Weather in Australia 2023 and up

[Mark]

It was a cold 2022 across Australia:

The country suffered a colder-than-average winter (coldest ever for some locales, including Brisbane), a colder-than-average autumn, and a record-cold start to summer (which brought the country’s coldest-ever summer temperature).

Focusing on Sydney, the Habour City just shivered through a cool December, capping off what has been an exceptionally-cool year. For the first time in weather books dating back to 1859, Sydney failed to reach 32C (89.6F) throughout the entire year — this despite the city’s ever-increasing urban heat island (UHI) effect.




Anomalous cold dragged up from the Antarctic gripped swathes of the country in December, not just Sydney, and busted hundreds of low temperature records throughout the month — most notably in Queensland and New South Wales.

And looking ahead (see below), ‘blues’ will continue to be the theme moving forward as a rare third La Nina (cooling) combined with something of a ‘volcanic winter‘ (caused by Hunga-Tonga’s mesospheric eruption) extend through the summer:
https://electroverse.co/uk-avalancheextreme-freeze-russia-mughal-blocked-sydney-1859-greenland-grows/

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[Mark]

A "once in a lifetime" flood has devastated parts of the Kimberley, in outback Western Australia. Farmers in particular have warned it will take months to recover, and politicians say the cost could be in the billions.

https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/0nIHWJqKahPFpqE_-LUFt00_1EA=/191x113:1198x680/1200x0/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F3e595004-d60c-41cf-b606-f0f4bfd2985e

https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-australia-2023-wild-weather-extremes-in-pictures-floods-storms-bushfires-snow/751a8a0c-529c-4b2a-9942-9ec15a58969b

[Mark]

Heavy rain is set to smash parts of Queensland and bring with it a high risk of flooding.
Forecasters have predicted parts of the state could see its heaviest rain in years, with potential rainfall totals between 100mm to 150mm or even "even isolated totals of 200mm per day".
The rain will bear down across a broad area from Saturday and continue through to the middle of next week.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-heavy-rain-flash-flooding-riverine-flooding-weather-forecast-australia-heat-weekend-january-14-15-bureau-of-meteorology/4acfceda-7178-4856-9ebf-054ec4419b90

[Mark]

Another region of the planet holding unusually-cold has been Australia, particularly southern and eastern states.

To recap: The Aussie continent posted a colder-than-average-winter in 2022–coldest on record for the likes of Brisbane; its coldest spring in decades–coldest-ever Nov for the likes of Forbes and Ivanhoe; and its lowest-ever summer temperature on Dec 9–the -7C  (19.4F) at Perisher Valley (with NSW seeing its fifth-coldest Dec in books dating back to the 1800s, with a nationwide anomaly of -0.85C).

For many, the chills have spilled-over into 2023, with Sydney, for example, seeing its longest spell of days below 30C in 140-years.

https://electroverse.co/snowy-india-summer-cold-australia-record-cold-from-canada-to-trinidad-arctic-outbreak-for-europe/

[Mark]

Rain fell and lightning flashed across Sydney tonight as a storm rolled in following intense heat through the day.
Upwards of 20mm fell on some parts of Sydney, with the slight reprieve coming after it reached 38°C in the western suburbs on Saturday – approaching potentially record-breaking temperatures.
And there's more on the way, with Sydney forecast for a top of 27 degrees on Sunday, as the weather tracks five to 10 degrees above daytime averages for February.
READ MORE: Man charged after allegedly assaulting Sydney woman on her evening run
Bondi Beach is already busy this morning as Sydney prepares for a scorcher.
Bondi Beach is already busy this morning as Sydney prepares for a scorcher. (Nine)
Some Sydney rail lines were shut down, along with the NorthConnex tunnel.
Fires meanwhile broke out in Victoria as the state sweltered, with warnings current for Northwood, Moornapa, Toolome, Woolenook, Glenmore, Ingliston, and Rowsley.
South Australian firefighters have brought a blaze at Port Lincoln under control, but tomorrow Adelaide is set for a top of 31°C.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said the heatwave was continuing to impact parts of the east, including New South Wales and southern Queensland.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-news-forecast-heatwave-sweeps-country-as-fire-crews-work-to-contain-port-lincoln-fire/d791e9ba-9676-4d19-95df-127cd46c3a6d

[Mark]

Australia just experienced its coolest start to a year since 2002 as the ongoing influence of La Nina helped suppress temperatures over large parts of the country.


