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A front is bringing rain & storms, some intense, to WA's west & south. Isolated showers & storms are affecting WA's north in a trough. Showers in eastern Australia are becoming confined to eastern NSW as a trough weakens. A high is keeping Qld, Vic, Tas, SA & the NT largely dry.
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Today, 4:30AM UTC
Australia's snow season on track for one if its worst on record
The Australian Alps are experiencing one of their worst snow seasons on record, with the snowpack rapidly declining during what should be the deepest week of the year. The Australian snow season officially runs from June to October, typically starting and ending on the long weekends in each month. In an average year, the snowpack usually becomes established in May or June, then builds from June to August and reaches a peak depth in late August or early September. The snow depth then gradually drops in September and October as spring warmth causes the snow to melt. This season has not followed that typical pattern. The snowpack didn’t become established until July and since then, repetitive bouts of abnormally warm air and rain have continued to suppress the natural snow depth. Large areas of the Alps, particularly the lower elevations, have struggled to maintain much of a snowpack at all this season. How deep was the snow this season? According to manual snow depth measurements carried out by Snowy Hydro, this season’s peak snow depth at Spencers Creek in NSW (1830 m above sea level) was 94.5 cm on August 13. This is well below the site’s long-term average peak depth of 196.2 cm. If 94.5 cm remains Spencers Creek’s season peak for 2026, this will be the third lowest peak depth in records dating back to 1954. It would also be only the third time Spencers Creek’s manual readings have remained below the one metre mark all season, joining 91 cm in 1982 and 85.1 cm in 2006. Image: Spencers Creek peak snow depths from 1957 to 2025. Source: Weatherzone. The Spencers Creek snow depth measuring site sits at around 1830 m above sea level, roughly in between the Perisher and Thredbo ski resorts. This is widely regarded as the best long-term snow depth record in the Australian Alps. Snowy Hydro also measures snow depths at two other locations further down the mountain. One is Deep Creek at around 1620 m elevation, and the other is Three Mile Dam at 1460 m elevation. For both sites, the current peak depths for 2026 are the lowest on record, with 8.3 cm on August 6 at Deep Creek and 5.5 cm on August 11 at Three Mile Dam. The maps below show snow cover captured by polar orbiting satellites in August this year and August 2021. While both images show snow on higher terrain in the Alps, there is noticeably less snow in the lower valleys in 2026 compared to 2021. Image: Visible satellite image showing snow cover in the NSW Alps on August 14, 2026. Source: Copernicus / Sentinel-2. Image: Visible satellite image showing snow cover in the NSW Alps on August 10, 2021. Source: Copernicus / Sentinel-2. Snow melting quickly during the typical season peak The long-term average peak snow depth at Spencers Creek occurs around August 30, which means this Sunday marks what should be the best snow depth of the season. Unfortunately, the snow has been melting since the middle of August thanks to repetitive rounds of warm air and rain. Automated snow depth readings suggest that the snow depth around the Spencers Creek area have dropped by about 35 cm since the middle of August. This means that there is currently less than 70 cm of natural snow on the ground at a time of year that averages 196.2 cm. Why has the snow been so bad this season? Snow requires two key ingredients: cold air and moisture. This season has had plenty of moisture passing over the Australian Alps, but it has often been too warm for this to fall as snow. Thredbo Top Station is Australia’s highest weather station, located at 1957 m above sea level near the top of the Kosciuszko chairlift at Thredbo Resort. This station has registered 638.2 mm of precipitation so far this season, as of 9am on Thursday, August 27. This is almost double the site’s long-term winter average of 323 mm and makes this season Thredbo’s 4th wettest winter in records dating back to 1967. If the air was cold enough to make this precipitation fall as snow, this would have been one of the best snow seasons on record. Unfortunately, it was too warm. The average maximum temperature at Thredbo Top Station this winter, as of 9am on August 27, was 2.47°C above the long-term average. This has been Thredbo’s warmest winter on record based on mean maximum temperatures. The combination of above average rain and above average temperatures in the Australian Alps this season is likely due to the combined influence of: A strong and intensifying El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean Above average sea surface temperatures surrounding most of Australia, with temperatures more than 2°C above average in the Tasman Sea to the east of the Alps The background warming influence of climate change Will there be more snow this season? Looking ahead, there are no signs of heavy snow during the rest of August and the opening week of September. It is possible for late-season cold fronts to deliver big dumps of snow in late-September and October. However, seasonal forecast models are currently predicting below-average rain and above average temperatures in the Alps for the next two months, which does not bode well for snow.
