NorthNSW

This is what appeared when I logged out a few minutes ago, which would flash, then disappear, flash then disappear, and so on... Have saved the sub-forums into my favourites, so I can still access the site and see if anyone responds, lol. When I try to access some sub-forums even further, it does a similar thing to above.

For the past 24 hours or so, I have been unable to access the main page of the Netweather forum. I click on it, and almost instantly it stops loading and says it is unable to load the page. The only way I can access parts of the forum is to do a Google Search related to the Netweather forum and come in via that link to log in and reach each of the sub-forums. I have tried using IE9, Chrome and Firefox but they all do the same thing. Also, if I try to access the main page via one the subforums, sometimes it flashes with the light lilac blue background of the forum and a white page with nothing on it several times, then seemingly gives up and says it is unable to load the page. Very rarely, it will load the main page for literally a split second but it disappears and says it is unable to load the page. All other parts of the site appear to be working fine, including the Member list, Blogs and Gallery etc.

Hey all Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Apr 13th - 14.6ºC/23.2ºC - 0.2mm Apr 14th - 15.4ºC/25.8ºC - 7.0mm Apr 15th - 18.5ºC/26.9ºC - 14.6mm Apr 16th - 18.1ºC/23.7ºC - 26.4mm Apr 17th - 16.3ºC/19.0ºC - 23.0mm Apr 18th - 16.4ºC/22.2ºC - 53.4mm Apr 19th - 16.6ºC/22.8ºC - 61.0mm It was mild and very wet week. A trough developed not far offshore the coast late Sunday night, which combined with a moist E/NE'ly feed and was enhanced by a upper cold pool, bringing rain to the NSW North Coast over the following days. On Mon/Tues, the heavy rain was sporadic, with large variations in rainfall occurring over short distances. Persistent cloudcover on the Tuesday brought a cool day. On Wed/Thurs, the heavy falls were more widespread though it was still restricted to the coastal fringe. River flooding did not occur in the region because the heaviest falls were restricted to within about 10kms of the coast. The Sydney region also did well with similar heavy falls occurring down here, which penetrated further inland due to the alignment of the trough. Warragamba Dam (Sydney's main dam) has overflowed again for the second time in two months (until last month, it had not overflowed since 1998). On Wednesday night, a shower brought 27mm in 25 minutes here. The trough weakened last night, with rain easing yesterday evening. This week is looking drier. The weakening trough has moved a bit closer to the coast this afternoon and is expected to bring a few showers later today and clearing during tomorrow morning. Although, there is potential for isolated moderate to heavy falls to possibly occur on the coastal fringe tonight on the North Coast (the bulk of the rain should stay offshore though). Saturday should turn into a fine day during the afternoon, with dry weather likely to persist during Sunday. A trough is expected to move through eastern NSW on Monday but should only bring a little light rain (unlikely to be more than a couple of millimetres) here later on Monday and into Tuesday. A cold front during Tuesday could bring snow to the alpine peaks in NSW. Cool winds are likely to be pushed northward to here during Tuesday. Winds may turn more SE'ly later on Thursday, with the risk of a light shower. Max temps should be around 24-26 degrees through to Monday, with temps in the low 20s from Tuesday. Minimum temps should stay in the high teens, possibly a 20 degree minimum on Monday night. Minimums should drop to around 16-17 degrees from Tuesday.

Over the weekend, the models started to come into agreement on a 'trough' scenario for this week. BOM have issued a Severe Weather Warning for heavy rain for the Mid North Coast (my region) and the Northern Rivers: http://www.bom.gov.a...gs/severe.shtmlMost of the NSW east coast should receive some decent rain from the event over the next few days. If you want a quick look at what is happening along the north/central NSW coast: Grafton: http://www.bom.gov.a...loop.shtml#skip Newcastle: http://www.bom.gov.a...loop.shtml#skip