The national mean temperature in Australia during January was equal to the 1961 to 1990 average, making it the country’s coolest January in 21 years.





Image: Mean temperature deciles in January 2023. Source: Bureau of Meteorology


Daytime maximum temperatures were particularly cool across large swathes of northern and central Australia, thanks to abundant cloud cover, frequent rain and the cooling effect of water evaporating from the sodden landscape.


Australia’s mean maximum temperature last month came in 0.3ºC below the 1961 to 1990 average, also the coolest national mean maximum since 2002.

https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/australias-coldest-january-in-21-years/1078186

[Mark]

Australia has been enduring anomalous, record-breaking COLD over the past 12-or-so months, with a visible cooling trend now entering its 10th year (at a rate of -0.132C per decade since 2013–and increasing):




Following the nation’s colder-than-average winter and spring of 2022, and summer of 2022-23–which delivered Australia’s lowest-ever summer temperature–the chill is now threatening to extend into autumn 2023–which starts Wednesday.

Hundreds upon hundreds of long-standing low temperature benchmarks have fallen in recent months; the most recent being the 13.7C (56.7F) observed on Lord Howe Island on Sunday morning — the island’s lowest ever February reading.
https://electroverse.co/record-cold-australia-summer-snow-new-zealand-flakes-in-hollywood-greenland-smb-gains/

[Mark]

One capital city in Australia is seeing temperatures heat up for the start of autumn.
Sydney is forecast for highs of 35°C on Monday, which if reached, will make it the city's hottest day in two years - since January 26, 2021.
As hot air from the interior is pushed towards the east coast the mercury will continue to rise across the weekend before jumping to the mid-30s on Monday.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-record-heat-autumn-weather-hottest-day-two-years/113ba229-254b-478c-9dca-0d1c3573e0d6

[Mark]

off the back of three consecutive La Niña events could fuel record-challenging grass fires across Australia later this year, warns a former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW.


Unprecedented rain and flooding in recent years, fuelled by three back-to-back La Niña events, has created a boom in vegetation growth across large areas of Australia. But this protracted La Niña episode is almost over and there are early signs that El Nino may return later this year.

https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/australia-at-risk-of-worst-grass-fires-in-49-years-report-warns/1115815

[Mark]

Residents in Burketown have been told to evacuate as floods compromise sewerage systems and cut off the Queensland town's power supply.
Police are encouraging residents to leave the small outback town, about 430 kilometres from Mount Isa, as it experiences record-breaking flooding, with warnings in place along the Nicholson, Gregory and Leichhardt Rivers.
"Sewerage to the town has been compromised and power to the town will be cut off today," Queensland Police said in a statement.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-news-forecast-queensland-brisbane-sunshine-coast-gold-coast-in-for-drenching/70340df0-f685-402b-b615-c5313aed0281

[Mark]

Perth just had its third driest summer in 147 years of records, with the city only receiving 1.4 mm of rain during the last three months.


Summer is Perth’s driest time of year and in an average season, the city would only receive about 40 mm of rain. But even for its driest season, this summer has been exceptionally parched in Perth.





Image: Perth’s climatology showing Perth’s average monthly rainfall using green bars.


The official rain gauge in Perth only received 1.4 mm of rain between the start of December 2022 and the end of February 2023. This is the city’s third lowest summer total in records dating back to 1876, beaten only by 0.8 mm in 1974-75 and 0.2 mm in 2009-10.


Perth’s paltry rainfall this summer was recorded on only two days, with 1.0 mm in mid-December, 0.4 mm in early January, and nothing hitting the gauge in February.


