NorthNSW

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Feb 3rd - 15.7ºC/26.0ºC - SSW 54km/h @ 11:07pm - Nil Feb 4th - 19.4ºC/26.7ºC - SSE 57km/h @ 1:18pm - 2.2mm Feb 5th - 18.2ºC/26.6ºC - SSE 43km/h @ 7:49pm - 0.4mm Feb 6th - 16.2ºC/25.3ºC - S 35km/h @ 10:32am - 6.0mm Feb 7th - 17.6ºC/25.5ºC - E 30km/h @ 12:32pm - 1.2mm Feb 8th - 16.3ºC/27.2ºC - NNE 31km/h @ 4:22pm - Nil Feb 9th - 18.4ºC/27.6ºC - NNE 46km/h @ 3:10pm - Nil Past week: A week that wouldn't be out of place in mid-March. Mild to warm and moderately humid days, and mild nights (a couple borderline 'cool' nights for summer). Usually February is the most uncomfortable month of the year here, but it's got off to a pleasant start. A few onshore showers during the week delivering a little bit of rain. Midday cam images from week, and localised shower coming ashore on the 4th: This week (Feb 10th to Feb 16th): Very warm and fine today, but it looks like more March-like / autumnal weather this week. A high near New Zealand will weaken and lose its influence tomorrow, allowing a trough over central NSW to move a bit further towards the coast. There could be enough instability to trigger an afternoon/evening shower tomorrow, otherwise it should remain fine. A high in the Southern Ocean, west of Tasmania, will start directing cooler onshore winds onto the coast on Tuesday, and the trough will move back inland losing any influence here. The high will move eastwards and into the southern Tasman Sea during Thursday where it will become slow-moving. Due to the onshore winds directed from the high pressure system, there is the chance of a shower or two from Tuesday through to Saturday. The BOM's forecast max temps for the next 6 days (Tomorrow to Saturday): 27 / 24 / 24 / 24 / 24 / 23

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Jan 27th - 22.2ºC/23.3ºC - NNE 61km/h @ 11:40am - 77.8mm Jan 28th - 20.9ºC/23.3ºC - NNE 65km/h @ 6:41pm - 147.2mm Jan 29th - 20.3ºC/28.2ºC - NNE 63km/h @ 1:06am - 8.4mm Jan 30th - 21.5ºC/26.4ºC - SSW 35km/h @ 11:43pm - Nil Jan 31st - 19.9ºC/27.3ºC - NNE 41km/h @ 4:49pm - Nil Feb 1st - 22.0ºC/27.8ºC - NNE 59km/h @ 2:30pm - 26.0mm Feb 2nd - 18.5ºC/25.4ºC - S 72km/h @ 5:01pm - Nil Past week: Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald brought heavy rain during the 27th and 28th, with a lingering trough connected to the system bringing a few showers during the afternoon of the 29th. On the 1st a trough moved into northern NSW, and triggered the development of a squall line with some storms also forming ahead of the line. We were hit by a bow echo (http://en.wikipedia...._echo#Formation) along the squall line just after 8:30pm, with a severe downburst of wind with peak gusts around 90-100km/h. The rain was heavy and I can best describe it as a washing machine outside. Frequent lightning flashes, although not too many cloud-to-ground strikes. My rain gauge was blown off, damaged and beyond repair (had to use nearby BOM rainfall station obs instead). Only discovered this today when my parents moved the other car off the street, that a large twiggy "branch" from a gum (about 1.5m long, and a span of metre wide with it's little twiggy leafy arms, the main "branch" of it about 4cm thick) had lodged itself firmly underneath the car. Plenty of leaf litter sprayed about, alot of twigs, fair amount of those twiggy "branches" as described above, some larger branches (including one on the main thoroughfare about 6 metres long) and several smaller trees down. Council was already in by morning starting the cleanup and I largely took the main streets on my quick drive, so I may have missed other things. The storm was not as potent at Coffs where the max wind obs come from, which had max gusts in the mid 50s from the SW during the storm there. A low developed off the coast to the south on the 2nd causing strong, cooler and relatively dry southerlies to develop (dry air making temp felt cooler than it was). The low moved further out into the Tasman overnight. Radar image of bow echo storm in squall line at 9:05pm. My location is marked as a small black dot behind Smoky Cape: Midday webcam images for week + Storm approaching on Feb 1st (not the same one that hit here): This week (Feb 3rd to Feb 9th): Most of this week will feel more autumnal than summer-like. Last night was a rather cool 15.7ºC! A low in the Tasman Sea will continue to move towards New Zealand. A high will move into the Tasman tomorrow, and start directing onshore winds onto the coast. There should be a shower or two develop tomorrow, and persist into Tuesday. Chance of a light shower on Wednesday. A ridge of high pressure should move in on Thursday bringing fine conditions through Friday and Saturday too. A trough should approach towards the eastern half on the state on Saturday, but isn't expected to have an affect on here aside from bringing warmer temps that day. Forecast max temps for the next 6 days (Tomorrow to Sat): 25 / 24 / 24 / 25 / 27 / 29

