There are no active warnings for this location.
Weather Maps
Daily Forecast
A trough and a stream of tropical moisture are causing thunderstorms and heavy showers over the tropics while drawing increasingly heavy rain and thunderstorms into SA, northern Vic and southern and western NSW. Cold fronts crossing Tas are producing showers, mainly in the west.
Latest Warnings
AUS
Latest News
Climate Updates
Latest News
Today, 12:09AM UTC
Autumnal equinox almost here – what this means for Australia
The Southern Hemisphere’s autumnal equinox will occur later this week, marking the date when day and night are roughly equal in length across Australia. What is the equinox? There are two equinoxes each year, one in March and another in September. Each equinox marks the moment the Sun appears to be positioned directly above Earth’s equator. This happens because Earth’s axis is tilted neither towards nor away from the Sun at the equinox. At all other times of the year, the Earth’s Southern and Northern Hemispheres are either tilted towards or away from the Sun. Image: Earth’s orientation relative to the Sun on the date of the equinoxes. Source: Weatherzone. Following the equinox in March, the Sun appears to become positioned above the Northern Hemisphere as Earth’s North Pole becomes tilted towards the Sun. By contrast, Earth's South Pole tilts away from the Sun after the March equinox. This year’s March equinox will occur at 2:46 pm UTC on Friday, March 20, which will be Friday night or early Saturday morning in Australia. Almost equal day and night Day and night are nearly equal in length for most places on Earth on the date of the equinox. However, the March equinox day is slightly longer than its night for two main reasons: Sunrise and sunset are defined as the moments the top edge of the Sun reaches Earth’s horizon at the start and end of each day. Because the Sun’s face is a large disc and not a single point, it takes several minutes for the face of the Sun to rise and set. This adds a bit of extra daylight at either end of the day. If sunrise and sunset were defined as the moment when the centre of the Sun reached the horizon, then day and night would be closer to equal length on the date of the March equinox. Earth’s atmosphere bends light. This means sunlight is visible even when the Sun is just below the horizon. For most places on Earth, day and night are closest to equal length a few days after the March equinox, on a date called the equilux. This year’s autumnal equilux will fall between March 23 and 29 for most of Australia. Following the equilux, nights will be longer than days in Australia for around six months, until the next equilux occur in late September. With the March equinox almost upon us, this also means that cooler temperatures and more wintry weather are on the horizon for Australia.
16 Mar 2026, 3:17AM UTC
Uluru’s wettest day in a decade as heavy rain targets central Australia
More than 100 mm of rain has fallen at Uluru over the last two days as a plume of tropical moisture fuels unusually heavy rain in central Australia. The rain and thunderstorms have been soaking parts of central Australia since Saturday as a broad low pressure trough draws tropical moisture across the Red Centre. The slow-moving nature of this trough, combined with copious atmospheric moisture, is resulting in substantial rainfall in some areas. Torrential rain at Uluru Yulara Airport, near Uluru, received 76.4 mm during the 24 hours ending at 9am on Monday, which was its wettest day in a decade. Another 34.4 mm of rain then fell between 9am and midday on Monday, making more than 100 mm in less than 30 hours. The rain over the last couple of days was more than three times Uluru’s entire monthly average at this time of year, with about 33 mm falling during a typical March. It’s also the first time since 2016 that Uluru has seen more than 100 mm across two consecutive days. Rain continuing this week Wet and stormy weather will continue to target central Australia into the first half of this week, affecting parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. The image below shows how much rain one computer model – the ECMWF model – is predicting over Australia this week. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 72 hours ending at 11pm AEDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. As of midday ACST on Monday, a severe weather warning was in place for heavy rain and flash flooding in parts of the NT’s south and southwest, including the Uluru region. Another warning was also in place for heavy, locally intense rain in the north of SA. This warning mentioned the risk of “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding” from potential rain rates of 80 to 120 mm in six hours, most likely north of Marree during Monday night into Tuesday morning. Further severe weather warnings and flood warnings may be issued over central Australia during the next few days as ongoing heavy rain and thunderstorms continue to affect parts of the NT, SA, Qld and NSW.
15 Mar 2026, 6:19AM UTC
Flooding in the Daintree after Sunday morning deluge
A surge of very moist southeasterly winds is bringing heavy rain to Qld's North Tropical Coast district today, Sunday 15th March. Locations around Daintree and Mossman have been hardest hit, with Mossman Treatment Plant, Rex Creek Intake, Yandill, Whyanbeel Creek and Bairds producing 345mm, 337mm, 299mm, 285mm and 264mm respectively in the 12 hours to noon today. Almost a quarter (73mm) of Yandill's 299mm total fell in just the single hour to 8am AEST. A similar amount fell in the 60 minutes to 9am AEST over Low Isles Lighthouse, contributing almost 40% of the site's daily rainfall total (184.4mm). You can just see the Low Isles outlined to the east of Wonga Beach and Mossman in the image below, under a heavy rainband (yellow to red colour). Image: Satellite and radar imagery showing a heavy rainband over the Low Isles and Daintree area at 9:50am AEDT (8:50 AEST) on Sunday, March 15, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Meanwhile, the rainfall at Bairds, as well as additional rainfall in the surrounding area, has contributed to a sharp rise in the Daintree River level, currently standing at 10.9m at Bairds and 7.25m at Daintree Village at the time of writing. As such, a flood warning is currently in place for these locations, with moderate flood levels expected to persist overnight Sunday into Monday. Image: River conditions at 2:45pm AEST, showing moderate flooding (amber triangles) along the Daintree River at Bairds and Daintree Village, with minor flooding occurring at a few other locations between Mossman and Innisfail. Source: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. Further south, Cairns airport saw its wettest March day in 8 years, with 193.4mm falling in the gauge to 9am today, almost half the airport's March monthly average. From tomorrow, there will be a reprieve from these torrential conditions as southeasterly winds ease. However, there are signs that a tropical low or low-end tropical cyclone could cross the North Tropical Coast late this week, bringing a fresh deluge and renewed river level rises to the region. There is still plenty of uncertainty with that system at the moment, so make sure you stay up to date with warnings here over the coming days.