While winter rainfall in Perth is frequent and heavy thanks to regular cold front activity, the city’s summer rainfall is more dependent on moisture being dragged down from the tropics. This can happen when tropical lows and cyclones drift south into the mid-latitudes, or when moisture is drawn down a West Coast Trough.


Unfortunately for Perth’s thirsty parks and gardens, all of the tropical cyclones that have developed to the northwest of Australia this season have not brought moisture down to southwestern Australia.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/one-of-perths-driest-hottest-summers-on-record/1125334

[Mark]

Sydney just registered its hottest March in 165 years of records, with the first month of autumn coming in warmer than all of summer.


Despite a chilly start to Friday (minimum temperature of 14.3ºC, 3.3ºC below average), Sydney managed to reach 25.7ºC shortly after lunchtime.


This was enough to push the city’s average maximum temperature for the month up to 27.6ºC, beating the previous March record of 27.1ºC from 2006.*


What makes Sydney’s March heat even more impressive is that it followed a relatively mild summer. Based on daytime temperatures, March was hotter than December, January and February, which has only happened five other times in records dating back to 1859.





In addition to being a hot month in Sydney, it was also the city’s driest March in 13 years. Sydney’s Observatory Hill weather station received just 54 mm of rain this month, well below the long-term average of 132 mm.

https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydneys-hottest-march-on-record/1185395

[Mark]

Chilly conditions are forecast for much of the country this Easter long weekend with a smattering of rain also expected.
Last night dangerous thunderstorms prompted warnings across NSW, the ACT and Queensland but these have since been cancelled by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Dean Narramore from the BoM told Today the cold front that brought "severe" storms to parts of NSW and Queensland is heading south.
READ MORE: Easter long weekend trading hours 2023
A storm rolled in over Sydney and drenched parts of the city and beyond last night.
A storm rolled in over Sydney and drenched parts of the city and beyond last night. (9News)
"We saw five centimetres of hail around Yass and 10 to 12 centimetre hailstones in parts of the Darling Downs," he said.
"Thankfully that's cleared. East coast looking fine, dry but windy in the coming days."
This weekend parts of South Australia, southern Victoria, and Tasmania will bear the brunt of the cold and wet weather.
The sun will shine in Sydney and down to Wollongong but the wind will bring down the temperature. Further north in the Lake Macquarie region there will be showers.
Large parts of Queensland will be warm and sunny.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/easter-long-weekend-weather-forecast-2023-state-by-state-guide-australia/3be72569-29ef-4019-85c9-1b8070e500e5

[Mark]

NewsNational
Melbourne could have its coldest Easter in more than 70 years

By Serena Seyfort
7:58am Apr 5, 2023

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Melbourne is set to experience its coldest Easter Sunday in more than 70 years, with a burst of unusually cold mid-autumn weather on the way, according to Weatherzone.
The Easter Long Weekend is forecast to be cold, wet and windy in the city, despite the warm weather this week.
The city will reach 26C tomorrow before a cold snap will set in on Friday, with a combination of showers, possible storms and clouds as a frigid air mass passes over Australia from the Southern Ocean.
READ MORE: Sisters say ex-principal Malka Leifer's guilty verdict 'means the world'

Forecast 850 hPa temperature on Easter Sunday morning, showing a cold air mass passing over southeastern Australia. (Weatherzone)
Daytime temperatures will to get into the low 20s in Melbourne on Friday, according to Weatherzone, before the weather gets even colder for Easter Sunday.
"South to southwesterly winds will draw in progressively colder air into Melbourne throughout the weekend, along with more showers and blustery winds," Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said.
"Daytime temperatures are only expected to reach around 18C on Saturday, 15C on Sunday and 16C on Monday.
"The last time Melbourne had an Easter Sunday at or below 15C was in 1943, when the temperature only climbed to 14.3C."
The cold air is also forecast to potentially "a dusting of snow" on the mainland Alps.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/easter-weather-melbourne-could-have-its-coldest-easter-in-more-than-70-years/eadefd74-561d-4fbb-8eb0-f7486d93470d

[Mark]

The West has been busy felling low temperature records this week, including the new monthly lows set at Carnarvon Airport (8.9C/48F) and Tennant Creek Airport (11.5C/52.7F) — to name just two.

