Australian Weather

27 Mar 2026, 11:28PM UTC

Residents of southeast Queensland woke up to dramatically cooler temperatures this morning. In fact, the following Queensland locations experienced their coldest March morning on record: Amberley's minimum temperature of 6.2°C was the coldest March temperature in more than 84 years of records.  Toowoomba's temperature of 8.1°C was the coldest March temperature in more than 29 years of records.  Gold Coast Seaway's temperature of 12.8°C was the coldest March temperature in more than 32 years of records.  Image: minimum temperatures for Saturday, 28 March 2026. Source: Weatherzone.  In Brisbane, the temperature dropped to 14.1°C this morning, making it the coldest March morning in 18 years. It was also the coldest temperature recorded in the River City since early October.  Why did it get so cold this morning? One contributing factor was a southwesterly change which occurred yesterday, 27 March 2026. Southwesterly winds yesterday ushered in a much drier air mass, lowering the dew point in Brisbane from 15.8°C at noon to -2.4°C at 7pm, and making these record-breaking cold temperatures possible.  This cold snap will be short-lived. East to southeast winds will return for the new week, bringing higher dew points as well as milder overnight temperatures. 

27 Mar 2026, 12:59AM UTC

The northwest coast of Western Australia is feeling the full force of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle as the system’s very destructive core skirts along the coast. At 8 am AWST on Friday, Narelle was a category 4 tropical cyclone located about 70 km southwest of Exmouth, with wind speeds near its core averaging 175 km/h and gusts to 250 km/h. Powerful winds, flooding rain and large storm surge Numerous weather stations along the Pilbara coast registered destructive (above 125 km/h) to very destructive (above 165 km/h) wind gusts on Friday morning, including: 200 km/h at Learmonth 163 km/h at Thevenard Island 150 km/h at Onslow Airport 148 km/h at Barrow Island Image: Enhanced infrared satellite image showing Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle near WA’s North West Cape on Friday. Source: Weatherzone. Narelle is also causing heavy rain and flooding. During the 24 hours to 9 am AWST on Friday, Barrow Island and Learmonth both received more than 200 mm, while Onslow Airport and Roebourne received more than 100 mm. Large waves, ferocious onshore winds and Narelle’s low pressure produced a large storm surge, which reached around 3 metres above the normal tide level at Exmouth on Friday morning. Severe weather spreading south Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle will move towards the south on Friday, passing close to the North West Cape before moving over the western Gascoyne district. While the system will weaken as it tracks south, it is expected to be a category 4 or 3 system as it crosses the coast and moves over land into Friday afternoon and evening. Narelle’s southward track will cause its severe impacts, including ferocious winds, heavy rain and storm surge, to spread further south across the western Pilbara and Gascoyne districts on Friday. The system will weaken further as it tracks inland across the Central Wheatbelt on Saturday, causing rain to spread across the WA’s South West Land Division and western Goldfields district. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 48 hours ending at 8pm AWST on Saturday, March 29, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Landfall in three states and/or territories Tropical Cyclone Narelle is only the third system since 1980 to make landfall in three Australian states and/or territories. Narelle’s first coastal crossing was in northern Queensland on March 20. It then crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria and made a second landfall over the eastern Top End of the Northern Territory early on March 22. Its third landfall today over WA makes it the first system since Tropical Cyclone Ingrid in 2005 to make landfall in three Australian states and/or territories as a tropical cyclone. The only other system to do this in records since 1980 was Steve in 2000.