Australian Weather

Today, 1:53AM UTC

Parts of South Australia, Victoria and southwestern NSW which have been desperately dry in recent months have enjoyed unseasonably heavy rainfall from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning, with Mildura in northwest Vic doing particularly well. As a trough extending from northern Australia down into Victoria helped convert abundant atmospheric moisture into welcome rain, some of the rainfall totals of note to 9 am Monday included: Image: Two-hour combined radar and satellite loop showing rain streaming across Victoria from the northwest from 7am to 9am Monday, November 25. 42mm at Mildura, which was the city’s heaviest daily fall in almost three years (since January 2022). It brings Mildura’s annual running rainfall tally to 211.5mm, which is getting within coo-ee of the annual average of 287.5mm – a mark that looked well out of reach after an eight-month streak earlier this year when no month topped 20mm. 36.2mm at Renmark in the SA Riverland forecast district, the heaviest daily fall in just over two years (since October 2022). 21.8mm at Leigh Creek, a small town in SA's North East Pastoral forecast district where the entire November average monthly rainfall is just 18.7mm. As with Renmark, this was the heaviest fall since October 2022. Falls between 30mm and 45mm at four locations in the arid far SW corner of New South Wales, including 39mm at Lake Victoria, the site's heaviest daily rainfall in any month in 11 years.  Image: Observed rainfall at Mildura, Vic, in the 24 hours ending at 9am on November 25, 2024 on the Weatherzone app. Falls are continuing in northern Vic and southwestern NSW through Monday, with Swan Hill recording exactly 10mm to midday on top of its 23.6mm to 9am. While the current rainband is breaking up as it tracks in a southeasterly direction with heavy falls tending to drop off, there’s plenty more rain for Australia in the week ahead. As Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino explained in his story about the big stormy end to spring, much of the country can expect rain and storms in the coming week or so.  Image: Forecast accumulated rain for the week ending Sunday, December 1, 2024. The parts of Victoria and SA that received the heaviest rain overnight will probably not see such significant totals repeated, but parts of eastern Victoria are in line for a good soaking, especially the high country (the purple patch in NE Vic in the above chart).     Meanwhile the overnight news was not so positive for Adelaide residents. Despite parts of SA recording healthy falls, the SA capital again missed the rainfall action, continuing a frustrating run of systems that seem to bypass the city. All but two months of 2024 to date have now seen below-average rainfall in Adelaide. Melbourne fared a little better with 5mm in the 24 hours to 9 am Monday, but it, too, continues a run of teasing weather where rain events have been frequent enough, but totals relatively light. Melbourne's monthly rainfall totals are running below average for four months in a row. There is, however, positive news for Melburnians hoping for soggy skies, with a better-than-50% chance of rain in Melbourne for six of the next seven days. With luck, parks and gardens could receive the heavy downpours that these bursts of unstable late spring weather tend to produce. Title mage: Banks of the Murray River at Mildura, population approx. 50,000. Source: iStock.

Today, 12:34AM UTC

Rain and thunderstorms will hit part of every state and territory in Australia this week, with flash flooding a heightened risk amid the late-spring severe storm outbreak. Several factors will align to cause prolific rain and thunderstorm activity over Australia this week: A hot air mass will linger over northern and eastern Australia, providing some of the energy required for storm development. A slow-moving upper-level trough will pass over southern Australia, causing a contrast between the hot air in the north and east and much cooler air in the south. An array of low pressure troughs over the Australian continent will act as triggers for daily thunderstorms. Warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures surrounding Australia will supply ample atmospheric moisture to fuel continuous rain and thunderstorm activity throughout the week. Image: Modelled precipitable water and mean sea level pressure at 11:00am AEDT on Wednesday, November 27, showing a large pool of moisture-laden air sitting over northern and southeastern Australia. This week’s volatile weather set-up will result in widespread rain and thunderstorms that will see severe storms pummeling multiple states and territories in the final days of spring. Where will the rain and storms occur? There aren’t many parts of Australia that will escape at least some wet weather in the last week of spring. The map below shows the predicted accumulated rain for this week from one computer model. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the week ending on Sunday, December 1, 2024. Showers and thunderstorms will be a daily occurrence in northern Australia this week, impacting parts of WA, the NT and Qld. Further south, rain and storms will pepper parts of southern and southeastern Australia early in the week before increasing and spreading further east through the middle and back end of the week. While severe thunderstorms and areas of heavy rain are possible in every state and territory this week, the heaviest falls are likely to occur in a broad arc stretching across northern and eastern Australia, including parts of the NT, western Qld, NSW and possibly Vic, Tas and the ACT. Heavy rain and flash flooding will be a heightened risk with severe storms this week due to the abundance of atmospheric moisture that’s available. Severe weather and severe thunderstorm warnings may be issued in multiple states and territories this week, so be sure to check the latest warnings in your area for the most accurate information.