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald moved past here very late last night, allowing for rain to ease. A trough connected to Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald passed over us early this evening (with a few showers firing ahead of it in weak instability), marking the end of his influence over the area. At present, the low is in the western Tasman Sea off the east coast of Tasmania, moving quickly southwards into the Southern Ocean where it will weaken once it gets to about 50ºS and dissipate fast. 344.0mm has fallen here in the past six days, with 147.2mm falling yesterday. The Macleay River is peaking with minor flooding tonight. We were lucky that the heavy falls yesterday were restricted to within about 30kms of the coast about the lower catchment, with lighter falls in the mid and upper catchment area. We would have otherwise seen at least moderate flooding, potentially major flooding, if the heavy rain had fell on the ranges yesterday. The wind wasn't as bad as forecast here. The strongest gusts were during last night within about one kilometre of the coastline and on elevated terrain. There was some small to medium branches snapped off and a couple of trees down around town within a kilometre of the coast. It suggests winds were stronger than the reported 65km/h max gusts, realistically closer to 80km/h if the Beaufort Scale is any guide. The surf is up, has increased to around 3.5 to 4 metres and become more powerful. Surf will ease off by Friday. Footage of the one of the tornadoes in the Bundaberg region at Bargara: Record flooding in Bundaberg: Here in Northern NSW: Record high flooding at Grafton on the Clarence River (about 140kms to the north of here): and Sea-foam at Port Macquarie (about 60kms south of here):

Latest Severe Weather warning (issued a short time ago). South West Rocks is in the Mid North Coast district. I have never seen a Severe Weather Warning that warns for wind gusts up to 140km/h here! There is a fresh to strong wind at present, but the Bureau must be expecting winds to increase substantially during this morning as the low moves into NSW.

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Jan 20th - 21.0ºC/23.0ºC - SW 35km/h @ 11:02pm - 2.6mm Jan 21st - 20.2ºC/25.9ºC - WSW 35km/h @ 7:31am - 2.8mm Jan 22nd - 20.0ºC/28.5ºC - NE 50km/h @ 2:35pm - Nil Jan 23rd - 21.5ºC/28.4ºC - NE 33km/h @ 11:17am - 44.0mm Jan 24th - 20.5ºC/28.5ºC - S 35kmk/h @ 10:50am - 12.6mm Jan 25th - 20.9ºC/29.0ºC - NE 33km/h @ 10:35pm - 9.4mm Jan 26th - 20.9ºC/28.9ºC - NE 48km/h @ 7:39pm - 44.6mm Past week: Well this week certainly changed once Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald decided to move down the QLD coast instead of tracking through western/outback QLD!!! A trough developed just offshore the coast during the 23rd, allowing for unstable conditions near the coastline thanks to moist onshore winds, bringing a few showers and a storm in the afternoon/evening (with 20mm falling in 10 minutes). The trough weakened on the 24th, but still strong enough to produce a storm late that evening. Moist northeasterlies started affecting us here from Oswald on the 25th, and especially on the 26th as it started moving into southeastern QLD brought showers and rain at times. Webcam images from midday for past week, and the bottom right image showing a heavy shower moving ashore: This week (Jan 27th to Feb 2nd): Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald should continue to bring rain, tending moderate to heavy at times, through today and easing tomorrow afternoon or early evening (we've already had 34.4mm here in the past two hours). The ex-cyclone should move south of here during tomorrow afternoon, allowing for most of the rain to clear. A trough is expected to linger after the low clears but whether it remains on land or offshore will determine how much rain sticks about, but a few showers continuing until Thursday/Friday looks somewhat likely. A flood watch is out for the local river (the Macleay River) with the Bureau advising of the potential for moderate to major flooding (if forecast rain amounts come to fruition), so far most of the rain has stuck to the coast though. A severe weather warning has been issued for heavy rain and damaging surf. At this stage, we are not being warned for damaging winds but adjacent districts to the north are being warned of wind gusts up to 110km/h. However, there is a coastal waters warning for winds increasing up to 'Storm force' 50 knots (93km/h) tomorrow morning. There have been several confirmed reports of tornadoes in northern parts of Southeastern QLD (mainly around the Bundaberg / Fraser Coast). Forecast max temps here for today and the next 6 days: 24 / 25 / 27 / 27 / 29 / 31 / 26

