Australians lashed by the recent wild weather will need to brace themselves as there’s more in store for the weekend, but Christmas is looking hot, with an “unusually warm” summer forecast.
Eastern Australia can expect more severe thunderstorms this weekend, with a storm threat still in place for much of eastern Queensland, while NSW and eastern Victoria are also at risk.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said severe storms are possible from Gippsland in Victoria’s east up the coast to Sydney, which could bring rain, hail and gusty winds.
The storm risk may extend as far north as Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Other parts of Australia are sweltering under a heatwave warning, with the NT and WA continuing to swelter.
Much of WA recorded its hottest November on record, with Perth’s average maximum temperature for the month exceeding 30 degrees celsius in November for the first time since records began.
The heat will begin to move east as this week progresses but modelling is currently indicating southeastern Australia can expect rain and storms next weekend with another low-pressure system looking set to form, along with the possibility of a tropical cyclone forming in the Coral Sea next week.
But the BOM’s extended summer forecast reveals we are in store for an “unusually warm summer” with a “high chance of warmer than usual days and nights across Australia”.
For the crucial week from December 13-26, temperatures are forecast to be a few degrees above average for most of Australia, but there’s also a higher than 50 per cent risk of rain for much of the east coast of Australia, along with Victoria and Tasmania.
Over summer below average rainfall is likely for much of the tropics and WA, but for the rest of the country rainfall is expected to be closer to average, the BOM said.
“The forecasts suggested the chance of average rainfall for parts of the east towards the end of spring and early summer, and we have seen some decent rainfall in November to finish off the spring season,” BOM national manager climate services Dr Karl Braganza said.
November has been particularly wet, in defiance of the expectation of below average rain during El Nino events.
The November rain lifted the rainfall totals for spring to near average, despite September and October being particularly dry.
The BOM said that while an El Nino increases the probability for drier conditions, “it is not a guarantee”.
“We can still have both dry and wet periods”.