Weather Maps
Daily Forecast
A front & unstable winds bring showers & storms to west & south WA, south SA, VIC, NSW's far south & TAS. High pressure directs moist winds & showers along the east QLD coast. This same high also directs dry winds across the central & northern interior.
Latest Warnings
Latest News
Climate Updates
Weather in Business
Latest News
Today, 5:22AM UTC
Damaging winds returning to southeastern Australia
Another surge of powerful winds will spread across Australia’s southeastern states over the next two days, prompting warnings for damaging wind gusts in parts of Victoria, NSW and the ACT. A vigorous northwesterly airstream and embedded cold fronts will cause damaging winds, rain and thunderstorms over southeastern Australia on Thursday and Friday. While this system won’t be as strong as the event that impacted Australia’s southeast last weekend, it will still be dangerous in several states. Northwesterly winds increased on Thursday morning as the first in a pair of cold fronts clipped the southeast corner of Australia. This system produced wind gusts of 120 km/h at Thredbo Top Station, 102 km/h at Mount Buller, 95 km/h at Mount Hotham and 93 km/h at Mount William early on Thursday morning. While winds have eased a bit into Thursday afternoon, they will pick up again overnight and into Friday with the passage of a second cold front. Damaging wind gusts are likely to redevelop in some areas of Vic on Thursday night before becoming more widespread over southern, central and eastern Vic on Friday. The risk of damaging winds will also extend up through parts of southern and central NSW on Friday, including parts of the ACT and the Blue Mountains. Image: Forecast wind gusts at 10am AEST on Friday, according to the ECMWF-HRES model. In addition to the wind, a band of rain and embedded thunderstorms will also spread across southeastern Australia between Thursday and Saturday. Any thunderstorms that form in this period will have a risk of causing sudden damaging wind gusts. Tasmania will also cop another surge of blustery winds and squally rainfall as the front sweeps across the state on Friday. This rain will be falling into already saturated catchments, so further river level rises and minor flooding are likely from late Friday into Saturday. A flood watch has been issued for parts of the state. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the next 7 days, according to the ECMWF-HRES model. Wind will ease from Friday afternoon into Saturday as a high pressure ridge builds across southeastern Australia. However, another round of strong and potentially damaging winds will return to the region on Sunday with the arrival of another cold front.
Today, 1:11AM UTC
Days soon longer than nights in Australia as spring equinox approaches
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
Golden Aussie canola crop glows from space
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.
Weather in Business
28 Aug 2024, 3:51AM UTC
Gales and crosswinds cause disruptions at Sydney Airport
Gale force west to northwesterly winds are creating havoc at Sydney airport on Wednesday afternoon, with all six landing and takeoff options impacted by very strong cross winds. Sydney airport saw gale force west to northwesterly mean wind speeds of 65km/h at 12:30pm, while the site has been gusting up to 82km/h. These winds are too strong for all three runways (six landing and takeoff options) to be used safely, airport traffic typically peaks during light winds. The image below shows that two of Sydney Airport’s parallel runways are orientated from north to south, and one single runway runs from west to east. Image: Sydney Airport runway orientation showing two parallel runways running north/south and one west/east, Source: Sydney Airport The west-east runway is the longest and can accept the largest aircraft, the A380. The gale force west to northwesterly winds on Wednesday are causing around 25 knots of crosswind on each of the six runway options. Image: Weatherzone’s cross wind calculator in our Aviation Dashboard showing cross wind or X wind of 24 to 25 knots. The term ‘crosswinds’ refers to winds that blow perpendicular to the runway, which can generate a significant lateral force on the aircraft, making it difficult for pilots to maintain a stable trajectory. The strong crosswinds can cause the plane to drift off course, posing a serious risk to both the aircraft and its passengers. Sydney Airport typically changes runways when there’s sustained crosswind gusts above 20 knots (37km/h). However, on Wednesday crosswinds are affecting all runways, meaning that aircraft are often opting to use the two north-south runways to increase traffic. This has meant that some flights have tried twice to land in these difficult conditions. It is very rare for crosswinds to impact all runways and therefore this event is causing significant disruptions at the airport on Wednesday. This event is not isolated to the Sydney area, numerous severe weather warnings for gales and damaging and/or destructive winds are in place across four states and the ACT, as a strong cold front lashes Tasmania and southeastern parts of the continent. So when will these winds die down? Conditions will ease somewhat by Wednesday evening, but not before the Sydney airport peak hour between 5 and 7pm. Winds will intensify again on Friday and into the weekend as further fronts whip through southern parts of the country.
23 Aug 2024, 5:01AM UTC
A great week for Tassie Hydro
Hundreds of millimetres of rainfall are forecast for western Tasmania in the next week, which will help replenish hydroelectric lakes in the region after some of the lowest rainfall on record. Hydropower is Tasmania’s main source of electricity, with frequent rain filling Tassie Hydro’s 54 major dams and feeding into 30 hydropower stations. In fact, during winter, the state usually exports electricity to Victoria, via the underwater Basslink. In summer, when it is usually drier, the state relies on the National Electricity Market (NEM) for a top up of power. Image: Hydroelectricity dam at Strathgordon in Tasmania According to Hydro Tasmania, they produce around 9000 gigawatts of clean renewable electricity from hydropower, enough to power 900,000 homes or businesses. The map below shows the catchments and power stations scattered across Tasmania; the largest lakes used for hydro are the Great Lake and Gordon-Pedder. The rain that falls in these catchments or dams is collected and used to generate electricity. Image: Hydro catchment areas. Source: Hydro Tasmania Usually, the west coast of Tasmania is the wettest due to prevailing westerly winds from cold fronts passing over the state, which tend to be blocked by vast mountains through central areas. During the past three months, unfortunately, this has not been the case for the west coast. Overall, the area has seen below average rain, reaching record lows in the far northwest, while the east coast saw average to above average rain. Image: Tasmania rain deciles between May 1 and July 31, 2024. Source: Bureau of Meteorology During July 2024, rain in western and central Tasmania was in the lowest 10% of Julys since 1900. The below average rain has affected water storage across western Tasmania, with some areas seeing record low or very much below average streamflow. The Great Lake was only 25.1% full by the end of July, which is a 10.4% decrease from the same time last year. Image: Streamflow decile categories for July 2024. Source: BOM The good news is that rain is on its way, with a complex low pressure system set to direct several cold fronts across the state in the coming week. Western Tasmania is forecast to see around 100 to 200mm of rain in the next 7 days, which could help fill up the western lakes, including the Gordon-Pedder. Eastern Tasmania, however, will see slightly less rain, with widespread falls of 30 to 50mm and isolated falls of 60 to 80mm. Image: Accumulated rain forecast for the next 7 days leading up to 10pm AEST on Thursday, August 29. Some of these totals will fall as snow as a cold airmass moves over the state from mid to late next week. Looking ahead, the rain should continue next Friday, August 30, and into the weekend as the low continues to linger over the region.