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Legends

Wind Speed

Description	Beaufort	kt	km/h
Calm - Light Winds	0-3	0-10	0-19
Moderate Winds	4	11-16	20-30
Fresh Winds	5	17-21	31-39
Strong Winds - Near Gale	6-7	22-33	40-61
Gale - Strong Gale	8-9	34-47	62-87
Storm - Hurricane	10-12	48+	88+

Temperature

°C	°F
< -5	< 23
-5 - 0	23 - 32
0 - 5	32 - 41
5 - 10	41 - 50
10 - 15	50 - 59
15 - 20	59 - 68
20 - 25	68 - 77
25 - 30	77 - 86
30 - 35	86 - 95
35 - 40	95 - 104
40 - 45	104 - 113
> 45	> 113

Relative Humidity

< 25%

25-50%

50-75%

≥ 75%

Frost Risk

Nil

Low

Slight

Moderate

High

Severe

UV / Pollen Levels

Low

Moderate

High

Very High

Extreme

Radar/Satellite Animator Symbols

Rainfall Intensity

light

heavy

The intensity of rainfall detected by weather radars is indicated using the above scale.

Doppler Wind

90km/h towards

90km/h away

On Doppler radar images the radial component of the movement of particles in the air is indicated using the above scale.

Lightning Events

Lightning strikes are displayed as crosses (ground events) or squares (cloud events) and fade from white (current) to red (30 minutes ago) to blue (60 minutes ago). Positive strikes appear as diagonal crosses.

Accumulated Rainfall (since 9am)

Rainfall since 9am local time is displayed with coloured dots.

Observations Rose

Surface observations are displayed as a 'rose' with temperature, dew point and relative humidity down the left-hand side and rainfall since 9am, pressure and location name displayed down the right-hand side.

Temperatures fade in colour from blue (cold) to red (warm) and dew points fade in colour from blue (moist) to red (dry).

How to Read a Wind Barb

A wind barb is a compact means of representing both wind speed and direction graphically.

Each full-barb represents 10 knots (nautical miles per hour), a half-barb 5 knots and a flag 50 knots. Calm conditions are indicated by a dot only. 1 knot is equal to around 1.9km/h.

In the examples to the left the first indicates a 5 knot wind from the south-west, the second a 15 knot wind from the west-north-west, the third a 45 knot easterly and the fourth a 65 knot northerly.

Warnings

Warnings
	Severe weather, thunderstorm, tropical cyclone
	Fire weather
	Flood
	Coastal wind
	Graziers, bush walkers, frost

Sentinel Hotspots

Sentinel hotspots detected within the last 6 hours are displayed. Sentinel is a satellite-based national bushfire monitoring system operated by Geoscience Australia.

Sentinel Hotspots
	≥ 150°C
	≥ 100°C
	≥ 50°C
	< 50°C

Weather Forecast Icons

Clearing shower

Cloudy

Cloud and wind increasing

Cloud increasing

Drizzle

Drizzle clearing

Fog then sunny

Frost then sunny

Hazy

Heavy rain

Heavy showers

Increasing sunshine

Late shower

Late thunder

Mostly cloudy

Mostly sunny

Overcast

Possible shower

Possible thunderstorm

Rain

Rain and snow

Rain clearing

Rain developing

Rain tending to snow

Showers

Showers easing

Showers increasing

Snow

Snowfalls clearing

Snow developing

Snow showers

Snow tending to rain

Sunny

Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms clearing

Windy

Windy with rain

Windy with showers

Windy with snow

Wind and rain increasing

Wind and showers easing

Forest Fire Danger Index

Category	Forest Fire Danger Index	Grassland Fire Danger Index
Catastrophic (Code Red)	100 +	150 +
Extreme	75-99	100-149
Severe	50-74	50-99
Very High	25-49	25-49
High	12-24	12-24
Low-Moderate	0-11	0-11

Please note that Weatherzone assumes worst case drought factor in the calculations

Weather News

ABARES says changing climate is costing every farm, on average, $30,000 every year

20:26 EST

Australian farms have lost on average almost $30,000 each a year in profits over the past 20 years due to climate change, relative to earnings in the latter part of last century, says the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).

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