Rain will soak parts of WA over the coming week, although forecast models are struggling to agree on whether this burst of wet weather will bring much-needed rain to parched Perth. This rainfall will be caused by a low pressure trough extending from the Kimberley down to southwestern WA from late Thursday, with a low pressure system developing within it early to mid-next week.  The images below shows that widespread rainfall of between 15 to 30mm is forecast in the week across western and southern WA, with isolated falls of between 40 to 60mm in the Gascoyne and Goldfields districts.  ..read more

Despite thunderstorms rumbling over WA today and more rain on the way next week, Perth’s nervous wait for decent rain could continue into May. Friday morning’s sunrise revealed a large mass of clouds producing rain and thunderstorms over the southern inland of WA. This wet and stormy weather is being caused by moisture-laden air interacting with an upper-level trough, which is a typical mid-autumn weather pattern in southwestern Australia. Image: Composite satellite, Oracle rainfall and lightning strike observations at 8:20am AWST on Friday, April 26, 2024. Rain and thunderstorms will continue ..read more

A bushfire burning out of control in the far southwest of WA has created a 700 km-long smoke plume that can be seen from space. The animation below was captured on Friday morning by the Himawari-9 satellite, which sits roughly 36,000 km above the Earth’s surface. Video: Visible true-colour Himiwari-9 satellite imagery from Friday morning, April 24, 2024. The smoke was coming from a large fire burning in the Frankland State Forest area to the northeast of Walpole. As of midday local on Friday, an Emergency Warning was in place for the fire, which was burning out of control and moving in a south ..read more

After an emotional mid-year cut at the Margaret River Pro surf competition in Western Australia last week, surfers that fell below the cut line, along with up-and-coming talent, will be battling it out on the Gold Coast from this weekend onwards.  The first stop on the Challenger Series (the lesser format of the Championship Tour) will take place along the Gold Coast’s premier surf point breaks, starting this morning and running to Saturday May 4th. While forecasting the appearance of recently “retired” GOAT Kelly Slater is quite the challenge until he actually hits the water (even follow ..read more

Mere hours after our Total Lightning Network went quiet over the Australian continent, the Himawari satellite captured a clear, textbook snapshot of the arrival of Australia's cool season.   A few distinguishing features should catch your eye:  A band of cloud streaming over northern WA and towards the nation's interior  A distinct clearing of cloud from most of the NT's Top End, and  A band of cloud crossing to the south of WA   Turns out, all three of these features point to one thing: winter is knocking at the door.  Image: Himawari satellite imagery and m ..read more

Given the largely clear skies across the country today, it’s a good opportunity to take a look at the water storages of Australia’s major cities.  While rainfall is obviously a major contributor to the level of major dams, it is not the only factor. Water usage, infrastructure developments and upgrades, and controlled releases also need to be factored in when looking at this data. Let's start with a national overview. The map below shows the percentage of average rainfall for the year to date. Greens and above indicate above average rainfall while browns and reds indicate below average ra ..read more

Rain and thunderstorms will soak parts of eastern and southwestern Australia this week, bringing drought relief in WA and a risk of flooding in NSW. A series of upper-level troughs and low pressure systems will trigger multiple days of rain and thunderstorms over Australia this week. In WA, showers and thunderstorms will develop over the state’s western districts on Tuesday, near a deepening low pressure trough. This wet and stormy weather will then spread further south and east between Tuesday and Thursday. Showers should contract to the south and southwest of WA from Friday as a low pressure ..read more

Seeing Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre filling with water is like witnessing the lifeblood of Australia returning to the country’s heart, and that rare spectacle is happening this month. Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre is a vast ephemeral lake that lies in the far north of South Australia. This means it only fills following substantial rain in the Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre Basin, which extends 1.2 million square kilometres across parts of four states and territories. Image: The Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre Basin. Source: Kmusser via Wikimedia Commons Floodwaters flowing south from Queensland, caused by water dumped earlier ..read more

The Perth area and surrounds had not recorded any rainfall in the past five-to-seven weeks but yesterday it finally arrived. Unfortunately, it mostly came down in meager quantities despite the dark, tall clouds. Thunderstorms in the Perth area and to its north yesterday promised to deliver what the city and surrounds desperately need, proper rain, but they ended up only bringing less than about 10mm to most areas. Some of it was lost down the cracks in the ground. It was the first rain recorded in:  12 weeks at Rottnest Island (just 0.2mm)  Seven weeks at Swanbourne (1.0mm)  Six ..read more

New data released overnight gives La Niña nearly a 90% chance of returning this spring, as the ocean continues to cool in the tropical eastern Pacific.  The Pacific Ocean has been in an El Niño phase since September 2023, peaking between November to December 2023 at about 2°C, which is classified as a strong event. The latest weekly Nino 3.4 value up to Monday, April 8, was 1.04°C, which is still above the El Niño threshold of +0.8°C.   While the ocean temperatures remain in El Niño thresholds, the atmosphere is barely showing any signs of an El Niño, with weaker trade winds, en ..read more