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• Times stated are the clock time in force in the relevant state or territory
• Stories, including those in the archives, are as new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined

Acknowledgments: Australian Weather News gratefully acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology as the collector and main source of meteorological data in Australia, along with the thousands of observers who record the weather and rainfall daily. I also thank Don White, Michael Bath, Jimmy Deguara, Jacob Aufdemkampe , and Michael Thompson who routinely provide me with much appreciated information.

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Temperature extremes were a feature of the weather for the first day of summer. Southern SA and Victoria and most of Tasmania sweltered for the third day in a row as daytime temperature rose to 8 to 17 above average. In southern SA, Ceduna recorded a top of 40 (+13) and Cape Northumberland, south of Mt Gambier, 34 (+14). This followed a warm night, with minimum temperatures on the Eyre Peninsula in the mid-20s, 11 above. In Tasmania, most of the state recorded top temperatures in the low to mid 30s, with Hobart Airport and Hobart City both reporting 35, 15 above. In southeastern WA, on the other hand, a cold pool following an active front kept maxima up to 13 below normal. Norseman reported a top of only 18, 13 below, while Eucla, only a few hundred kilometres to the east on the SA/WA border, recorded 40, 15 above. In western Queensland, cloud cover kept daytime temperatures 10 to 14 below normal. Mt Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Winton and Boulia all recorded tops of 24 or 25, 13 to 14 below average.

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Heatwave conditions continued across southern SA and most of  Victoria and Tasmania today with daytime temperatures 10 to 18 above the December average.  Normally mild Flinders Island, in the eastern approaches to Bass Strait, recorded its hottest December day in 37 years of record when the mercury rose to 35.0 at the Airport. Bairnsdale Airport in Victoria's Gippsland also had a December record high of 40.0, 16.8 above average, though computer records are only available for 18 years. Nearby Lakes Entrance recorded a top of 39.4, 17.7 above normal. In the west, Cape Nelson recorded 36 (+17) and Cape Otway 35 (+16). In Tasmania,

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Tropical Cyclone Ilsa crossed the WA Pilbara coast near Sandfire Roadhouse, 280km east of Port Hedland, early this afternoon. The cyclone had weakened to category 1 level, with a central pressure around 995hPa and wind gusts around 90km/h. Heavy rain was confined to a brief period before the cyclone made landfall, and then diminished rapidly. Pardoo, 100km east of Port Hedland, recorded 126mm between 6am and noon, and very little before or after. Meanwhile, the flood levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Fortescue River south of Port Hedland continue to rise as a major flood peak moves downstream from the upper reaches. Flood levels are expected to be the highest in the area since the record levels of December 1975 associated with Severe Tropical Cyclone Joan. Flooding in coastal streams between Port Hedland and Karratha are falling, and some road bridges in the area are trafficable again.

An active troughline, interacting in part with cloud from former TC John, was preceded by some unusually heavy rain overnight and today in parts of NT, SA, and NSW. Alice Springs Airport recorded 57mm in 15 hours to noon, nearly doubling their rainfall total for the year so far. Other heavy falls in the area for the 24 hours to 9am, but mostly fallling overnight, included 36mm at Uluru and 38 at Curtin Springs in the NT, and 39 at Ernabella and 69 at Moomba across the border in SA. In Tasmania, snow showers were reported overnight and during the day on the Central Plateau in the cold air behind the trough, while an unusually heavy shower developed on the troughline as it moved through Coffs Harbour, NSW, late afternoon, giving 3 official rain gauges in the area 70 to 80mm in an hour. The Red Hill gauge recorded 72.5mm, Shepards Lane 75 and Perry Drive 80mm in the hour ending around 5.10pm, with rain continuing into Saturday morning to give the locations 185.5, 188 and 195.5mm respectively for 24 hours to 3pm Saturday. Nearby Coffs Harbour Airport recorded only 47mm during the same 24 hours period, indicating the localised nature of the event.

The cloud from the former cyclone also kept daytime temperatures exceptionally low in a broad band from central eastern WA to the NSW/Qld border country today, with most stations in the area reporting maxima 12 to 17 below normal. Curtin Springs and Alice Springs Airport both recorded maxima of 19, 17.5 and 16.4 below average respectively.

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Saturday 18 December 1999

Cloud from cyclones brings rain to Qld, cold day across central Australia 20 Dec 1999

The cloudmass produced by decaying tropical cyclones John and Ilsa covered much of northern Australia today, bringing unseasonably cold maximum temperatures 8 to 13° below normal from central eastern WA, across the southern two-thirds of the NT and into southern Qld. Southwestern NT and nearby parts of WA showed the greatest departures with Yuendumu, Curtin Springs and Giles all reporting tops of around 23, 13 below. Light snowfalls were again reported during the day and overnight into Sunday on the Tasmanian Central Highlands. In far northwestern NSW, Tibooburra recorded a minimum of 10.7, its lowest December minimum in over 40 years of computerised record, and probably its lowest December minimum since recording 7.8° in 1924. Heavy overnight rain fell in parts of western Queensland, with Winton recording 24mm in 6 hours to 3 this morning, and press reports of falls around 100mm to the west of the town, with the Diamantina River one metre over the Kennedy Developmental Road to Boulia. During the afternoon and evening, heavy rain fell on the state's central and southeastern coasts, with Yeppoon, 35km NE of Rockhampton, recording 92mm in 3 hours to 10pm, and dozens of locations in the east of the state reporting falls between 40 and 90mm in the 24 hours to 9am Sunday.

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The Australian record for a cold December night appears to have been broken this morning when the temperature at Kosiuszko Chalet, Charlotte Pass, NSW dropped to -7°C. The previous record was -6.7 at the old Kiandra weather station on 12 December 1964, while Charlotte Pass itself has recorded -6.6 on 24 December 1995. As the -7° report has been rounded, more detailed information is needed from the station before a record is confirmed. It was an unusually cold morning through much of Victoria and southern and western NSW as well, with minima 6 to 10 below average. Nhill in western Victoria broke its December record low in 42 years of computerised records with a reading of 2.3, while Horsham, farther south, recorded a minimum of 2.0, 9.8 below normal. The aptly named Coldstream, in the Yarra Valley in Melbourne's east, recorded 1. In the Victorian Alps, Omeo reached 0 and Mt Hotham -3.9. In NSW, Cooma Airport recorded -3.4, Thredbo Crackenback -6.0 and Canberra Airport 3. A surge of cool, very dry air across the southeast of the continent, with dewpoints well below zero, is responsible for allowing nighttime temperatures to drop so far.

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