Styx

I'm blown away by some of the temperatures I'm seeing this morning. The mid 20 degree readings at 4:50am in central Australia, western New South Wales and South Australia state are near 20 degrees above average for September. I thought the map wasn't updating and had to double check but nope they're right. They would be impressive even for summer.

I was thinking specifically about the farming cycles and yields ( mainly horticulture ), speciality crops that succeed in narrower and more predictable temperature ranges. I was also thinking about record sea temperatures down here, they have played havoc with salmon and oysters, mass algal blooms, warm water wiping out a lot of salmon. Out of season bushfires, damage to our rare alpine environment, flow on effect to the tourism industry, and government budget. A lot of things have been going on related to the heat down here, or at least its a significant component. I sometimes mention some of the stories in the Australia weather thread.

Heat drama underway. Bushfire threat in Australia's south already...that is a little bit unusual. BOM confident that today was the hottest September day on record averaged across Australia. On the weekend, September record or near record temperatures are possible from Alice Springs through to Sydney, Canberra up to Brisbane. An individual location in New South Wales and Queensland may break the September record for those states. I don't usually put up BOM's severe weather video forecasts, but this is extra interesting and for the record!

Wintery cold spells won't let go so easily in the south east of the country. Canberra had its third coldest September temperature last night of -6.1c ( average 3c ). It then rose to 17c.... 26c next weekend. There is 240cm of snow at Spencers Creek in the Alps at 1830m, the deepest measurement since 2000. ------------- Canberra's lowest September temperatures ( records since 1939 ). 1......-6.8.....2012 2......-6.4.....1982 3......-6.1.....2017 4......-5.6.....1940 5......-5.4.....1939

A cold start to the new season here too. Half way thru September we have a mean anomaly of -1.7c below the 1981-10 average or -1.5c below the 1961-90 average. The Hobart average min is 5.0c to the 15th, and the average max is 14.0c. I don't expect it to be as cold as this at the end of the month, but its a reasonably big gap already to notch up the third 'cold' month in a row. This is a really nice break from what looks like the new norm, recent years have seen month after month of warmth, creating a lot of problems.

I want to get some more snow pictures in before it's too late! Something to savor perhaps, before the snow arrives proper in Europe. At 860m... Cradle Mountain Hotel, Tasmania. Most of Tasmania's western side is forested, mountainous and sparsely populated, with remote forest and mining operations, the odd tourism lodge, and mountain passes. Maybe even thylacines Having a tough time dealing with so much snow out there...

Where is everyone August - Hobart, Tasmania Like July this was a fairly cold month, mostly due to low overnight temperatures. The mean temperature anomaly was -0.7c below 1981-10 ( in brackets below ) or -0.3c below 1961-90. It is the first time since 2011 any two months in a row have been colder than the 1961-90 period. Average maximum: 13.3 ( -0.4 ) Average minimum: 4.6 ( -1.1 ) Rainfall: 65mm ( average 53mm ) Rain days ( +1mm ): 14/from 20 Dry at first with local frost, severe away from the coast, then a variable month with regular fronts preceeded by mild air from the continent. This was the first month since January to have above average rainfall in a year that is running with a modest rainfall deficiency. The wettest day this month was 19mm in frontal convergence. This was not a significant month for snow in the Hobart area, and there was no snow in the higher suburbs ( <300m ), which usually happens in most August months. Snow line of near 1200m on the 10th, 800m on the 12th&17th, near 500m on the 18th, 700-800m on the 27th&30th. All light falls or dustings. Extremes in daily temperature for August ( records since 1882 ): Highest maximum: 18.1.....10th ( record 24.5 in 1977 ) Lowest maximum: 9.1.....18th&27th ( record 5.5 in 1974 ) Highest minimum: 9.8.....26th ( record 15.0 in 2005 ) Lowest minimum: 1.0.....3rd&20th ( record -1.8 in 1962 )

Yep always nice to have a decent snow event and it settled very low in the west and north-west...Hobart missed out this time , prevailing wind from wrong direction. Thought you might find this an interesting post, it is the ore train on the historic Melba Line in Tasmania's north-west, transporting from the Roseberry mine, to the small industrial city of Burnie on the coast. Not sure how often the train gets snowbound but I think it's quite rare.

