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Today, 12:51AM UTC
Sea of early autumn fog across four states
A huge area of fog formed on Thursday morning across parts of southeastern Australia which have been soaked by recent rainfall. Fog is most common in Australia in late autumn, winter and early spring, and the first week of autumn is not normally a time you'd expect to a see such a widespread fog event. But as you can see on the loop below from 7:30am to 11:30am (AEDT), a thick of blanket of fog was present in parts of South Australia, Victoria, the ACT and New South Wales before it burned off as the morning warmed up. Image: Four-hour satellite loop showing fog over the SE mainland on March 5, 2026. What caused the widespread fog event? This event was caused by a combination of current weather conditions and recent rainfall. In terms of today's weather, it was relatively clear and calm for much of the night, which allowed the air above the ground to cool sufficiently. Extensive ground moisture from recent widespread heavy rainfall contributed to the air reaching 100% humidity (the saturation point required for fog to form) just above the ground. Image: A distinct arc of morning fog through parts of Vic and SA which was gone well before midday on Thursday, March 5, 2026. "This was very early in the season for such an extensive fog event," Weatherzone Director of Meteorology Duncan Tippins said. "It was a product of the moisture content of the recently saturated soil from the recent rainfall event. "Because we're only in early autumn, the soil is still warm which likely assisted the transfer of moisture back into the atmosphere." As you'd expect after a foggy morning, many of the areas that were socked-in earlier are now experiencing sunny afternoons. For example, visibility was down below 50 metres at Mount Gambier Airport in South Australia around 5am today but local conditions have been clear since the fog lifted.
04 Mar 2026, 5:37AM UTC
Satellite imagery reveals water in usually dry SA lakes
It’s not just Australia’s largest salt lake Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre that has water at the moment. South Australia has numerous other large salt lakes which are usually bone dry, but many are now filling after the extremely heavy outback rain which fell last week and into the weekend. Satellite imagery taken by NASA satellites shows the water in the SA lakes and the streams flowing down from Queensland using enhanced colours. What the false colours mean To help you interpret the enhanced or "false" colours, the NASA Worldview website explains that: Liquid water on the ground appears very dark since it absorbs in the red and the SWIR [Short-Wave [Infrared]. Sediments in water appear dark blue. Ice and snow appear as bright turquoise. Clouds comprised of small water droplets scatter light equally in both the visible and the SWIR and will appear white. These clouds are usually lower to the ground and warmer. High and cold clouds are comprised of ice crystals and will appear turquoise. Image: Satellite imagery taken on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, showing water in the Australian outback. Source: NASA Worldview. If you look carefully at the image above, you can see areas of relatively dark blue water, indicating sediments, or muddy dirt, in the water. That’s thanks to rainfall totals that exceeded 100mm in a day at numerous South Australian locations, with totals approaching 200mm in two days at some locations. For example, Hawker (Flinders forecast district, just east of Lake Torrens) and Yunta (North East Pastoral) both topped 170mm in the first two days of March. This was close to Hawker’s annual average rainfall, while it was well over half of Yunta’s. That's why surface water can be seen in normally dry salt lakes like Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner, which lie south of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Image: Satellite image of Lake Gairdner in South Australia on March 4, 2026. Source: NASA. How the other lakes are different from Lake Eyre in terms of infill When Lake Eyre fills, it tends to be from water that falls outside South Australia, thanks to tributaries like the Georgina River, Diamantina River and Cooper Creek which transport floodwaters down from Queensland. The other large South Australian salt lakes tend to rely on localised heavy rainfall, which is much rarer in Australia’s driest state of SA. Looking ahead: this week's weather Meanwhile South Australia’s outback regions can expect a return to the dry weather which is typical for early autumn for the remainder of this week. Adelaide can also expect a sunny spell. It’s a different story in Queensland, where the weather will turn stormy across much of the state later this week.
04 Mar 2026, 1:22AM UTC
Queensland tropical cyclone and flood risk, but uncertainty is high
Heavy rain and blustery winds will hit northern Queensland later this week as a tropical low or tropical cyclone crosses the coast on Friday. There is also a risk that heavy rain will spread across central and southern parts of the state towards the end of the week, but uncertainty is higher for these areas. Tropical low heading towards northern Qld On Wednesday morning, a tropical low was located over the northern Coral Sea to the north of Willis Island. The system’s low-level circulation centre could clearly be seen on satellite images, along with large areas of convective cloud building to the west of its centre. Image: Satellite images showing a tropical low over the northern Coral Sea on Wednesday morning. Source: Weatherzone. This tropical low is currently expected to move towards northern Qld on Wednesday and Thursday before making landfall somewhere between Cooktown and Townsville on Friday. At this stage, the system should be a tropical low or weak tropical cyclone when it reaches the Qld coast. The Bureau of Meteorology gives this system a moderate risk of reaching tropical cyclone strength before landfall. Regardless of whether the system remains a tropical low or becomes a tropical cyclone, the impacts for northern Qld should include heavy rain, localised flash flooding and blustery winds as it approaches and crosses the coast. Following landfall, the low pressure system is expected to move inland, allowing rain and storms to spread over northern Qld into the weekend and possible early next week. This forecast may change in the coming days as the tropical low continues to develop. The Bureau points out that “people in the north tropical coast of Queensland should monitor forecasts for updates.” Heavy rain risk for central and southern Qld Some computer models suggest that a second low pressure system could track towards the south near the Qld coast later this week. If this does happen, rain and storms could also spread over central and southeast Qld from Friday into the weekend, with the potential for moderate to heavy falls. It’s important to note that there is a high amount of disagreement between computer models regarding where this low will move. Some models keep it off the coast while tracking towards the south, while others have the low sitting closer to the coast. This disagreement makes it difficult to predict where and how much rain will fall. At this stage, there is a possibility of rain and storms spreading over central and southeast Qld from Friday into the weekend. However, there isn’t enough confidence in the forecast to say which areas will see heavy rain and flooding. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the next seven days, according to the ECMWF-HRES model. Source: Weatherzone. Anyone living in central and southeast Qld should stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings in the coming days for the most accurate information.