Looking ahead, latest GFS runs reveal there’s much more where that came from, with ‘blues’ and ‘purples’ set to intensify and infect more and more of the continent as April gives way to May:

https://electroverse.info/records-fall-down-under-april-snowstorm-in-kazakhstan-north-americas-spring-freeze-europes-arctic-outbreak/

[Mark]

https://electroverse.info/australia-suffers-record-lows-and-early-snows-pakistan-snow-cold-kenya-europes-freezing-april-spills-into-may/
Anomalous cold and snow hit areas of New South Wales and Victoria over the weekend –below 500m (1640ft)– as winter arrived early across swathes of Australia.

Following a string of colder-than-average seasons, autumn 2023 looks set to extend Australia’s chilly and snowy trend.

From the snowfields to the Southern Highlands of NSW, the combination of brutally cold polar air and significant moisture resulted in widespread early-season snowfall.

Already, even in early May, the first sub-alpine snow of the year has hit, delivering substantial totals to the likes of Brown Mountain, Nimmitabel and Perisher Valley.

“It was the first one, and it was a big one,” Nimmitabel resident Rod Coleman said. “It just didn’t stop … it snowed all day,” something Coleman called incredibly rare for the time of year.

Accumulations of as much as 20cm (8 inches) settled across the likes of Falls Creek, Hotham, and Robertson where snow and ice warnings are now commonplace — a full five weeks before the beginning of the official snow season, no less.



Snow falls at Hotham and Falls Creek at the weekend [Vail Resorts].

The Great Alpine Road between Harrietville and Hotham Heights was closed yesterday after several snow-related crashes.

A car, which was towing a camper trailer, slid off the road and rolled several meters down the mountain: “The caravan slipped off first and that resulted in dragging the four-wheel drive and the two occupants over the edge with it,” said SES deputy unit controller Mark Warner. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, something Warner puts down to sheer luck.

Below are recent shots of Namadgi National Park, NSW:


#Australia | Winters have come early for Australia as snow falls in the Namadgi National Park, turning roads and regions into a white blanket. Watch!#AustraliaWinters #Snowfall #Sydney #Winters pic.twitter.com/5Pbswe0gAk

— News18 (@CNNnews18) May 8, 2023

As well as the snow, monthly temperature records also fell on Sunday, such as Cooma’s maximum of 1.7C (35F). Omeo, Bombala, and Canberra were among the others to set coldest-ever May days yesterday, with Canberra struggling to just 7.8C (46F).

While elsewhere, official thermometers in Sydney sank to 7.1C (44.8F) late Sunday evening (at 10:36 pm), making for the city’s coldest temperature this early into autumn for 85 years, since 1938.

Despite the agenda-driving BoM calling for a “hotter-than-average” autumn of 2023, the exact opposite continues to play out.

[Mark]

Anomalous and often times record-breaking cold has been buffeting the country for the past few years, and 2023 has been no different.

Record lows are falling left, right and center, from Perth to Sydney, and most recently, to Griffith (NSW): Here, thermometers dipped to -2.3C (27.9F) over the weekend which made for the city’s lowest May temperature ever recorded.

This May, a group of PhD students conducted research on Aussie snowpatches.


https://www.facebook.com/100000193569690/videos/1701745616922799/

https://electroverse.info/australia-year-round-snow-rare-may-snow-hits-kashmir-frosts-europe-surprise-geomagnetic-storm/

[Mark]