Looks like some interesting weather approaching here on the northern coast of NSW. The long spell of unusually dry weather appears as though it could end rather abruptly courtesy of a tropical low (Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald). This afternoon a Flood Watch and Significant Weather Media Release have been issued, which includes my local area: Flood Watch: Significant Weather Media Release: Forecast Synoptic Charts for Saturday, Sunday and Monday:

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Jan 13th - 22.4ºC/29.3ºC - WSW 54km/h @ 9:33pm - 2.0mm Jan 14th - 20.5ºC/21.5ºC - SSW 57km/h @ 2:50am - 14.0mm Jan 15th - 17.6ºC/25.0ºC - SW 31km/h @ 11:27pm - 0.2mm Jan 16th - 17.0ºC/27.6ºC - NE 44km/h @ 12:35pm - Nil Jan 17th - 19.4ºC/27.7ºC - NNE 56km/h @ 2:01pm - Nil Jan 18th - 21.4ºC/30.3ºC - NE 63km/h @ 4:06pm - Nil Jan 19th - 22.6ºC/27.1ºC - S 46km/h @ 2:40pm - 1.8mm Past week: An area of storms moved through the region during the evening of the 13th as a trough moved through, with frequent lightning and heavy rain occurring in the main area of storms. That area of storms missed here by a little, and we got a weak t'storm with light rain and a few flashes instead. The 14th was a cool day for this time of year, not record-breaking, but very much below normal for January. Drizzle and light showers brought a bit of welcome rain that day. Some drizzle developed late on the 19th as winds turned southerly. Midday images for past week + image of week: This week (Jan 20th to Jan 26th): A trough is expected to sit across western to central NSW for the whole week. There's been a little drizzle so far today, with the risk of showers remaining into this evening. Slight to moderate chance of a shower on each day ahead this week, but nothing concrete unfortunately. There are signs that the trough could start to move eastwards on Saturday. Beyond this week, it remains to seen what the trough may do once it encounters better moisture in eastern NSW and/or if it can tap into tropical moisture from northern QLD. Forecast max temps for this week: 26 / 28 / 29 / 29 / 27 / 28 / 29

The build-up of heat from now on will be intermittently interrupted by monsoonal cloud / moisture increasingly creeping on occasion into the interior. It's the little things that can make the difference between temps in the high 40s across the interior and temps in the low to mid 40s instead. But as you say, the first rain event to move through that area will really put a dampener on heat buildup.There will still be hot temperatures across the interior (as per normal), but it would be unlikely to see similar conditions to the past few weeks.

