Australian Weather

Today, 1:18AM UTC

A multi-day tropical deluge is likely to cause flooding in parts of Queensland between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Stormy leadup to Christmas Showers and thunderstorms are already affecting parts of Qld in the leadup to Christmas as a plume of tropical moisture feeds into a low pressure trough extending over the state. Image: Modelled precipitable water and mean sea level pressure on Tuesday, December 23, 2025. Intense storms on Monday night dumped 76 mm of rain in one hour at Georgetown Airport and 58 mm in 30 minutes at Marion Downs. A severe thunderstorm warning was also issued in parts of southeast Qld on Tuesday morning due to the risk of heavy rain and flash flooding. Rain and thunderstorms will continue over much of Qld between now and Christmas Day, including the state’s southeast, with a risk of severe thunderstorms bringing periods of intense rain and localised flash flooding. Heavy rain after Christmas The days following Christmas could become very wet for some areas in Qld, with computer models predicting enough rain to cause flooding between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It is important to point out that there is some disagreement between models regarding this post-Christmas rain, so forecasts may change a bit in the coming days. At this stage, a coastal trough and an inland low pressure system are expected to interact with copious tropical moisture to cause widespread rain and storms over central and northern Qld from this Friday, December 26 through to at least early next week. The areas currently most likely to see heavy rain and flooding from this system are central and northern Qld, extending from the central coast up to the Gulf of Carpentaria and across the border into the NT. The maps below show how much rain is being predicted by three different computer models between now and early next week. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 7 days ending at 10pm AEST on Monday, December 29, according to the ECMWF model. Source: Weatherzone. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 7 days ending at 10pm AEST on Monday, December 29, according to the ACCESS-G model. Source: Weatherzone. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 7 days ending at 4am AEST on Tuesday, December 30, according to the GFS model. Source: Weatherzone. Anyone in Qld should keep a close eye on the latest forecasts and official warnings between now and the end of the year for the most up to date information. You can also find regular updates on the Weatherzone news feed.

22 Dec 2025, 11:42PM UTC

Perth will be by far the hottest Australian capital city on Christmas Day, with a maximum of 41°C expected as a broad area of heat bakes the west coast and nearby parts of Western Australia’s inland. The mercury should also rise to the low-40s in WA’s fifth-largest city Geraldton (about 400km north of Perth) on Christmas Day for the third consecutive day. The BoM is predicting low to severe heatwave conditions all the way from Broome in the Kimberley region to Albany in the South Coastal forecast district for the three days from this Tuesday, December 23. Image: The BoM’s Predicted heatwave map for WA for the three days starting Tuesday, December 23, 2025. Why so hot in the west? A strong high pressure system centred over waters southwest of Australia is directing hot air from the continent’s interior over WA, as air circulates in an anti-clockwise direction. That’s part of the equation. Image: Synoptic chart for Tuesday, December 23, 2025, showing the position of the high which is causing heatwave conditions in parts of Western Australia. The other factor contributing to heatwave conditions is a heat trough currently positioned over WA's west coast. Also locally known as a west coast trough, this is a low pressure zone that often forms during the warmest period of the year at the boundary between the flow of hot air from the interior and the cooler air over the Indian Ocean. "The current trough's axis is oriented northeast to southwest, which means it's anchored over northwest WA and then pushes offshore," Weatherzone meteorologist Corine Brown explains. "That means that sea breezes are prevented from developing along the coast, allowing heat to keep building throughout the day. "A delayed sea breeze should kick in late on Christmas Day for coastal centres as the trough moves closer to the coast, but they'll have reached scorching temperatures well before then." Image: The approximate position of the heat trough on Christmas Day is where hot winds from the east and cool winds from the west converge in this chart (the direction that wind the is travelling is indicated by the plain ends of the wind barbs). A heat trough usually sticks around for at least a few days and can last for a week or more. This week’s event should dissipate after Christmas Day, with a return to more comfortable conditions in Perth and the entire South West Land Division from Boxing Day onwards for several days. Perth should reach 27°C on Boxing Day after its 41-degree Christmas Day scorcher, with a run of three days with maximums of 29°C in Geraldton from Friday through to Sunday. Image: Hourly graphs for Geraldton, WA, on the Weatherzone app. Perth’s average December maximum is 29.5°C while Geraldton’s is 31.5°C.