26 Aug 2026, 12:43AM UTC
Intense "training" rainfall soaking southwest Western Australia
A slow-moving cold front will continue to cause heavy rain in southwestern Australia on Wednesday after some areas collected more than 50 mm of rain in less than six hours on Tuesday night, prompting warnings for flash flooding. Cold fronts are not unusual in the southwest of Western Australia during winter. However, the front crossing on Tuesday and Wednesday this week is causing intense rainfall due to its slow movement over the region. Slow-moving cold fronts allow rainfall to persist over a region for a prolonged period, which can significantly increase accumulated rainfall totals and boost the risk of flash flooding. When multiple showers or thunderstorms pass over one region repeatedly, meteorologists refer to this as ‘training’ because the showers or storms are travelling along a line that is stationary, similar to train carriages moving along a track. The radar animation below shows showers training over the southwest of WA on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Image: Composite radar and satellite images showing showers training over southwestern Australia early on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. A rain gauge at Ravenscliffe, located southeast of Busselton, registered 50.8 mm of rain in the five hours ending at 12:30 am on Wednesday. Busselton also picked up 20 mm in less than three hours late on Tuesday night. The heavy rain on Tuesday night prompted the Bureau of Meteorology to issue a severe weather warning for flash flooding in parts of WA’s South West and Lower West districts. Persistent rain and thunderstorms will continue in these areas on Wednesday, possibly causing six-hourly rain rates of 30 to 60 mm. While Perth was not included in the warning area early on Wednesday morning, rain will spread north across the city during the afternoon and may cause isolated heavy falls. Drier weather will return to the southwest of WA on Thursday as the rain spreads further north and east across the state. Beyond the southwest, this weather system will continue to impact other parts of WA in the coming days. A slow-moving upper-level low pressure system is expected to cause several days of rain and thunderstorms over the central and southern interior of WA between Thursday and Sunday, including the Goldfields, Central Wheat Belt, and Great Southern districts. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 72 hours ending at 8 pm AWST on Friday, August 28, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. The Bureau may issue further severe weather or severe thunderstorm warnings as this system continues to impact WA over the coming days.
25 Aug 2026, 1:40AM UTC
Rain and storms hitting eastern Australia as SA records heaviest August rain in decades
A low pressure system will continue to drive rain and thunderstorms across parts of eastern and southeastern Australia on Tuesday after delivering the heaviest rain in four years to parts of South Australia on Monday. The low pressure system and an associated trough are tapping into abundant atmospheric moisture to cause widespread rain and storms across parts of southern, central and eastern Australia in the first half of this week. On Monday, the heaviest rain fell over southern parts SA while a long line of thunderstorms stretched more than 1,500 km north across the Red Centre into the Northern Territory. This wet and stormy weather then spread further east on Monday night into Tuesday morning, affecting parts of NSW, Victoria and Queensland. The Weatherzone Total Lightning Network detected around 70,000 lightning pulses across SA, the NT and western Qld between midday on Monday and 6am on Tuesday, AEST. Image: Observed lightning pulses within 800 km of the marker shown on the SA/NT border during the 18 hours ending at 6am AEST on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Heaviest August rain in decades for parts of SA Multiple bouts of rain fell over the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide region on Monday and Tuesday morning. These areas saw widespread 24-hour rainfall totals of 20 to 50 mm with isolated falls around 60 to 70 mm. Some of the standout rainfall totals during the 24 hours ending at 9am local time on Tuesday, August 25, included: 62 mm at Mount Lofty, SA – its heaviest rain since June 2022 35 mm at Cummins, SA – its heaviest rain since February 2022 31.2 mm at Kingscote, SA – heaviest rain in 4 years, and wettest August day in 33 years 29.8 mm at Adelaide, SA – heaviest August rain in 34 years 22 mm at Murray Bridge, SA – heaviest August rain in 40 years Impressively, Adelaide is now having its wettest winter in 22 years after this latest round of rain brought the city’s running total for the season up to 293.8 mm. Rain and storms spreading through Vic, NSW and Qld The rain associated with this large weather system started spreading across parts of Vic, NSW, Qld and the ACT on Monday night. By 9am local time on Tuesday, some areas in southern inland NSW and the ACT had already received 30 to 60 mm of rain, while parts of central and northeast Vic had picked up 15 to 45 mm. Falls were lighter in Qld as of Tuesday morning, although 5 to 15 mm totals were decent falls by local standards across the state’s far west and southwest. Rain will continue to move over parts of Vic, NSW, the ACT and Qld on Tuesday, with thunderstorms likely to develop over northern Vic, western NSW and southern Qld, most likely in the afternoon and early evening. Some of these storms will become severe, with damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain all a threat. Image: Hourly forecast graph for Tamworth, NSW on the Weatherzone app. On Wednesday, showers will mostly contract to eastern NSW and southeast Qld as the system begins to move offshore. Lingering instability in the atmosphere may cause a few more thunderstorms in central and northeast NSW and far southeast Qld on Wednesday, although these generally won’t be as intense or widespread as Tuesday’s storms. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 48 hours ending at 10 pm AEST on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Rain will also affect parts of Tasmania on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the heaviest falls in the state’s west. Snow is also possible over the state’s western and central highlands as temperatures drop on Wednesday. Flood watches and warnings have been issued in parts of SA, NSW and Vic for this system. Severe thunderstorm warnings may also be issued on Tuesday as storm activity increases into the afternoon. Check the radar and latest warnings in your area for the most up-to-date information on rain and storms in the next two days.