A sea breeze has cooled the temps about the coastal fringe into the mid 30s. It is still in the 40s away from the coastal fringe. True relief will come this evening as that front brings a southerly change. Sydney is expected to reach 25ºC tomorrow (basically average for Jan).The hot temps affected Adelaide and Melbourne yesterday, and have moved on to affect Sydney and Canberra today. The heat today has affected most of NSW (except here in the north east of the state), the ACT, and also northeastern SA and southwestern QLD. Here's the synoptic map for 11am today, you can see the approaching front and associated trough with a high in the Tasman Sea helping channel hot temps from the interior onto the coast: The monsoon is expected to develop over the weekend (a rather late onset for the monsoon), which is expected to end the run of very hot temperatures (which on occasion have spilled onto the coast), as cloud will increase over the interior and moisture levels will start to increase too.

Sydney CBD (Observatory Hill) has had its hottest day on record. So far today it has peaked at 45.8ºC, surpassing the previous record of 45.3ºC on Jan 14th 1939. Observatory Hill has been recording temperatures since 1859, and is one of the longest running weather sites in Australia. The highest temperature so far today has been 46.5ºC at Penrith in Sydney's western suburbs.

YouTube video of the storm complex that moved through the local area on Sunday night. This was filmed from the southern side of the area of storms at Port Macquarie. The view here on the northern side of the storms was very similar. It was an awesome sight. I can only imagine what it was like being underneath the storm complex. Btw, the video is in real-time, it hasn't been sped up.

A bad bushfire burning in the northern inland of NSW at present. The Coonabarabran area is expected to get into the mid to high 30s from Wednesday to Saturday:

Bit late with the weekly update woops. Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Jan 6th - 19.0ºC/27.3ºC - E 30km/h @ 12:30pm - Nil Jan 7th - 19.1ºC/27.5ºC - ESE 26km/h @ 12:15pm - Nil Jan 8th - 18.1ºC/33.9ºC - NNE 63km/h @ 1:48pm - Nil Jan 9th - 21.1ºC/37.7ºC - NNE 59km/h @ 2:34pm - Nil Jan 10th - 20.9ºC/27.8ºC - S 39km/h @ 11:21pm - Nil Jan 11th - 20.7ºC/32.8ºC - NNE 67km/h @ 2:56pm - Nil Jan 12th - 24.6ºC/35.0ºC - NE 52km/h @ 11:54am - Nil Past week: A sultry, warm to hot, and predominately mostly sunny week. An area of showers and storms formed in the afternoon of the 9th on the southerly change, but stayed to the inland. We did manage a couple of splats on the roof, but nothing recordable. Early morning mist the next day, but once again nothing recordable. Storms developed over the inland on the 12th, but fine conditions prevailed on the coast. This week (Jan 13th to Jan 19th): Yesterday was a warm day, which began as a sunny day. A squall line develop across inland parts of northern NSW along a trough, with wind gusts of 128km/h at Narrabri and 126km/h at Tamworth. The squall line weakened as it moved over the ranges, but some thunderstorms continued onto the coast. We only got a few nearby flashes in a weak storm here (and our first recordable rain of 2013 with 2mm falling), but the storm to the SW nearer to Kempsey was producing an amazing amount of lightning. Simply a stunning display of lightning in that storm about 10 mins down the road, and pretty much constantly flashing. Radar and Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning over a one hour period yesterday evening: Today has been quite cool and overcast with drizzly periods and brief light showers. Any remaining drizzle should clear by morning tomorrow, as an area of high pressure moves into the northern Tasman Sea. The high will help channel hot air over NSW again from Thursday as a trough approaches and moves into the state, areas along the coastal fringe should be spared from the heat. The trough will move into northern NSW on Saturday, with the slight chance of a shower that night (at this stage). Forecast maximums for remainder of this week (next 5 days): 25 / 28 / 30 / 33 / 32

There was a statewide fire ban in NSW yesterday, which has been extended into today. Fire danger not as high as a couple of days ago though, mainly due to lighter winds. Penrith (in western Sydney) is forecast to reach 45ºC today. The record high in Penrith weather station's relatively short history (opened in 1995) is 46.0ºC on January 15th 2001. Richmond RAAF (in northwestern Sydney) is a comparable site to Penrith, which recorded between 1928 and 1994. It's record high is 47.8ºC on January 14th 1939. Had the Penrith weather station been operating back then, I imagine it's all-time record be very similar to Richmond's. Bourke and Tibooburra (Upper Western district) are expected to be hottest with a forecast top of 47ºC. This picture has been doing the rounds, gave me a bit of a chuckle:

Sydney (Observatory Hill) reached a maximum of 42.3ºC today at 2:03pm, which makes it Sydney's fifth hottest day on record. The hottest location east of the ranges today was in the Illawarra at Albion Park (near Wollongong) reaching 43.1ºC at 1:44pm. From Newcastle to the Victorian border, there were widespread maximums of 40-42ºC. Relative humidity fell to, and still is in many places north of the southerly change, the 10-20% range, with several places dipping into single figures. There are about 130-140 fires across the state, with most of these fires from lightning or ignited accidently (e.g. failed machinery sparking). About 12-15 fires are of some level of concern, especially one burning in the Shoalhaven area near Nowra and Sussex Inlet. No lives or houses have been lost yet from the fires in the state, but some property, like sheds etc., have been lost. The statewide total fire ban has been extended into tomorrow. The Northern areas of NSW will experience the heat tomorrow, with widespread severe fire danger expected. Here on the coastal fringe of the North Coast we are expected to get to 37ºC before a southerly change (which is due here around lunchtime). Areas along the north coast away from that coastal fringe are expected creep into the forties. Grafton is expected to be a hotspot on the north coast reaching 42ºC tomorrow.

Yep still fairly dry. January is one of our wetter months on average, but January rainfall year-to-year here can be somewhat variable, compared to the more reliable Feb-Mar-Apr period. Record low January rainfall here is 15.0mm, though anything below 50mm would be classed as very dry for January. It's been rather dry since July, despite a wetter than normal November. Hopefully the late summer / autumn rains don't fail. The quick transition from wet/flooding rains through the past couple of years to the dry weather of recent has been amazing. ~~~~ Going to be a nervous day for most areas of the state, especially those surrounded by or adjoining bushland. National Parks and State Forests will be closed statewide tomorrow too, not only to avoid having people in these highly fire prone areas but also to lower the risk of arson. The coastal fringe here on the North Coast will be spared the worst of the heat. Current forecasts have us reaching a 34ºC max tomorrow, followed by 37ºC on Wednesday (cooler southerly change due around 12noon-1pm on Wednesday).

Sad to hear about the homes being lost to bushfires in Tasmania. Very impressive heat though for Tasmania, and close to the state record. Hay, in the Riverina district of NSW, reached 47.7ºC yesterday which is its hottest day in 132 years of records. Wilcannia (Upper Western district of NSW) reached 47.5ºC yesterday, a bit shy of its all-time 48.2ºC record. Tibooburra (Upper Western NSW) yesterday got to 47.0ºC, not quite beating the all-time record of 47.6ºC. The NSW state record is 49.7ºC at Menindee (Lower Western) on Jan 10th 1939. The heat is expected to persist all week west of the Great Dividing Range, and filtering across to the east coast on several days. Tibooburra's current max temp forecast for today and the next six days: 45 / 43 / 43 / 43 / 41 / 45 / 47 (toasty!) ~~~~~~ Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Dec 30th - 19.2ºC/26.8ºC - SW 30km/h @ 7:30am - Nil Dec 31st - 19.0ºC/27.2ºC - NNE 46km/h @ 5:36pm - Nil Jan 1st - 21.1ºC/32.1ºC - NE 48km/h @ 1:53pm - Nil Jan 2nd - 19.8ºC/28.5ºC - S 41km/h @ 6:52pm - Nil Jan 3rd - 20.0ºC/25.0ºC - S 24km/h @ 11:19pm - Nil Jan 4th - 17.2ºC/26.5ºC - ENE 35km/h @ 2:52pm - Nil Jan 5th - 18.6ºC/28.2ºC - NE 39km/h @ 1:50pm - Nil Past week: Generally warm week, with no recordable rain. There was a very brief shower on the morning of the 3rd, but not enough to register. Midday webcam images for the week at Bonny Hills and favourite image of the week (I assume it was the fireworks display for the kids going off at 9:56pm in the last picture): This week (Jan 6th to Jan 12th): A high in the Tasman will continue to bring fine weather here through today, tomorrow and Tuesday. A trough and associated southerly change is expected to move through during Wednesday. A light shower or two may develop late Wednesday night, and possibly continue into Thursday. Fine weather is expected to return for Friday and Saturday. The warmest days here this week are expected to be Tuesday, Wednesday (though an earlier-than-forecast southerly could spoil the party), and Saturday. The current max temp forecast here for today and the next six days: 27 / 27 / 34 / 33 / 25 / 31 / 35

