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Warm northerly winds bring heatwave conditions to eastern and southern NSW. A rainband, the odd storm & a cool change extend over SA & VIC. Showers & thunderstorms are scattered over the NT and the northern tropics. High pressure clears showers from eastern QLD and southern WA.
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Today, 3:37AM UTC
Nature’s air conditioner: how the seabreeze will help Sydney cope during the heatwave
As heatwave conditions take hold of southeastern Australia this weekend, the cooling seabreeze will be crucial in easing daytime heat, but how does it form? During periods with weak synoptic forcing, with a broad high pressure system moving slowly over the Tasman Sea, the seabreeze circulation dominates, as we can see below. Image: Australia’s synoptic situation this weekend, with a broad high pressure system lying over the lower Tasman Sea, bringing light synoptic winds to eastern NSW. As the sun rises through the mid-to-late morning, the land can quickly heat up 3-6 degrees warmer than the ocean temperatures (which currently sit between 18 and 23 degrees off the NSW coast). The extra land heating leads to a relative low pressure area over land, and high pressure offshore. Winds move from high to low pressure attempting to even this pressure difference, leading to the onset of the seabreeze with winds turning onshore (blowing from the sea onto land). Figure: The onset of the seabreeze through the morning as land heats more rapidly than the ocean. Source: annotated figure from Google Earth As the maximum heating occurs around the middle of the day, the temperature difference between land and sea reaches its peak, and so does the seabreeze. The strength of the seabreeze will dictate how far inland the cooler and more humid winds reach – which is called the seabreeze front. Convection often occurs along this front, with anything from small cumulus cloud with no rain, to towering cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud, depending on the environment the front pushes into. Figure: The seabreeze reaches maximum strength through the afternoon following the maximum heating period of the day. Source: annotated figure from Google Earth Loop of the seabreeze front pushing inland over Western Australia’s Pilbara, with convective clouds forming as the front moves inland. More intense convection and thunderstorms can be seen across the Dampier Peninsula (top right) as seabreeze’s from both sides of the peninsula collide. As the sun dips closer to the horizon, heating subsides and the seabreeze circulation slowly weakens, subsiding completely a couple hours after sunset. The land then cools much quicker than the ocean, leading to a reversal of the seabreeze process. Relative low pressure is found offshore over the warmer ocean, and relative high pressure over land, sending winds from land to sea, forming the landbreeze. Figure: The landbreeze forms after solar heating eases, allowing the land to cool much quicker than the ocean. Source: annotated figure from Google Earth Over the warm waters off the NSW coast, this landbreeze often leads to nocturnal convection with late evening thunderstorms forming offshore. A line of clouds can also be found parallel to the coast the following morning, associated with the decaying remains of the landbreeze, before the whole process is repeated. Image: satellite imagery showing a line of clouds parallel to the NSW coast between Seal Rocks and Ulladulla, nearly 400 kilometres long, associated with the overnight landbreeze. Image: The sun rises behind the remaining landbreeze front convection off the Sydney coast. As a pre-summer heatwave impacts southeastern Australia, the seabreeze will play a crucial role in determining the maximum temperatures reached over the coming days in NSW. Seabreezes are expected to form over much of the NSW and Sydney coast during the coming bout of heat, preventing the worst of the heat from reaching coastal NSW. However, a significant temperature gradient will be evident moving away from the coast. Image: low intensity to severe heatwave conditions forecast for much of eastern NSW between Monday, November 25, and Wednesday, November 27. For example, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sydney’s warmest days this week, temperatures will be in the high-20s along the coastal fringe, in the low-30s across the CBD and more central suburbs, and should reach the mid-to-high-30s across the western suburbs. The daily seabreezes will also pump humidity into eastern NSW, making it feel 2-3 degrees warmer than actual, and leading to little relief overnight by keeping nights very warm.
23 Nov 2024, 4:10AM UTC
Ever Wondered Why It Takes Longer to Fly from Brisbane to Perth Than the Other Way? Here’s the Surprising Reason!