Good evening to all, hope you had a great Easter. Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Apr 6th - 18.2ºC/27.2ºC - Nil Apr 7th - 18.4ºC/27.4ºC - Nil Apr 8th - 20.0ºC/28.1ºC - Nil Apr 9th - 19.5ºC/27.1ºC - Trace Apr 10th - 13.5ºC/20.4ºC - Nil Apr 11th - 13.0ºC/22.0ºC - Nil Apr 12th - 13.6ºC/22.0ºC - 7.0mm It was a summery Easter long weekend. Storms developed across central eastern NSW on Sunday, bringing some severe storms to that area (hail up to 5cm reported), with unconfirmed reports of a weak tornado in Sydney's Northern Suburbs. There were also unconfirmed reporrts of a small tornado or microburst in a Melbourne suburb on Good Friday. Sunday's storms were fairly impressive for April (radar loop for that arvo/evening on 512km composite Newcastle Radar): http://www.theweathe...1/2012-04-08-13 Locally, the weather on Sunday was really nice, and there was a reasonable amount of humidity in the air. The day wouldn't have been out of place in January. Picture from Little Bay (a couple of kilometres away), where we had a morning Easter picnic: The trough lost strength on Sunday night. The trough moved through here around 10-11am on Monday morning, so we only got a brief shower (only a trace recorded), with storms developing from around 20kms north of here and northwards through Coffs, Grafton and Casino. Though the strongest storms were only marginally severe that afternoon. The cold front moved through overnight, and Tuesday was quite cool, windy and dry. I think you could say that autumn arrived that day. The strength of the cold front did take me by surprise. Cool to mild conditions have persisted since then. A stream of showers affected the most exposed coast (a few locations on the Newcastle and Ballina coasts picked up falls 25mm+) in a decent flow of showers from Tuesday afternoon (which were only passing a couple of kms off the coast here). On Thursday, the flow turned more to the S/SE allowing showers to affect much of the north coast, before the flow weakened overnight with a couple of light showers about the region today. The weather for upcoming week should have E/SE'lies persisting. From Sunday/Monday, there is the possibility of a few showers. I've found that the weather at this time of year for this latitude starts to become more changeable, and as a result tends to become more difficult for models to predict accurately until things start to settle into a winter pattern during June. The models are differing somewhat on the amount of rain that could fall from Monday, and appears that it is dependent on whether a trough or weak low (or not) forms off the north coast. BOM are remaining understandably conservative at this stage. Maximum temperatures should stay in the mid 20s this week and minimums should generally hang around 16-18 degrees.

True Styx. Though the temps on the mainland aren't unheard of at this time of year, I think it was the drop in temperatures that most places experienced which made this cold change noticable to people/media. Had places not experienced a prolonged period of "summery" weather over the past few weeks, I imagine this change would've only received a brief mention. Another cool night, 13.0ºC here last night. In the past 10 years here, there have only been minimums below 13ºC during April in 2006 and 2008. I did find it surprising that this has been Sydney's earliest 'chill' in 80 years though: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydneys-earliest-chill-in-80-years/21427 First frost of the year for a number of places on the NSW tablelands on yesterday morning, and also some places had another frost this morning (like Armidale, Orange and Goulburn). Armidale had a frost free period of 170 days until yesterday morning. Armidale averages about 100 frosts a year (which almost exclusively occur from May-Sept). Lived there for three years, the novelty of seeing a frost wears off quickly, lol.

The summer-like weather across much of SE Australia has come to a screeching halt, as this article humourously summarises: Link: http://www.heraldsun...6-1226322574487Although One Direction seemed to think the weather in Sydney was fabulous and spent much of the day shirtless around the harbour, including swimming. Winds reaching up to around 60-70km/h and temps in the mid to high teens is not shirtless weather, lol. It was a bit warmer here than further south. According to the 3pm summary, it was a cool 13.5ºC here overnight and reached a max of just 20ºC (rounded off) in the 6hrs to 3pm. Windy at times as well, though despite being a cool day, I still found it pleasant as it was a change from the consistent warmth of late. The cold won't last long, and it should warm up into the mid to high 20s across much of the SE quadrant as the week progresses, even Thredbo should be back in double figures for much of the upcoming week.

Good afternoon all, Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Mar 30th - 19.0ºC/27.6ºC - Nil Mar 31st - 17.5ºC/26.1ºC - Nil Apr 1st - 17.2ºC/26.1ºC - Nil Apr 2nd - 18.6ºC/26.4ºC - 8.6mm Apr 3rd - 19.0ºC/27.0ºC - Nil Apr 4th - 18.9ºC/27.1ºC - Nil Apr 5th - 18.9ºC/26.8ºC - Nil It was generally a mostly sunny and warm week, almost summer-like. On the 2nd, warm humid air at the surface and an upper cold pool triggered a small area of showers/storms on the coastal fringe along a weak southerly change. A thunderstorm raced through here around lunchtime that day with squally winds and brief heavy rain, before moving out to sea. Winds turned SE in the days following but showers have only been very isolated (had none here) as nothing ended up developing to enhance the onshore flow. A fair amount of heat has built up over central Australia due to the settled weather of late in that area, and there have been very warm to hot days inland of the Great Dividing Range. Tibooburra has been in the mid to high 30s this week, and in the high 30s at Alice Springs. Birdsville got to 40.9ºC on the 3rd, which is less than a degree off the April record. A decent portion of Victoria will be around 29-34ºC today (Good Friday), and Adelaide was close to 35ºC yesterday. It should remain fine and mostly sunny here on the Fri/Sat, with just the small chance of a shower in a very weak onshore flow. There is a moderate risk of a shower on Sunday as the trough moves into central NSW, but it will most likely remain fine. The trough should move through here late Monday morning (around 11am), bringing a southerly change. At this stage, the chance of a storm is low because the trough is forecast to move through before the afternoon, though if it ends up moving through around 1-2pm (or later) that would be more favourable. Winds are forecast to turn SE'ly during Tuesday and bring a few onshore showers through Tues/Wed/Thurs. Maximums should get to around 26-28 degrees over today, Sat, Sun & Mon. After the passage of the southerly change, the maximums should fall to 23-25 on Tues, Wed & Thurs. Minimums should stay around 16-18 degrees over this week. Have a good Easter everybody, and hope the Easter Bunny is generous.

Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Mar 23rd - 19.5ºC/28.5ºC - Nil Mar 24th - 15.5ºC/25.0ºC - Nil Mar 25th - 16.0ºC/26.1ºC - 7.2mm Mar 26th - 18.3ºC/26.4ºC - 0.8mm Mar 27th - 17.4ºC/26.9ºC - 8.0mm Mar 28th - 17.2ºC/23.1ºC - 3.8mm Mar 29th - 18.1ºC/26.6ºC - Nil It was a mild to warm week. A surge of cooler and drier air pushed through early on the 24th, bringing a mild and cloud-free day (the wind made it feel more like 21-22 rather than 25). Winds tended SE'ly early Monday morning, bringing a few showers over the following days with most of them occurring during the night. Aside from the 28th, the days were generally mostly sunny. The following photo is from the historic Trial Bay Gaol (used as a German internment camp during WWI) at South West Rocks looking NNW, taken on the afternoon of the 27th (about 26ºC at the time of this pic): There is the chance of a shower or storm today with a weak trough near the northeast of the state. A ridge of high pressure will move into the region during tomorrow and persist into Sunday, and weaken during Monday. A trough looks like moving into the state on Monday, and will be nearer to our region on Tuesday but it's not expected to do much with limited moisture available. It's a bit unclear as to what will occur on Wednesday/Thursday, but winds should turn SE'ly, and at present it appears a low pressure trough could approach the north coast and enhance the onshore flow bringing a decent amount of showers. Maximums should be around 25-27 degrees over the next week into April, with minimums around 17-19 degrees. April is our second wettest month on average (170.8mm). Even as tropical moisture starts to wane, colder airmasses start to make more impact (more-so in mid/upper levels, rather than at the surface) combined with warm ocean temps means the risk of East Coast Lows increases during April. If it wasn't for the persistence of SE'ly trade winds in these parts during April, we'd probably get a burst of storm activity at this time of year. Max and min temps start to fall as we get more regular injections of cooler air. Humidity levels also fall gradually during the month. It isn't too uncommon for summer-like warmth to persist into April though, but usually there is a change to a more "wintry" pattern by late April as those cold fronts start make some progress further northwards. The Bureau is predicting a 70-80% chance of above median rainfall over April-June in northeast NSW (http://www.bom.gov.a...ain.seaus.shtml). Cooler days and warmer nights are favoured over the Apr-Jun period in northeast NSW as well (http://www.bom.gov.a...emp.seaus.shtml). Here's a link to a webcam at South West Rocks (a low-ish quality cam): http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/webcams/webcam_southwestrocks.html The nearest high quality webcam is a Bonny Hills, around 75kms south of here: http://webcams.bsch.au.com/bonny_hills_ne.html

Good afternoon everyone Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Mar 16th - 19.0ºC/27.0ºC - Nil Mar 17th - 22.3ºC/24.7ºC - 3.4mm Mar 18th - 17.5ºC/24.5ºC - 2.4mm Mar 19th - 16.5ºC/24.7ºC - 11.2mm Mar 20th - 17.1ºC/27.2ºC - 16.6mm Mar 21st - 19.0ºC/24.2ºC - 3.0mm Mar 22nd - 19.3ºC/27.0ºC - Nil It was a mild to warm week. Rain this week was from some showers in an onshore flow, and was enhanced locally on the 20th as a weak trough dissipated off the state's north coast. A ridge of high pressure cleared the showers by morning tea on the 21st. Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua caused minor damage as it hit the Pilbara coast on the 17th, thanks to the region being very sparsely populated. Though reports from Pardoo Roadhouse (petrol station, tavern and caravan park), which was near the eye of the storm, suggest it received moderate damage there. As already mentioned above, the monsoon trough certainly gave a few suburbs in the city of Townsville a nasty surprise! Today was a very warm day. It was 28.1ºC at 3pm. A southerly change is due late tonight. There is the slight chance of a light shower overnight as the change moves through. A dry airmass behind the front should bring dry and mild weather over the weekend. Late on Sunday or during Monday, a high pressure system will move into the Tasman Sea, and winds should turn onshore. There is the possibility of a shower or two from Monday. At this stage, any showers that do occur should be isolated and only bring light falls. This March has been dry, with current monthly rainfall about 100mm below the average. Apart from today's summer-like warmth, it should be an autumnal week and pretty much the temps you'd be expecting in late March. Maximums should generally stay around 24-26 degrees this week and minimums should be around 16-18 degrees.

