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The page is updated every 30 minutes at about 20 and 50 minutes past the hour.
For weather news as it breaks that is tagged and organised, use the links on the Weather and Climate Media Reports page.
Outlooks
- All climate drivers have gone quiet for Australia, according to last week's ENSO Wrap-Up from the BoM, and maintained in yesterday's Tropical Climate Note. A reversal of warming in the eastern Pacific Ocean and an easing to neutral in all eight climate models surveyed by the Bureau has resulted in the ENSO outlook being downgraded to inactive, and expected to remain so for the rest of the year. However, about half the models expect the currently neutral Indian Ocean Dipole to become positive by the end of winter, meaning an increased chance of warmer and drier than average conditions for Australia over winter and, in southern and central Australia, for spring as well. The Madden-Julian Oscillation is expected to remain weak with no effect in northern Australia.
- The Rural Bank produces a monthly weather review and outlook for each state. Select your state from the menu on the right. They are prepared and presented by Jane Bunn who has been a familiar weather presenter on Victorian TV, and who has tertiary qualifications in atmospheric science, meteorology and journalism as well as experience as a BoM forecaster.
Large, slow-moving rain area gives the Centre a month's rain in a day
A large cloud and rain area has been moving across Central Australia in the past few days bringing more rain than the few raingauges in its path normally see in an average June.
It moved slowly across the WA Interior from late Saturday to early Monday giving Lorna Glen, 280km NNW of Laverton, 21.1mm (June average 17.3), while Warburton on Sunday and Monday morning had 21.4mm (17.6). It moved into NW SA on Monday morning, and up to 09.00 today had given Mobella Station, 160km WSW of Coober Pedy, 24mm (13.4), and Coober Pedy itself 14.6mm (13.5).
The cloud and rain is being caused by a slow-moving upper trough dragging in moisture from the Indian Ocean. This image posted by the BoM on Twitter shows the upper situation at 500hPa (about 5.5km above sea level) superimposed on the satellite image at 13.00 EST Monday, with cloud developing in the rising air ahead of the trough. The rain is heading for Northern NSW.
The chilliest of chilly mornings in SE Australia
Cold, frosty nights with widespread fogs continue to be the norm in SE Australia as high pressure dominates. This morning was particularly chilly with some notable low temperatures.
In TAS, Liawenee on the Central Plateau tied with Perisher Valley in the NSW Snowy Mountains on -9.6° for the lowest minimun temperature in the country. It was Liawenee's coldest morning in two years while, at lower altitudes in the state, Ross on -6.6, Lake Leake on -6.2 and Campania on -2.8 had their coldest morning in four years.
In NSW, Bega had its lowest minimum in three years with -2.2, and many towns saw lows below -5°, including Cooma -6.2, Bombala -5.5, Bathurst Ag Station -5.3, and Orange -5.1.
Rene Martens caught this photo of the incomparable beauty of fog before sunrise near Shepparton, VIC, posted on the BoM Facebook page.
And while the southern states are freezing, QLD BoM took to Twitter today to gloat about how mild it is keeping in the Sunshine State. Charleville with a top of 27° had its warmest June day in 12 years.
Weird & Wonderful
- The Bureau outfoxed? The BoM and its rainfall observers, who measure rain in a standard gauge about 30cm above the ground, are familiar with a, er, wee problem of yellow rainfall. Usually it's the friendly local dog that's the culprit, but one observer, Tom Murray of Dalyup near Esperance WA, reckons this time its a fox. "Fox pee is very distinctive in the aromatic area," he told WA's ABC Midwest, putting his winemaking background into use. But positive identification was needed, and so started Operation Fox Cam.
- Weather 1, Presenter 0. Weather presenters can go to great lengths to blend their location to their weather story of the day. But it doesn't always go to plan, as happened to Deric Hartigan on Irish Television's TV3 last Friday. This report is from Russia's Meteovesti, but you don't need translation.
- Pandas 1, people 0. And totally off-topic, Meteovesti also reported recently that China is moving 172,000 people to set up a 27,134 square km national park specifically for giant pandas in SW China. The latest data, according to the article, gives the population of giant pandas in the wild in China as just 1,864 while those in captivity number 471. The move, decided earlier this year, is an active measure to increase the number of giant pandas.
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