BOM have upped the temperatures tomorrow across the SE. Adelaide expecting 44ºC, Melbourne 41ºC and Hobart 39ºC. Highest maximum forecast by BOM for tomorrow: In South Australia is 47ºC at Tarcoola. In Victoria, 44ºC at Mildura, Ouyen and Walpeup. In Tasmania, 40ºC at Campania and Richmond. In NSW, 44ºC at Ivanhoe and Tibooburra. Forecast max of 26ºC here tomorrow. Yay for living on the east coast!

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirectionSpeed&Time/24hrRainfall): Dec 23rd - 20.0ºC/28.2ºC - NE 43km/h @ 2:37pm - Nil Dec 24th - 19.3ºC/27.3ºC - NE 50km/h @ 2:05pm - Nil Dec 25th - 20.6ºC/28.0ºC - SSW 57km/h @ 9:09pm - 7.2mm Dec 26th - 19.0ºC/24.9ºC - SW 52km/h @ 4:26pm - 1.0mm Dec 27th - 18.4ºC/25.4ºC - SW 37km/h @ 11:37pm - Nil Dec 28th - 20.0ºC/28.0ºC - NNW 35km/h @ 8:58am - Nil Dec 29th - 20.3ºC/26.5ºC - SSW 54km/h @ 12:01am - Nil Past week: Overall a fairly pleasant week. Christmas Day saw mid to high level cloud ruin storm development on the coast, but about 100kms west in the clearer air there were some quite strong storms. We still received some light rain in the evening/overnight. A bit of drizzle developed later on Boxing Day, it also became a little bit chilly later in the afternoon as temperatures dropped to around 21ºC with a fresh wind. Storms fired near the southerly change on the 28th (one of those storms on the last image below), but weakened dramatically after 9pm. We've had some rotten storm luck lately. Midday images at the northeast-facing Bonny Hills weather cam, and favourite image of the week at either the NE or W-facing webcam. It gives a pretty good idea of what is like here, even though it is 85kms down the coast. Being that bit further south, it receives slightly more cloud than here through the year. (Image credit to BSCH Webcams): This week (Dec 30th to Jan 5th): A high pressure system passing through the Tasman Sea area should bring fine weather through today, tomorrow and Tuesday. On Wednesday, a southerly change will move through during the day, possibly bringing a light shower that evening or overnight. Another high pressure system is expected to move into and sit in the Tasman through Thursday, Friday and Saturday bringing fine weather. Average Sunshine hours here: Jan: 236 Feb: 206 Mar: 220 Apr: 216 May: 208 Jun: 198 Jul: 223 Aug: 254 Sep: 252 Oct: 251 Nov: 237 Dec: 248 ~~~ Summer: 690hrs Autumn: 644hrs Winter: 675hrs Spring: 740hrs ~~~ Annual: 2749 sunshine hours

Merry Christmas to everyone on Netweather. I hope everybody stuffs themselves full of food over Christmas and the New Year. 2013 is around the corner!