Yes Styx, definately looking chilly for parts of SE Australia this Friday and over the weekend. On the mainland, there should be a bit of snow for the alpine region of Victoria and the higher alpine peaks in New South Wales. For the majority of NSW, the front should bring a blast of dry air. Away from the coast, and especially on the ranges this should see minimums fall firmly into the single figures. BOM can sometimes be a bit conservative with minimums on the ranges, and I expect a frosty night or two in places like Cooma, Goulburn and Armidale. Being on the coastal fringe, the front should bring a few dry, and cool(ish) nights here and mild days. I lived in Armidale for three years recently. It usually gets close to 100 frosts a year. I will never forget the morning of June 30th 2010, the minimum was -11.2ºC (grass minimum of -15ºC). My internal hot water pipe froze and burst and I had hot water running down some of my kitchen and laundry wall and onto the floor. Parts of the wall had to be filled in and some of the brickwork replaced. More about the Armidale climate here: http://www.weatherar...com/climate.htm Thankfully at my current location, I don't get frosts where I live in town. The outskirts of town do about one to three times a year (about 800m away) on the inland side of a small rise, but not where I live just a kilometre from the ocean. The record low here is 4ºC. BTW, this is a good overall summary of the Townsville Tornado. First half from Seven Local News in Townsville 20/03/2012, and the second half from Seven News Brisbane 20/03/2012: http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfHqDdOaZ0

The last few runs of GFS have fallen into line with EC (other models are showing similar things to EC too), and so the remote chance of a tropical low bringing heavy rain to the southern Queensland and northern New South Wales coast later this week is now gone. Now that things are looking clearer, it should be like what EC was suggesting. The decent chance of some onshore showers over the next couple of days before a ridge of high pressure looks like bringing fairer weather. Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua has made landfall on the Pilbara coast near Pardoo as a Category 4 system. Despite its strength, there should be minimal damage as it has hit a very very sparsely populated stretch of coastline. BTW, here's a short read about tropical cyclones that have affected New South Wales in the past: http://www.bom.gov.a...about/nsw.shtml

Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Mar 9th - 15.5ºC/29.0ºC - Nil Mar 10th - 18.5ºC/28.5ºC - 8.2mm Mar 11th - 18.6ºC/27.0ºC - 8.2mm Mar 12th - 20.3ºC/25.5ºC - 0.4mm Mar 13th - 18.2ºC/27.0ºC - 2.0mm Mar 14th - 19.5ºC/27.2ºC - Nil Mar 15th - 19.3ºC/27.1ºC - 6.0mm It was a generally warm week, with varying amounts of sunshine. Rain that fell between the 10-13th was from isolated showers along the coastal fringe that would develop late in the evening and clear by sunrise, whilst the days would remain mostly sunny or partly cloudy (although the 12th was overcast all day). We were lucky enough to score showers on all four nights, probably because of our exposed coastal location. A bit of cold air in the upper levels and some residual moisture caused light afternoon rain here on the 15th. Over in Western Australia, Tropical Cyclone Lua formed off the NW coast on the 13th, and is now approaching the Pilbara coast and should make landfall as a severe Category 3 cyclone on the 17th. It is a beautiful, warm sunny day today, with a NE'ly seabreeze. Tomorrow, a trough will continue moving eastwards into the northeastern quadrant of the state bringing some showers or rain and a possible storm, with a weak(ish) southerly change accompanying the passage of the trough in the late evening. The rest of the upcoming week is looking complex from Monday. Both EC and GFS show a tropical low in the Gulf of Carpentaria but differ in its movement from Sunday. EC has the tropical low staying over the southern Gulf and moving onto land late on Monday and weakening over western Queensland during the following days. However, GFS has the tropical low moving onto the Gulf coast on Sunday and weakening as an upper level trough spawns a low off the North Queensland coast, rapidly moving down the Queensland coast on Tuesday to around Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. GFS has the tropical low directing heavy rain and strong wind (possibly gales) onto the northern New South Wales coast on Wednesday and Thursday as it sits just off the coast of the New South Wales / Queensland border (about 28ºS) before moving eastwards and away. BOM are placing their bets with the EC scenario for now, which is the model they generally favour. The GFS scenario looks more exciting, so I'm hoping it actually does end up occurring.

Thanks Isolated Frost. It is a nice climate. As you said the summers are warm and humid, which can be uncomfortable, but it does help to trigger storms and heavy rain. With that said, I've found the peak in thunderstorm activity to usually be in November, where it can be warm and humid but mid/upper-level temps can still be cool at times. Wind shear is usually good in November as well, which all combine to help create more favourable setups. The majority of severe storms that I have experienced have occurred in October and November. Usually in my area, summer thunderstorms favour heavy rain, and spring thunderstorms favour hail formation and strong wind. Autumn thunderstorms are infrequent. Winter thunderstorms are rare (if any do occur, it is nearly always in August). Here are the temp/rainfall averages for my town: (Min Avg. / Max Avg. - Rainfall Avg.) (Long-term average from 1939 to Feb 2012) Jan - 19.5/26.8 - 146.9mm Feb - 19.7/26.9 - 168.6mm Mar - 18.8/26.1 - 183.8mm Apr - 16.6/24.0 - 170.8mm May - 14.3/21.4 - 133.6mm Jun - 12.1/19.2 - 138.5mm Jul - 11.2/18.7 - 78.7mm Aug - 11.7/19.8 - 80.4mm Sep - 13.4/21.8 - 56.6mm Oct - 15.1/23.2 - 94.2mm Nov - 16.7/24.5 - 114.8mm Dec - 18.4/25.9 - 119.4mm Annual - 15.6/23.2 - 1485.1mm Hottest temp: 41.7ºC (19th Nov 1968) Coldest temp: 4.0ºC (25th Aug 1997) Driest year: 814.5mm (1941) Wettest year: 3011.2mm (1950)