There is a good reason why you might feel more travel-weary, with additional body aches and pains, when flying across the Australian continent from east to west, compared to west to east. This has a lot to do with the wind direction and wind speed at the cruising altitude of commercial airlines. The typical cruising altitude for commercial jet aircraft is between 28,000 and 34,000 feet (8.5 km to 10.5 km), which improves fuel economy through lowering fuel consumption in jet engines. At this altitude, flights enter the upper troposphere, which harbours regions of strong winds. Let's take a closer look at the wind patterns in the upper levels of the troposphere, particularly the band of very strong winds known as the Jetstream. The Jetstream is a region of higher-speed winds that flow predominantly from west to east. An analogy would be "a river of strong winds", where wind speeds commonly exceed 100 km/h. In certain situations, a narrow band of stronger winds within the Jetstream can reach speeds exceeding 200 km/h. During the winter months, winds within the Jetstream are typically at their strongest. It is quite common for wind speeds to exceed 140 km/h, and in some cases, they can reach 200 km/h or more. One scenario where flight times would be extended for westbound flights due to strong headwinds occurred on July 19th, 2024. A powerful Jetstream developed across the southern mainland of Australia, with wind speeds exceeding 300 km/h over southern Western Australia and the Great Australian Bight. For flights traveling to Perth from Brisbane, Sydney, or Melbourne, headwinds exceeding 200 km/h would have caused noticeable delays and increased flight times, while passengers experienced longer durations in the air before reaching their destination. Image: Forecast winds for 30,000ft on July 19th 2024 with annotated wind speeds exceeding 200km/h bounded by the white line and speeds exceeding 300 km/h bounded by the red line and the axis of the Jetstream marked by the green arrows. Yellow numbers are wind speed in km/h. The line linking Brisbane to Perth shows the shortest distance between the two cities. [Source – Ventusky – ECMWF weather model] By comparison, during the summer months, the Jetstream generally has slower wind speeds and a lower maximum wind speed. Its location is also more transient, meandering between central areas of Australia and higher latitudes to the south. As a result, the impact on westbound flight times is likely to be less significant compared to winter flights. The image below shows the Jetstream winds for November 3rd, 2024. The Jetstream is fragmented, with one section located over southern Western Australia and another off the east coast of Queensland. Compared to the winter weather pattern on July 19, any flight delays caused by headwinds would likely be much less noticeable on 3rd November. Image: Forecast winds for 30,000ft on November 3rd, 2024 with annotated wind speeds exceeding 200km/h bounded by the white line and the axis of the two Jetstream marked by the green arrows. Yellow numbers are wind speed in km/h. The line linking Brisbane to Perth shows the shortest distance between the two cities. [Source – Ventusky – ECMWF weather model] When scheduling future flights, the airlines factor in variations to flight times due to headwinds and tailwinds on standard flight paths using climatology and weather forecast modelling. Inspecting the flight schedules for major Australian airlines flying from Brisbane to Perth, flight times in winter average between 5 hours 30 minutes and 6 hours in duration from Brisbane to Perth, compared to summer flight durations of 4 hours 15 minutes to 4 hours 30 minutes. Scheduled flight times from Perth to Brisbane are normally 4 hour and 15 minutes to 4 hours and 30 minutes all year round, and is similar to westbound flight times in summer. The Jetstream also has a strong influence on the weather patterns observed in the lower atmosphere and near the Earth's surface. Ben Domensino wrote a story about a severe weather event over southeast Australia in November 2022, which was strongly influenced by the Jetstream. Read the full article here. Title image: Cirrostratus cloud with a jet airliner contrail in the foreground credit - unsettled photography
22 Nov 2024, 10:29PM UTC
From sweltering to soggy for southeast Australia
The pre-summer heatwave will come to an end across South Australia and most of Victoria this weekend, as the trough responsible for bringing in the heat is set to move across the region, bringing cooling showers and a southwesterly wind change. The relief from this early season heat will certainly be a welcome change for SA on Saturday, with most of the state recording maximum temperatures more than 10 degrees above average on Friday. The biggest departure from average came from Mt Gambier, soaring to 37.7°C, more than 17°C above the November average. Meanwhile Adelaide sweltered at 37.5°C, more than 13°C above average. For both these locations, as well as many more across SA, it was the hottest day since March. Gif: Infrared satellite image overnight for SA. The trough has already increased cloud cover across the state overnight ahead of impending showers and the odd storm, however this cloud subjected the state to an uncomfortable night. The minimum temperatures to 7am CDT hovered in the low to mid 20s across central and southern SA, with Adelaide’s overnight minimum staying at 24.6°C. That’s not to say it won’t cool down further during the day, with showers and isolated storms, accompanied by a southwesterly wind change and a much cooler airmass, set to sweep across southern and central parts of the state on Saturday. Rainfall totals are only expected to reach 15-30mm but will be widespread, allowing daytime relief while putting a slight dampener on weekend plans. Once the southwesterly winds pick up, temperatures will drop back towards the high teens to low twenties, still a warm night, but much easier to sleep through. Image: Forecast maximum temperatures across Vic on Saturday. Victorians will need to wait one more day for this relief, as Melbourne is expected to reach 37°C today. Meanwhile most of the remaining parts of Vic will also warm to the mid to high thirties today. Western and central Vic already have a head start, as the cloud cover ahead of the trough kept these areas above 20 degrees for most of the night. Melbourne only managed to drop to 22.7°C and has already warmed up to 29.0°C by 9am. Rainfall across Vic tomorrow may amount to slightly higher totals than for SA, although 24-hour totals should still stay below 40mm. Just like SA, it will likely be the cooler temperatures that are most welcome from this trough as the pre-summer heatwave reaches its conclusion for the southeast. Image: Accumulated precipitation to Sunday night for southern and central SA and Vic.