Winteriest week of the year in Tasmania. Maybe snow close to sealevel in the Hobart area on Friday!

^ Some resemblance of a 'normal' winter in south-east Australia at least....and next week looks like big news with a major cold outbreak with low level snow ( possibly disruptive ) and an absurd amount of snow in the mountains.

How winter fared in Australia: Mean temperature anomaly ( 1961-90 ) June +0.5 July +1.8 Third warmest on record August +1.0

"The accident is believed to be the deadliest so far this season in the Austrian Alps, where several dozen mountaineers die annually." Is that a mistake in the article...that many? Surely not?

It's heating up prematurely in the tropics. It may well be a stifling build up towards the wet season. Darwin is on course for its hottest August on record, with a mean maximum almost 2c above the long-term average. Big margins like that in the tropics are quite rare. On Thursday, Darwin had its equal-second hottest August day with a maximum of 36.0c, near 5c above average. -------------- Darwin's highest August temperatures ( records since 1939 ) 1.........37.0.......1971 2.........36.0.......2017 and 1998 3.........35.7.......1958 4.........35.6.......2012

Worth taking a look at the Hobart webcam ( in my signature ) throughout Friday and into Saturday ( we are 9 hours ahead ) if you like updated snow images, snow forecast to settle in the lower hills near the seafront, should be the most wintery scenes of the year for us. Timelapse view of 12 August in that link in my signature looks great too !

It was a big weekend last weekend for snow in the Snowy Mountains ( Australian Alps ). The major ski resorts were reporting a metre of fresh snow, but the official weekly measurement by the Hydro company today and they usually measure on Thursdays, says a top up of 64cm for the week ( there could have been some melt during the week, but the resorts could have exaggerated a little bit too ). The photo is from Threbo resort in southern NSW. Courtesy 'Telecrag'. Ski.com.au website. Warning : It's a bit big, not suitable for phone. Total snow depth on the upper ranges is now close to to 2metres, that's close to the long-term annual peak average ( 1954-2016 ) which hasn't been reached since 2012. Could be a good year for snow depth. In Tasmania we haven't yet had a low level snow event this year, that's what gets me going, but still time for that.

Blissful pictures Carnithan. If I won the lottery, I'd be over there to live in a shot! My mother's side of the family lives on the Swiss/Austrian border, I lived there as a child and also for a year before coming to the UK to live. I have very strong sentimental feelings when I see landscape images like that amazing. Now to put my lotto numbers in for tonight...

Good news as far as snow goes. 60-110cm of snow is forecast to settle at the major skifields in the Snowy Mountains this weekend. So Australia's largest mountain range should be plastered very nicely. I have done a brief search but without success so far to determine what the biggest weekly snow dump on record is at the Spencer Creek measuring station. It might be at the upper range of what is forecast this weekend, I'll report back if it goes close. Last weeks snow depth reading was 113cm, another 84cm would match the long-term annual peak average. It last reached the average ( 1954-2016 ) in 2012. After this it's up in the air as to what happens next. August is normally a good month for heavy snow bouts. The base will either be topped up without much melting or blow dryer heat from central Australia will start to become an unwelcome guest. Lots of melted snow is great for the hydro electricity dams. This weekend could also see squally wind and storm damage at lower levels in south east Australia, excluding Tasmania. http://www.janebunn.net/snow-forecast/

July - Hobart, Tasmania We were on track for a significantly cold winter month before things turned pear shaped as milder air filtered in towards the end of the month from the continent. In the end the mean temperature anomaly was -0.7c below the 1981-10 average ( in brackets below ) or -0.3c below 1961-90, making this the coldest July overall in just 9 years. Average maximum: 12.2 ( -0.1 ) Average minimum: 3.5 ( -1.4 ) Rainfall: 37mm ( average 53mm ) Rain days ( +1mm ): 9/from 14 Anomalous high pressure across southern Australia has been the main driver for quite some time now. For Tasmania dry weather persists and this month was notable for persistently cold overnight temperatures with fog and frost, severe away from the coast. On the 4th-5th a broad but weak low pressure system moved in from the west triggering a rare winter thunderstorm overnight (4mm) followed by another 4mm the next day. The wettest day was 13mm on the 19th as winds turned onshore south-easterly following the passage of a cold front, then colder and drier south-westerly with light mountain snowfalls a few hours later. The final third of the month turned milder, especially at night, as a general westerly flow developed as the high pressure belt moved further north. This was a fairly dismal month for snow, falls were too light to accumulate and high pressure built quickly behind. There were settled falls on the 10th, 20th, 24th-27th on the mountain range behind the city, but all no lower than 800m. Extremes in daily temperature for July ( records since 1882 ) Highest maximum; 15.8.....25th ( record 22.1 in 1901 ) Lowest maximum: 9.7.....3rd ( record 4.7 in 1888 ) Highest minimum: 7.7.....6th ( record 12.9 in 1985 ) Lowest minimum: 0.7.....3rd ( record -2.8 in 1981 )