Great link Styx. I forgot all about the seasonal summary that BOM produce. I was one of just a few areas in northeast New South Wales and southern Queensland that didn't receive substantial rainfall over this summer. I recorded 434.6mm this summer, which is 1.2mm below our summer average of 435.8mm. Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Mar 2nd - 20.9ºC/26.9ºC - 8.0mm Mar 3rd - 20.2ºC/25.0ºC - 0.8mm Mar 4th - 19.3ºC*/26.7ºC - Nil Mar 5th - 20.9ºC/28.3ºC - 12.0mm Mar 6th - 17.8ºC/25.2ºC - 2.2mm Mar 7th - 16.0ºC/24.8ºC - Nil Mar 8th - 16.0ºC/26.0ºC - Nil *Observation missing for local site. Coffs Harbour obs used instead for this temp reading. Locally, not much really happening over the past week. Overall, it was a cooler week, more autumnal rather than summer-like. Just some light rain earlier this week, and a bit of light to steady rain on the 5th/6th. A tropical low affected parts of southern Queensland, mainly between the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg. It brought heavy rain there, especially around Gympie and Maryborough where 24hr totals above 150mm were common, with 302mm falling in 24 hours at Tiaro on the 4th. An East Coast Low developed off the central New South Wales coast on the 7th as the trough moved over the ocean, bringing heavy rain to areas south of Newcastle that night before moving away by afternoon on the 8th. A weak tornado causing patchy minor damage was reported from the eastern suburbs of Sydney on the morning of the 8th and there were falls of 100-150mm in 24 hours in Sydney. Because the low was south of us, it brought dry winds to northern New South Wales and humidity was kinda low. The past couple of nights have been cool as a result (and cold on the adjacent tablelands). Major flooding continues across parts of southern and western parts of the state. At this stage, this week is looking mainly dry. A high pressure system should keep things fairly stable and dry. There is a risk of a light shower over the next couple of days but in all likelihood it should stay dry, though if a shower were to occur it would most likely happen during Saturday night. The high pressure should loosen its grip by Wednesday/Thursday, allowing a trough to move into the state but it will probably be too far west to affect us. Minimums this week should stay around 16 to 18 degrees, a bit cool for this time of year. Maximums should be around 25-27 degrees, which is about average for March. However, humidity should stay lower than average. This afternoon, dry NW'ly winds have brought a warm and dry day here. At 3pm, it was 28.8ºC with just 48% humidity at the local site.

Good afternoon everyone, Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Feb 24th - 19.0ºC/28.0ºC - Nil Feb 25th - 20.0ºC/30.0ºC - Nil Feb 26th - 21.5ºC/28.0ºC - Nil Feb 27th - 21.0ºC/27.5ºC - Nil Feb 28th - 22.0ºC/28.0ºC - Nil Feb 29th - 22.0ºC/30.3ºC - Nil Mar 1st - 22.4ºC/29.1ºC - Nil A ridge of high pressure kept things rain-free here all week, however it was a warm to very warm and humid week. The ridge turned out to be stronger than forecast, and has stopped the rain in central New South Wales from creeping north so far. A very moist onshore feed gave the southern Queensland coast a drenching on the 24th/25th, especially on the Sunshine Coast where Tewantin received 215mm in 24 hours. Southern and central New South Wales have received some heavy falls over the past few days due to a trough drawing in tropical moisture, and there are a number of river systems with flood warnings current. Warragamba Dam (Sydney's main dam) is expected to spill over tonight for the first time since 1998 (has a capacity of a bit over 2,000,000 megalitres). The dam dropped as low as 32% during the height of the 2006 drought. Goulburn's main dam, Pejar Dam (capacity of 9,000 megalites), had just 3 megalitres of water left in 2006 (0.03%), but it is now overflowing. A little light rain is expected to develop here tonight and persist into tomorrow, with a weak trough dissipating over the region (about 5mm or so expected). A trough should move through later on Monday bringing some rain, and should clear during Tuesday. As the trough moves away, a high pressure system near Tasmania should direct S to SE'ly winds onto the coast bringing the possibility of light showers. This week should start off warm, but become mild with max temps falling to 24-25 degrees after the passage of trough during Tuesday. Nights should stay around 20-21 degrees, until the nights cool a bit to 17-18 degrees as the southerly winds develop.

