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 NSW, VIC: More heavy rain from isolated thunderstorms. The trough moving into eastern states is encountering warm, humid northerly air and the interaction between the two has produced thunderstorms and some heavy rainfalls today. VIC has seen its first storms of the season, with slow-moving cells dropping 84mm on Mt Wellington, 70km NNW of Sale, between midday and 6pm. Other heavy falls included 43mm at Biggara in the Upper Murray between 3 and 6pm, and 34.4mm in the hour to 7pm at Rutherglen of which 24mm fell in just 20 minutes along with 2cm diameter hail. In Melbourne the storms provided a spectacular late evening lightshow, but a home in Taylors Hill in Melbourne's north paid the penalty with a two metre hole in the roof caused by a lightning strike. In the Geelong area, lightning strikes brought down powerlines near Waurn Ponds leaving 3400 residents in the Waurn Ponds and South Geelong area without power for several hours. Almost 3000 residents in North Geelong and North Shore also lost power in the storms. About 200 residents of Torquay had to wait until midday Saturday for restoration of power. In NSW, Gunnedah Airport recorded 5.2mm in 12 minutes and Mt Boyce in the upper Blue Mountains registered 11.2mm in 17 minutes during the afternoon.
WA, NSW, VIC, TAS: Hot weather continues. High temperatures by day and night continued in parts of WA, NSW, VIC and TAS today as shown in the charts below. Maximum temperatures were 12 to 15 above average in western VIC and SE SA, with Keith SA recording the highest anomaly, 14.9 above with a reading of 36.4. In WA, Marble Bar scored the highest absolute temperature with 45.4C. Tom Price and Carnegie in WA and Scotts Peak Dam in TAS had record high maximum temperatures for October. Minima were 6 to 14 above average in eastern SA, western VIC and SW NSW, with half a dozen new records set - Roebourne WA, Lake Victoria Storage NSW and Maryborough VIC all registered their hottest October nights in nearly half a century. See records for full details.
QLD: Floods and drought plague the southwest. At the same time as flood warnings have been issued for some SW QLD streams, graziers in the far southwest are trying to destock their properties quickly as drought tightens its grip. Days of rain falling east of the far southwest are producing moderate flooding in the Paroo River at Eulo while minor to moderate flooding is extending downstream from Adavale to
Quilpie on the Bulloo River. Scott Fraser, from Nooyeah Downs, told ABC Radio that despite good rain to the east, none fell west of Thargomindah and Eromanga. He says the recent dust storms have devastated the countryside and blown away the last of the dry pasture. "A lot of those stockmen that hadn't started destocking between here and the South Australian border are certainly into it now," he said.
International Events
 PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Mirinae approaches. Category 2 Typhoon Mirinae, with maximum winds estimated at 185km/h, approached the northern island of Luzon today bringing bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the central eastern part of the country. People have been evacuated from danger zones and relief supplies prepared, while dams in the north began spilling water in anticipation of flood rainfall. Sea travel has been suspended, stranding about 5000 people. Mirinae is the fourth tropical cyclone to hit the country in a month and is targeted to hit major rice-producing areas north of Manila.
USA: Winter arrives early. Snow storms have dumped up to 92cm across parts of the US causing traffic chaos, airport delays and school closures. 120 car crashes were reported across Colorado in icy conditions.
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