December 31, 2028 into the early hours of January 1, 2029. Another big eclipse to put in the diary is a total solar eclipse on July 22, 2028. Parts of Australia, including Sydney, will get to witness day suddenly turn to night as the Moon completely covers the face of the Sun for just under four minutes.
02 Mar 2026, 3:51AM UTC
Tropical cyclone risk increasing near Australia this week
Multiple tropical cyclones could form in the Australian region this week, increasing the threat of severe weather in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. An active monsoon trough will cause more widespread cloud, rain and thunderstorms over northern Australia throughout the week. This active monsoon period will also cause several low pressure systems to develop near northern Australia. Multiple lows forming near Australia Computer models suggest that three or four low pressure systems could form near northern Australia in the coming days. While there is uncertainty regarding the position and strength of these systems, the most likely areas for the systems to form will be to the north of WA, in the Gulf of Carpentaria and over the Coral Sea. Forecast guidance from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) suggests that there is greater than an 80% chance of tropical cyclone formation to the north of WA this week. Further east, this model rates the likelihood of tropical cyclone activity in the Gulf of Carpentaria to be above 50%, while there is around a 40% chance of tropical cyclone formation in the Coral Sea this week. Image: Likelihood that a tropical cyclone will pass within 300 km of a given location within a 48-hour window centred on 11pm AEDT on Thursday, March 5, 2026. Source: ECMWF. The Bureau of Meteorology also indicates an increased risk of tropical cyclone formation in these regions, although gives lower probabilities of cyclone formation, ranging from 15 to 35%. Rain and severe weather risk increasing Regardless of whether or not tropical cyclones form near Australia this week, the presence of the monsoon trough and multiple tropical low pressure systems will generate widespread rain across northern Australia. Some computer models also suggest that at least one of this week’s eastern low pressure systems will drag heavy rain over central and southeast Qld towards the end of the week. The map below shows how much rain one computer model is predicting over Australia this week, highlighting the potential for heavy rain in northern Australia and eastern Qld. Image: Forecast accumulated rain this week, according to the ECMWF model. Source: Weatherzone. If tropical cyclones do develop this week, parts of northern and eastern Australia could experience intense rain, flash flooding, damaging to destructive winds, large waves and coastal inundation. Active tropical cyclone season for Australia This week’s increased tropical cyclone potential continues an active 2025-26 tropical cyclone season to date. Since the start of November 2025, nine tropical cyclones have formed inside, or moved into the Australian region. This is already roughly equal to the long-term average number of cyclones for a typical season, which runs until the end of April. This week has the potential to add several more tropical cyclones to the season’s tally. The next four tropical cyclones to form inside Australia's area of responsibility will be named: Narelle Oran Peta Riordan
02 Mar 2026, 1:10AM UTC
Heavy rain continues in Murray-Darling Basin
Heavy rain continues to fall in the Murray-Darling Basin after some of the biggest 24-hour and 48-hour rainfall totals in years in parts of South Australia, northern and western Victoria, and far western News South Wales – some of which were record-breaking. Notable rainfall totals in the 24 hours to 9am Monday included: 103.2mm at Mount Woowoolarah – a western NSW cattle station just a few kilometres from the SA border. It is very unusual for the highest NSW rainfall reading to occur in a location so far west. 100.6mm at Arcoona Bluff in South Australia’s North East Pastoral district. That’s also a huge fall for that area. 83mm at Mildura Airport after 65.8mm the day before. That brought the two-day total to well over half the average annual rainfall in the far northwestern Victorian city on the Murray River. 63.4mm at Bendigo Airport, the heaviest fall in the Victorian city in over two years. 57.2mm at Broken Hill after 26.8mm the previous day, which was almost exactly a third of the far southwestern NSW city’s average annual rainfall in two days. 26.4mm over three days in Adelaide, which was actually a very moderate total for the event compared to many parts of SA, but it was still the city's heaviest rain in months. As Weatherzone meteorologist Maryam Al-Ansari wrote on Sunday, some of the rainfall records that tumbled on the weekend included 96.4mm that fell at Horsham in the 24 hours to 9am Saturday. That was the highest daily February rainfall total on record for the town in the Wimmera region of far western Victoria, and another 61mm has fallen since in the first two days of March. Image: 8-hour radar loop for Victoria and nearby areas to 10:30am (AEDT) on Monday, March 2, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. What next for this rainy system? As you can see on the radar loop above, rain has largely cleared South Australia now, while Tasmania also got a good overnight soaking which has mostly pushed offshore for now. But large rainbands continue to surge across Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT. The chart below shows one model’s predicted rainfall accumulation up until late on Tuesday night. As you can see, a broad part of the southwestern mainland is in line for falls of 20mm or more, with totals potentially up around the 100mm mark in some areas. Image: Predicted rainfall accumulation to 11pm on Tuesday, March 2, 2026, according to the ECMWF model. The Murray-Darling Basin (where rain that falls ends up in the Murray or Darling Rivers) is located within the black line. Source: Weatherzone. What’s causing this ongoing heavy rain? This is the same unusually long-lasting inland low pressure system which brought locally huge rainfall totals to parts of the outback, including the Simpson Desert. The low has been slowly tracking southwards, dragging tropical moisture with it. Decaying tropical cyclones are often the engine for systems which transport tropical moisture to Australia’s southern states, but that has not been the case on this occasion. What is the flooding situation? Numerous minor flood warnings are in place for many of the areas mentioned in this story, but this is not yet a widespread serious flooding event, despite the heavy rainfall totals. However, that could change. Please check the Weatherzone warnings page for the latest information.