Pretty major rain event about to occur across southern and central New South Wales. It has already given inland parts of Victoria a decent drop of rain (some 100mm+ 24 hr rainfalls there in 24hrs to 9am this morning). The Bureau of Meteorology have issued a "Significant Weather Media Release", which doesn't happen often, usually only 2 or 3 times a year in each state/territory. There are already flood watches and some flood warnings current. A Severe Weather Warning for a number of districts across Southern/Central New South Wales is current (http://www.bom.gov.a...gs/severe.shtml). Significant Weather Media Release: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology New South Wales Significant Weather Media Release Issued at 3:56 pm EDT on Tuesday 28 February 2012. Flood threat for southern and central NSW and the ACT The Bureau of Meteorology warned today that heavy rain and thunderstorms pose a significant flood threat to large parts of the southern half of NSW inlcuding the ACT. The Bureau has issued a Severe Weather Warning and Flood Watch for a large part of central and southern NSW with heavy rain developing today and increasing on Wednesday and Thursday. The Nepean-Hawkesbury River which provides a border to western Sydney is included in the Flood Watch and is likely to flood before the end of the week. "A major rainfall event is unfolding and we expect flooding to develop in the coming days," the Bureau's New South Wales Regional Director Mr Barry Hanstrum said today. "The heaviest falls are most likely in a band running between Broken Hill to the south and central coast including Ivanhoe, Forbes, Young, Cowra, Canberra, Goulburn, Wollongong and Sydney. Some locations could receive falls in excess of 300mm over the next several days," Mr Hanstrum said. "This event is perhaps the most significant rainfall event that some of these areas have seen in decades and records may be broken. I urge people to keep a close eye on the latest warnings issued by the Bureau," he added. New South Wales State Emergency Service Commissioner Mr Murray Kear has urged people in areas affected to prepare now. "People living and working along rivers and streams in the areas affected by the Flood Watch and warnings should prepare now. If you live in rural areas lift pumps and relocate livestock and equipment to higher ground. If isolation is likely stock up now on food, fuel, medicine and other essential items." "In urban areas if you are in a flood prone location activate your flood plan and prepare your property and family. It is particularly important that once heavy rain begins to fall you and your family stay well clear of floodwater. If you need help call the NSW SES on 132 500 or 000 if it is a life-threatening emergency." (http://www.bom.gov.a...pl?IDN38503.txt) My brother lives in Goulburn, but he is well above flood level. In the north east of the state where I am, we are expecting little rain over the next 4-5 days at this stage due to a stubborn ridge of high pressure. We will however continue to experience warm to very warm and humid conditions. The minimum here last night was a sticky 22ºC.

Adelaide got to 40.3ºC today (10.9ºC above Feb average). A maximum of 38.8ºC in Hobart (17.2ºC above Feb average) and a max of 39.4ºC at Hobart Airport today! Forecast to be 37 in Adelaide and Hobart tomorrow. Melbourne is going for 34 tomorrow after a max of 37.1ºC today. The relative humidity dropped to 10-11% down there today. Poor 'Styx' is probably shrivelled up, might have to throw him in a bowl of water and rehydrate him, lol. http://cdn.nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.png Definately be people getting static shocks down there today and tomorrow. At 3pm EDT (currently 6:35pm), it was 38.7ºC in Hobart with 12% humidity, meanwhile at the same time up here it was 29.0ºC with 64% humidity. In Hobart during February, the average 3pm humdity is 55%. Here the average 3pm humidity in February is 77%.

@Aaron: Sounds like he might be a heat lover. I'd be over-the-moon if I were in Melbourne and it was 19 degrees at that time of day in summer. Melbourne got to 37.1 degrees this afternoon, and is forecast to be 38 tomorrow and 34 on Sunday. Adelaide got to 39.2 today. Hey all good afternoon, this week seemed to fly by. Might be 2013 before we know it. Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Feb 17th - 19.0ºC/28.3ºC - Nil Feb 18th - 19.8ºC/28.8ºC - Nil Feb 19th - 19.5ºC/29.0ºC - Nil Feb 20th - 19.5ºC/29.4ºC - 31.8mm Feb 21st - 20.4ºC/27.4ºC - Nil Feb 22nd - 18.5ºC/27.5ºC - 1.0mm Feb 23rd - 18.5ºC/28.0ºC - Nil A trough moved through during the afternoon of the 20th triggering storms across northeastern New South Wales, some were severe. We received two thunderstorms here that afternoon, and it rained steadily into the evening. A weak southerly change accompanied the trough and cooled things down a bit. A scattering of generally weak storms fired up late in the morning on the 21st in the far north of the region. There was only a light sprinkle here (that didn't register), as the trough was about 40-50kms to our north in the morning, and we were under the influence of a more stable, southerly airmass (the mid levels drying out in the afternoon did no favours either). The trough moved quickly north into southern Queensland by evening. On the 22nd, some residual moisture and an upper trough moving over the region brought areas of light rain, and there were also a couple of locally heavy showers that did briefly pop up overnight but none of them hit here. The majority of this week is looking mostly dry and generally sunny as a ridge of high pressure dominates coastal regions in the state. Slight chance of a shower coming ashore this evening, and once again a small chance in the evening tomorrow (most likely be no rain). The ridge of high pressure will start to lose its influence as it moves closer to New Zealand on the 27th/28th. A low pressure trough should then be able to move into the northern half of the state (after patiently sitting over Victoria and western New South Wales for a few days), and could bring some unsettled conditions around the 29th and/or the 1st of March. Maximums should stay around 27 to 30 degrees, and minimums should be around 18 to 21 degrees this week. It should be a nice week to bid farewell to summer. March in this part of the country is usually an extension of summer (on average, it is marginally warmer than December), however the chance of hot days is somewhat lower (the 'heat bank' across central Australia starts to dwindle). That said, it can be just as humid as the summer months, especially in the earlier half. Around the equinox, the days start to feel more autumnal (mid 20s maximums become the norm). March is also the wettest month of the year here (average of 183.8mm), as we still have tropical influences but what's happening in the mid-latitudes start to influence what kind of weather we experience. The risk of East Coast Lows (http://www.bom.gov.a...facts/ecl.shtml) increases somewhat through March. These systems often bring heavy rain, strong winds and flooding (an East Coast Low in June last year brought 560mm here in 5 days). Enjoy the rest of Feb everyone! Spring is on the horizon for youse in the NH.

