Australian Weather

Today, 1:11AM UTC

The Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox will occur in just over two weeks’ time, meaning days are about to become longer than nights across Australia. What is the spring equinox in Australia? The term equinox refers to the date when the Sun appears to be positioned directly above Earth’s equator. This happens twice each year, once in late September and again towards the end of March. Day and night are roughly equal in length for most places on Earth around the dates of the equinoxes. In September, the Southern Hemisphere starts to become more tilted towards the Sun following the equinox, which causes days to be longer than nights in the Southern Hemisphere for the following six months. This year’s Southern Hemisphere spring equinox will occur at 10:44pm AEST on September 22. On this date, there will be roughly (but not exactly) 12 hours between sunrise and sunset across Australia. Image: Relative orientation of the Sun and Earth at the time of the equinox. Not exactly equal day and night While day and night are nearly equal in length on the date of the equinox, the equinox day is actually a tiny bit longer than its night because: Sunrise and sunset are defined as the moment the top edge of the sun reaches the horizon. Because the sun’s face is a large disc, it takes several minutes for the full face of the sun to sink below the horizon at sunset in most populated parts of our planet. This adds a bit of extra daylight to the day. If sunrise and sunset were measured when the centre of the sun reached the horizon, then day and night would be closer to equal length on the date of the equinox. Our atmosphere bends light. This allows light to remain visible even when the sun is sitting just below the horizon after sunset and before sunrise. Due to the factors outlined above, the date when day and night are equal in length across Australia actually occurs a few days before the Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox. This date of equal light and darkness is called the equilux. This year’s spring equilux will range from around September 12 in far northern Australia to around September 19 in far southern Australia. The equilux in Sydney and Melbourne equilux will fall on September 19.

04 Sep 2024, 7:12AM UTC

Fields of golden canola are flowering in Australia, and it's an incredible sight as seen from satellites orbiting the Earth. The bright yellow fields of canola in the image below are located in the northern part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, with the town of Temora (population 4,000) visible in the top right corner of the image. Image: Canola fileds in the NSW Riverina. Source: Sentinel-2. And below is a view of the canola fields in northern Victoria between the towns of Shepparton and Yarrawonga. Image: Canola fields in northern Vic. Source: Sentinel-2. Any way you look at it, it’s quite a sight. And the colourful crop is no less spectacular up close. Image: A canola field in western NSW in August 2024. Source: @Coolamoncheese co on Instagram. Canola is one of Australia's most important grain crops. While wheat is by far our largest grain crop with around 25 million tonnes produced each year, canola is increasingly significant as both an export crop and as a crop consumed domestically. According to the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre, we currently produce more than 3.5 million tonnes per year on average, which accounts for 15-20% of the world’s export trade. Australian canola is sought after globally for its use as a food-grade oil, for biofuel production and as a stock feed. Have you consumed margarine or vegetable oil lately? Then it’s likely that it contained Australian-grown canola. Western Australia is our main canola-growing state, followed by New South Wales and Victoria in that order. The crop is sown in winter and harvested anywhere from spring to early summer, depending on its location. The oil from canola is extracted by crushing the seeds. After the oil is extracted, the by-product is a protein-rich meal which is fed to livestock. Canola can also be cut for hay in dry seasons. Areas with 450 mm to 700 mm of annual rainfall are ideal for growing canola, although it can be grown in slightly drier areas. To put that in perspective, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart are the four Australian capital cities whose annual average rainfall totals all fall in that range. "The vast majority of canola is grown in Australia on dryland non-irrigation," agronomist and canola grower James Kanaley told Weatherzone. "Irrigated canola could make up for less than 5% of total production I would estimate, and would only use on average 2.5ML/ha of water. "My home farm is near Junee on what we call the "canola trail". The trail is a collaboration between a couple of shire councils including Junee, an area which has been growing canola since the late '80s and early '90s. "Canola is a very important rotation crop in cropping systems in australia, gives us a good break from cereal diseases, adds diversity and allows us to rotate herbicide options for weed control. Image: Australia's grain-growing areas. Source: AEGIC. The map above shows Australia's grain-growing areas, and what is grown where. As beautiful as those golden fields of canola look from space or from up close, they look even better on the bottom line of Australia's economy.