Australia's warm start to winter has seen records tumble, but you wouldn't know it depending on where you are, with a stormy "thundersnow" event also hammering our alpine regions this week.
Weatherzone reported that large parts of Australia experienced warmer than usual temperatures for the first fortnight of June, particularly in the central, eastern, and south-eastern parts of the country.
Melbourne has had its sixth warmest start to winter in 169 years of records, with an average minimum temperature of 10 degrees in the past fortnight.
READ MORE: Ben Roberts-Smith breaks silence as he returns to Australia
People watch the sunrise at Mackenzie's Point, Bondi.
It's been a warmer start than usual to winter. (Brook Mitchell)
Longreach in Queensland averaged a maximum of 28.6 degrees in that same time - five degrees above average and the town's warmest winter start since 1897.
Adelaide's mean temperature was 16.1 degrees - its second warmest beginning to winter since 1887.
But it's still winter and that has meant snow in Australia's south-eastern mountains, although this time with an unusual companion.
READ MORE: Nottingham killer suspect caught on camera moments before stabbing
Thundersnow
A graph showing lightning strikes coinciding with snowfall over the Australian Alps. (Weatherzone)
Weatherstone reported a flurry of "thundersnow" earlier this week in the Australian Alps.
A map shows multiple lightning strikes around Thredbo Village near Mount Kosciuszko.
As Weatherzone explains, lightning usually comes with warm air, but it can also strike when it's cold enough to snow.
"With most thunderstorms, you have relatively warm air sitting below cooler air, which creates an unstable atmosphere and causes the warmer air to rise," meteorologist Ben Domensino said.
READ MORE: Teachers raised issue about Hunter bus driver
Thundersnow
Snow is falling in south-eastern Australia with more expected. (Weatherzone)
"In snowy areas, there is generally only a small temperature contrast between the surface and upper levels, so there's usually not enough instability to create the uplift needed for thunderstorm development.
"But when you've got a very cold airmass, there can be enough of a temperature contrast between surface and upper level temperatures to make storms."
Another snowy weather system is expected next week.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/record-warm-start-to-winter-thundersnow-in-australia-mountains/900d6e04-a046-4fc3-918d-e8e5bc23f9e8

[Mark]

A polar air mass once again sent temperatures crashing across Australia.

All-time records for the month of June were broken in the West yesterday, at the likes of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport (9C/48.2F) and Rottnest Island (5C/41F)–for example.

Western Australia’s cold extended into this morning, too (June 27) with Perth Airport shivering through -0.6C (30.1F) — its 4th lowest temperature ever recorded. The last time the state capital got that cold was July 2012.

Other notable lows include Jandakot’s -0.9C (30.4F), Collie East’s -2.3C (27.9F), Gingin’s -2.4C (27.7F), and Wandering’s -2.5C (27.5F).

Unseasonable lows and widespread rains (and pockets of snows) are stretching from the Kimberley in WA to Victoria. Day time highs are holding some 10C below average, and are forecast to drop as much as 14C below the norm towards by Thursday.

Bureau of Meteorology’s Jessica Lingard attempts to explain away the record cold, attributing it a natural origin: The cold front pushed cool air into the Perth metro area, she said, and a lack of cloud cover exacerbated the freezing temperatures.
https://electroverse.info/australia-cold-rare-flakesnew-caledonia-cools-feet-of-snow-utah/

[Mark]

Continuing the trend of the past few years, Australia has been holding anomalously cool throughout 2023.

And continuing the theme of this week, yesterday, the South Australia outback shivered through its coldest June day on records.

Temperatures barely budged in some parts of SA on Tuesday, with many inland areas experiencing a near-isothermic day, reports weatherzone.com.au.

In Port Augusta –for example– the temperature struggled to high of just 10.1C (50.7F) during the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday — making it the city’s coldest June day ever recorded (with data from several weather stations collectively dating back to 1957).

Similarly in Marree: while the high for Tuesday came in at 11.1C (52F), the BoM’s new electronic probes –and unique way for reporting temperatures– meant Wednesday morning’s 11.9C (53.4F) went down as Tuesday’s daily high — uh-huh. Regardless, this was still Marree’s lowest June daily maximum temperature since 1956, and its coldest day for any month since 1998.

The chill extended across Kalgoorlie-Boulder, too, in Western Australia. The city’s recent daily high of 8.9C (48F) has been confirmed as its coldest June day in record history.


https://electroverse.info/australia-monthly-lows-bom-lies-deep-summer-snow-mammoth/