A beautiful summer's day here in South West Rocks, taken from near the lighthouse a bit after 4pm today (it was about 27-28ºC at this time).

Good afternoon everyone, I noticed it's going to be about 10ºC in London today. Probably a nice change from more recent temperatures there. Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Feb 10th - 18.0ºC/27.1ºC - 0.2mm Feb 11th - 20.0ºC/26.8ºC - 0.4mm Feb 12th - 19.0ºC/28.3ºC - 0.2mm Feb 13th - 19.4ºC/28.7ºC - 21.0mm Feb 14th - 17.4ºC/27.2ºC - 5.6mm Feb 15th - 18.8ºC/27.7ºC - Nil Feb 16th - 19.9ºC/27.6ºC - Nil For the most part, it was a stormy and unsettled week along the New South Wales north coast due to a low pressure trough hanging around. Rain on the 10th, 11th and 12th was from anvil rain. Storms were going north and south of here. Coffs Harbour (about 60kms north of here) had a severe storm on the evening of the 12th that brought 98km/h winds and 48mm in 30 minutes (including 19mm in 6 minutes), and brought damage to the banana plantations there. I had high hopes for the 13th, it was a warm and very humid day. Mother Nature always equals things out in the end and we received two storms that afternoon. The first (at about 3:45pm) brought brief heavy rain and isolated hailstones (up to 1.5cm), and the second (at about 6:15pm) brought heavy rain, strong wind and once again isolated hailstones (up to 1cm). It came over quite dark just before each storm hit. From the radar archive of the BOM's radar in Grafton, the two storms on the afternoon of Feb 13th (I'm a couple of kilometres west of the location 'Smoky Cape'): http://www.theweathe...3/2012-02-13-08 Photos of the first storm as it approached my house: Heavy rain during the second storm at my house: The trough weakened somewhat on the 14th but the lingering instability and a weak onshore flow brought isolated, brief heavy showers to the coast that night. The 5.6mm fell in about three minutes. There were also isolated showers overnight on the 15th to the north but there were none here as a ridge of high pressure moved in. Apart from when there has been stormy activity around, it has been a mostly sunny week. This week, another low pressure trough will move into New South Wales which should bring unsettled, stormy conditions as it moves through. It should also bring very warm weather to the coast and ranges as it nears, tending hot over inland parts. Locally, it should stay dry today and tomorrow with the ridge of high pressure persisting. However, the ridge will dissipate on Sunday and the trough will start moving across New South Wales. There is a possibility of a storm on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The south of region has the best chance on Sunday. Storm activity here is most likely on Monday as the low pressure trough will be nearest. A southerly change will accompany the passing of the trough on Monday evening/night. Though storm activity on Tuesday is likely to be suppressed, especially along the coastal fringe, because of the southerly. A ridge of high pressure should establish itself on Wednesday and keep the coast mostly fine, despite the likely development of an inland trough during Wednesday. Maximum temperatures should be around 27-29 degrees from today to Sunday, with 30-32 degrees possible on Monday. Max temps should cool to around 26-27 degrees on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Minimum temperatures should stay around 18-21 degrees all week. Hope yous have a great week

Yes you're correct, the video is not mine. It belongs to another person who has uploaded it onto YouTube.

The Gap storm in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) is a very noteworthy storm. Two of a number of YouTube videos of it (one of them is titled as a 'cyclone' but it wasn't, it was a microburst): (the first 1 minute or so is relatively tame compared to the rest of it!) (a small collection of news reports on the microburst) Bureau of Meteorology report about that storm (which confirms it was a microburst): http://www.bom.gov.a...h20081116.shtml That's one of the first that springs to mind, I'll see if I dig up some others.

