Can you believe that next week is winter? Creepy but true. As we move into a new season, it’s always good to know what time we expect. And this winter is no different. Will it be a general agreement of one or two? Will it be a sunny or rainy winter? (There is a big difference.)
Fortunately, the Meteorological Office is here with its weather forecast for the season, which should help us prepare for the coming cold months. So what do you expect from Australia in the coming months?
Colder days, warmer nights
We’ve been coming out of Australia’s warmest fall since 2016, but how do things look from June to August?
BoM reports that in the far north regions of Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, daytime temperatures are 80% more likely to be above average.
In the central parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, as well as in almost all of South Australia and the eastern states, temperatures are expected to be colder than average during the day.
However, all of Australia is expected to have an 80% chance of warmer-than-average nights this winter.
The rain has come to stay
New South Wales is getting the rainiest fall since 1990 and that is not about to change.
From June to August, rainfall is likely to be above average in almost all parts of the country except the southwestern parts of Western Australia, where it is expected to be drier than average.
Parts of eastern and central Queensland are also likely to be unusually wet this winter, so take off those umbrellas.
This means that the risk of flooding, thanks to already saturated soils, is still likely in the southeast.
Apparently, the additional rain is due to a slowly weakening La Niña system, as well as a negative dipole in the developing Indian Ocean.
So what can we learn from all this? Expect this winter in Australia to be much wetter and cooler than average in most (dirty) country, but we will have slightly warmer night temperatures everywhere. It’s time to dump her and move on.
This article has been updated with information from the latest weather forecast data from the Meteoroloy Office.