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirection&Time/24hrRainfall): Dec 16th - 20.4ºC/30.5ºC - NE 57km/h @ 3:10pm - Nil Dec 17th - 20.2ºC/26.7ºC - SSW 48km/h @ 7:36am - Nil Dec 18th - 20.5ºC/25.9ºC - SSE 24km/h @ 9:57am - 6.4mm Dec 19th - 22.4ºC/28.3ºC - NNE 46km/h @ 4:25pm - 1.0mm Dec 20th - 21.8ºC/29.2ºC - N 35km/h @ 12:13am - Nil Dec 21st - 22.8ºC/27.7ºC - SSW 39km/h @ 12:32am - 13.0mm Dec 22nd - 20.6ºC/27.5ºC - ENE 28km/h @ 1:45pm - Nil Past week: A warm to very warm and humid week. Troughs sitting near the region produced some showers and isolated storms, with most of these storms occurring nearer to the ranges and the coastal fringe tending to get the showers. In the early hours of the 20th, an area of storms came within a couple of kilometres of here but missed out on getting a storm cell pass right over us. It was still a nice show of nearby lightning though. This week (Dec 23rd to Dec 29th): Fine conditions should prevail here through today and tomorrow. A low pressure trough will move into the state tomorrow, and is expected to be near the northeast of the state during Christmas Day (Tues) and temporarily stall about the region during Boxing Day (Wed). Christmas Day should begin as a warm, humid and fine day. However during the afternoon and into the evening, there should be a few showers develop along with the chance of a thunderstorm. Boxing Day should see a few showers and the slight chance of a thunderstorm in the morning, with mainly fine conditions expected to develop by evening. The trough is expected to retreat westward into the central inland of NSW/QLD on Thursday, which should allow for fine conditions here on the coast. At this stage, it's a bit uncertain what the trough will do later this week, but it looks like the chance of an afternoon/evening shower on Friday and the slight chance of a shower on Saturday. Merry Christmas to everybody, enjoy the time with family, friends and/or food. One of my favourite Christmas songs:

Could be a storm or two about on Christmas Day here. I must have made the 'nice' list this year. Local district forecast for Christmas Day: Mid North Coast - Partly cloudy. Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Light winds tending south to southwesterly up to 20 km/h during the morning. Forecast for two nearest main centres for Christmas Day: Coffs Harbour - Min: 20 / Max: 29 Partly cloudy. A shower or two and the chance of a thunderstorm from the late morning. Winds northerly and light tending south to southwesterly up to 20 km/h during the afternoon. Port Macquarie - Min: 19 / Max: 30 Partly cloudy. A few showers and thunderstorms from the late morning. Winds northerly 10 to 20 km/h tending south to southwesterly up to 30 km/h during the morning.

Current forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology for Christmas Day here: I suspect it will probably creep back towards the high 20s in the coming days, but regardless, it looks like being a humid/sweaty Christmas here. Medium-term forecasts currently suggest a trough will move into the north of the state on Christmas Day.

Summary here over the past week (Date/Min/Max/MaxWindGustDirection&Time/24hrRainfall): Dec 9th - 19.9ºC/28.8ºC - NE 59km/h @ 1:50pm - 0.6mm Dec 10th - 19.5ºC/24.5ºC - SSE 31km/h @ 11:48am - 12.0mm Dec 11th - 18.3ºC/25.1ºC - SE 46km/h @ 5:02pm - 2.0mm Dec 12th - 16.5ºC/25.2ºC - S 48km/h @ 12:57pm - 0.6mm Dec 13th - 16.3ºC/25.1ºC - E 31km/h @ 1:25pm - Nil Dec 14th - 15.0ºC/25.4ºC - NE 31km/h @ 1:36pm - Nil Dec 15th - 16.1ºC/26.4ºC - NE 52km/h @ 12:27pm - 0.4mm Past week: Overall the week was a bit on cool side for summer thanks to S/SE'ly winds. Some showers earlier in the week from an onshore flow. A little bit of rain last night as a decaying rainband clipped the region. This week (Dec 16th to Dec 22nd): A trough will approach the region overnight, and is currently expected to stall across the north of the state all week. There is a low to moderate risk of a shower or storm from tomorrow onwards. The main area of instability is expected to sit near the ranges and the wind shear will also slacken as the week progresses, which makes things a bit unfavourable for us on the coast. Definitely one of those weeks where you could get nothing at all. This week is looking warm and quite humid. We've had a maximum (so far) today of 30.5ºC. It may cool a little bit as we near the weekend though.

♪♪ A beautiful sight, NorthNSW is happy tonight, enjoying Netweather's winter wonderland ♪♪ I especially like the little snowflakes that fall down the screen. I didn't realise how close Christmas was until I read the countdown timer: 10 Days & 21 Hours!