Howdy there, Heard about the snow in parts of the UK (and Europe) this week, hope conditions are improving. At least spring is only about 3 weeks away. Been quite busy over the past two days, and haven't really had a spare moment. So I'll cover 8 days instead of the usual 7. (I'm writing this at 3am in the morning (11/2), that's how time-poor I've been lately, lol) Summary here for the past eight days (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Feb 2nd - 19.6ºC/26.6ºC - 0.2mm Feb 3rd - 19.0ºC/24.5ºC - Nil Feb 4th - 18.5ºC/28.5ºC - Nil Feb 5th - 19.5ºC/29.0ºC - Nil Feb 6th - 18.0ºC/29.5ºC - Nil Feb 7th - 21.0ºC/30.0ºC - 27.0mm Feb 8th - 17.0ºC/27.5ºC - 1.0mm Feb 9th - 19.0ºC/27.5ºC - Nil (For some reason since the 3rd, the temps have been rounded off to the nearest .5 or .0) Overall, it was drier than the previous week (as expected). It became warm and humid once again, especially on the 7th. A low pressure trough on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range helped spark up storms in the region on the 7th. We received a storm here, with some heavy rain and a bit of wind, although thunder/lightning was infrequent. It was somewhat unusual that we had gone more than 8 weeks without a storm during this time of year (last storm was Dec 4th, though there were plenty of storms in Spring). Wind shear was somewhat average, so the best of the storms were on the slopes and ranges. That night, a small low developed off the coast of Newcastle and moved up the lower North Coast until about sunrise, bringing heavy rain to towns/cities like Forster, Taree, Port Macquarie and Kempsey, with falls of 75-125mm in a few hours. It stopped about 30kms short of bringing heavy rain here though. It caused some flash flooding and there was some minor flooding in the smaller river valleys. Storms developed once again on the 8th in the region, however activity was more isolated and generally stuck to the slopes and ranges once again. Penrith, a major western suburb of Sydney, received 115mm mainly from a storm during the evening on the 9th (mostly falling between 7pm & 9:30pm). It caused flash flooding there, and especially so in the semi-rural suburb of Londonderry to the north where rain was heavier (though no official guage there). Major flooding from last week's rain is still affecting parts of western Queensland and the northern inland of New South Wales. Floodwaters in that area are always slow moving, and the current flood warning for the Darling River has Wilcannia (near-ish to Broken Hill) seeing a major flood peak there in late March (about 8 weeks after the rain would've fallen!) This evening, there was a little bit of rain from an area of decayed storms. The low pressure trough will hang about the state for much of this week. It should bring isolated, possibly scattered, showers and storms to the region this week. Given the hit/miss nature of storms, it has the potential to be quite a dry week with very little rainfall (<5mm), however in saying that there is a chance that we could possibly pick up a couple of 5-10mm falls this week. A bit of a 'wait and see' situation. Regardless, it should be a warm and humid week with maximums in the high 20s (possibly a 30 on Sunday) and minimums around 19-20 degrees.

Good afternoon everybody, I hope you had another good week. :-) Summary here for the past week (Date/Min/Max/24hrRainfall): Jan 26th - 20.0ºC/22.8ºC - 15.6mm Jan 27th - 21.1ºC/27.7ºC - 0.6mm Jan 28th - 20.4ºC/26.6ºC - 1.4mm Jan 29th - 19.9ºC/25.7ºC - 3.6mm Jan 30th - 21.4ºC/25.4ºC - Nil Jan 31st - 23.2ºC/27.2ºC - 57.8mm Feb 1st - 19.7ºC/21.5ºC - 95.4mm It was another damp week here. A tropical low dragged down the monsoon trough to the NSW/QLD border, bringing moderate to heavy rain to parts of western Queensland and the northern inland of New South Wales. It is unusual for the monsoon trough to come that far south. The low weakened over western NSW, however brought heavy rain to "Outback" places like Broken Hill and brought almost all of the 160mm that fell there during January (Broken Hill's annual average is 260mm!). A cold front attached to a trough moved into NSW, weakening as it reached central parts of the state. The trough attached itself to a monsoonal low and trough over northern QLD during the 30th and 31st, directing moist tropical air down in the trough into the north-east quadrant of NSW (it was very humid here on the 31st before the rain developed), this combined with moist easterly winds directed by a high pressure system over northern New Zealand, brought fairly widespread heavy rain. A small low developed near here embedded within the trough on the afternoon of the 1st, directing heavy rain/showers onto the coast. Overnight the small low embedded within the trough has moved southward to the Hunter/Newcastle region, and today it is partly cloudy and warm here. The rain has brought renewed flooding to coastal river valleys around here. The rivers over the north-eastern inland of NSW are experiencing flooding too, with some rivers expecting major flooding over the coming days (these rivers also experienced moderate/major flooding in late November too). For example, Tamworth has had about 180mm over the past 54 hours, a place which usually averages 650-700mm annually. It is still raining there as I type (but should ease overnight). There is major flooding across western Queensland as well. It should be drier this week, with the trough currently weakening over central NSW overnight. Humid easterly winds should continue to direct moisture over eastern NSW over the next 4 days or so, but there'll only be localised light falls as there will be no real trigger for rainfall. Early indications are a low pressure trough will develop over eastern NSW on Tuesday and bring rain, which could stay around for a few days. Daytime temperatures should be around 26-27 degrees this week, and night-time temperatures should stay around 20 degrees, which is average for February.