Australia has just recorded its third warmest July and the mean maximum temperature record was walloped. Got to admit I wasn't expecting anything like that, too focussed on other things and following the weather statistics from home especially closely this month, as it was a reverse story in the far south. August is now going to be damn interesting for continental warmth - if dry, high pressure weather continues, minus Southern Ocean influences, it's been very very quiet for a long time down there. Nice one Tasmania.. Warmest July for decades.. Wow...third biggest leap from record to record for any national temperature measurement...

Sydney recorded its warmest July day on record today of 26.5c ( 10 above long-term average ). That recording was at the official long running site near the harbor. Records were also set on Sydney's western side, reaching 28c, with record keeping in some cases going back about 80 years. The models were actually forecasting this record situation a number of days ago, and it all held together. Sydney will finish July with an average maximum temperature near +2.5c above the long term average, and minima close to average. We could be looking at premature warmth spreading across the country before spring even starts if uninterrupted high pressure and the lack of penetrating winter fronts continues. It's dry too and they are talking about a likely early start to the bushfire season already. Reminds me a lot of the setup that was in play during Australia's warmest spring seasons on record, which were in 2013 and 2014. -------------------- Sydney's highest July temperatures ( records since 1859 ) 1........26.5.....2017 2........25.9.....1990 3........25.7.....2016 and 1926 4 .......25.4.....1975 and 1960

Here is the latest snow depth reading from the upper slopes of the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales, Australia's tallest mountain range. Snowy Hydroelectricity Limited has been taking official weekly measurements of snow depth at Spencers Creek ( 1830m ) since 1954, to determine melt inflow into the dams during spring. It is 1 mile from Australia's largest ski field, so it's a good guide to the health of the ski industry in general, and its future, which unfortunately doesn't look particularly good going by the long term trends of season peak... and shortening seasons. *The lowest peak snow depth was in 2006 with 85.1cm. That record looks safe this year, there's another 30cm+ snow forecast this week, nothing much will melt before the next measurement. *The highest peak snow depth was in 1981 with 361cm. *Last year's peak snow depth was on October 6th, the latest time on record, bucking the clear trend of earlier melt seasons.

Just for comparison with the CET and Edmonton figure, we are -1.7 below the 81 to 10 average in Hobart. It's a big enough margin near the middle of the month to barrack the month on to hold steady, so it ends with a nice cold mean. But being realistic, I don't even have to look at the charts to know that there is a very good chance that this cold monthly anomaly will be wiped away with a warm end to July...I have seen that story play out too many times! But here's hoping for a historically cold July!

^ An interesting list which shows elevated towns in the south west of Western Australia ( near 300m ) have had snow on the ground in the past - but it's been 25 years now since that last happened. That is typical of the trend throughout the south and east of Australia as well, a big drop off of noteworthy snow events at low levels, and prolonged cold air masses.

The economic textbooks which teach students that controlled economies are the worst in the world to deal with environmental challenges may need to be rewritten soon to reflect a new truth that is emerging. I am thinking about the partisan nature of democracy in other industrilised nations and how difficult it is to implement big changes and keep the ball rolling between elections.

It's an easy pick for me... July 25 1986: The last time measurable snow lay on the ground in Hobart city at the waterfront ( 6-8cm ). The closest we have got since then was a patchy dusting on susceptible surfaces in August 2015...not comparable in the slightest. The previous settled fall before 1986 was in 1951 and 1921 - so it's an incredibly rare event ( seems to have happened numerous times in the 19th century though ).