Category Archives: Australia weather

BoM declares the El Niño is over and another La Niña could be on the way

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Seven months after an El Niño associated with hotter and drier weather got under way, conditions have returned to neutral

The Bureau of Meteorology has declared the El Niño weather event of 2023-24 to be over, with odds increasing that its cooler counterpart, the La Niña, will return by the coming spring.

Conditions in the central equatorial Pacific have now returned to neutral conditions, about seven months after the El Niño had got under way, the bureau said on Tuesday.

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Cars submerged and shopping centre roof collapses as severe storm hits Perth

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About 50 calls to SES for assistance as ‘very localised’ storm reportedly dumped up to 130mm of rain in less than an hour

Parts of Perth broke a six-month-long dry spell on Friday with a fierce storm and flash flooding that left people stranded in submerged cars and caused part of a shopping centre roof to collapse.

A spokesperson for WA’s emergency services said SES volunteers had been going “flat out” to help fire crews with rescues. There had been about 50 calls for assistance over the course of the afternoon.

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Australia news live: Andrew Hastie warns of ‘breakouts of strategic disorder’ across globe; high court gives government win in ‘steering wheel’ visa case

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High court rules in favour of Andrew Giles in long-running case featuring a ‘bizarre’ photo of a signed ministerial brief next to a steering wheel. Follow today’s news live

‘Aid workers are to be protected’

Penny Wong was also asked to provide an update on the work done by Mark Binskin so far, who was appointed special adviser on Israel’s response to the deaths of World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.

There are positive engagements and we appreciate that this is a very important issue for Australia. We have been saying for a very long time it is important that international humanitarian law be adhered to.

Under international humanitarian law, as you know, aid workers are to be protected. Demonstrably, there was a deadly failure of deconfliction – deconfliction being the ways in which making sure that defence forces are aware of where humanitarian workers are so they can be protected and there was a deadly failure.

We’ve made no such decision, the discussion I want to have is to look at what is happening in the international community where there is the very important debate about how it is we secure long-lasting peace in a region where which has known so much conflict.

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PM says transparency around aid worker’s death ‘in Israel’s interest’ – as it happened

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PM ‘absolutely’ confident supermarket review will reduce prices for consumers

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC News Radio, also weighing in on Craig Emerson’s supermarket review.

Including the Senate review … we’ve already announced our funding of Choice, the consumer organisation, to do quarterly price monitoring, ensuring that consumers know where the best deal is available and using that use of information to drive that competition through the system.

We’ve only got a few supermarkets in Australia and it does concentrate a lot of market power in the hands of the retailers, [so] heavy fines might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that.

And I know many people, particularly in one of the richest cities in the world in Sydney, are doing it incredibly tough when you’ve got the dual hits of both interest rate rises and high inflation.

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Disaster assistance activated as Sydney ‘blue sky flood’ continues to threaten homes

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NSW emergency services minister warns flood threat not over after heavy rain causes flooding in and around Sydney

Hundreds of residents in Sydney’s north-west have been ordered to flee their homes after heavy rain caused flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River catchment.

The New South Wales government has announced assistance measures after heavy rain on Friday and Saturday prompted authorities to open the spill gates at Warragamba Dam.

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Man’s body found in floodwater in western Sydney suburb

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More than 160 people rescued in eastern New South Wales as deluge causes landslips, flash flooding and rapid rises in rivers

A man has died and more than 160 people have been rescued as a deluge across eastern New South Wales caused landslips, flash flooding and rapid rises in river levels.

Suburbs on Sydney’s fringes are facing the threat of significant flooding after more than a month’s rain fell overnight, while a major landslip in the Blue Mountains has cut off a community.

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NSW weather: significant flooding threat remains for parts of Sydney despite heavy rain easing

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NSW premier says rising flood levels present ongoing danger for some communities, including in western Sydney

Sydney may have woken up to blue skies on Saturday, but flood levels were continuing to rise across parts of New South Wales with evacuation orders issued after an overnight deluge broke rainfall records.

Suburbs on the city fringes were facing the threat of significant flooding after copping more than a month’s worth of rain while a major landslip in the Blue Mountains left one community cut off.

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East coast weather: flood warnings for Queensland and NSW as BoM forecasts heavy rainfall

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Drivers have been urged to reconsiders their travel plans ahead of a forecast deluge

Heavy rainfall will drench parts of Queensland and New South Wales this weekend, with motorists urged to stay off roads.

Laura Boekel, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said a trough is affecting both Queensland and New South Wales, producing a significant amount of rainfall across the two states.

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Australia weather live updates: more heavy rain forecast for NSW and Qld as SES issues flood warnings; Sydney downpours cause train delays and airport flight cancellations

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Dozens of flights cancelled at Sydney airport and drivers told to avoid non-essential travel as inland low and coastal trough combine

Helen Reid from the Bureau of Meteorology has just provided us with an update on the Sydney rain and said the city could very well receive a month’s worth of rain in one day.

She pointed to the Observatory Hill gauge and said on average in April, there is around 126.5mm of rainfall during the month. Since 9am yesterday morning, there has been 106mm of rain.

We are expecting rainfall over Sydney to increase during today … I would suggest that if we got more than the April average, that wouldn’t be too beyond too far beyond this stretch of imagination.

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Man found dead in Queensland flood water as weather systems collide over eastern Australia

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Man, 71, found near vehicle in Logan as NSW and Qld residents warned to prepare for up to 200mm of rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding

A man has been found dead near his vehicle in Queensland floodwaters as storms bring heavy rain to eastern Australia.

Police found the 71-year-old man at 5.20am on Thursday, after being called to the Logan suburb of Greenbank to conduct a welfare check.

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Ten lawyers tell court Lehrmann may have leaked confidential material to Spotlight program – as it happened

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Aviation firefighters will walk off the job amid revelations many of the nation’s airports are ill-equipped to handle emergencies, AAP reports.

Leaked risk assessments carried out by Airservices Australia reveal travellers at 13 airports including Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide airports, were found to be at extreme risk if there was a fire or aircraft incident because of a lack of firefighting resources.

These leaked documents confirm that Australia’s air travellers face a dire risk every time they set foot on an aircraft in Australia.

Clearly, this significant and ongoing risk to all Australian air travellers is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.

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Fine weather forecast for most of Australia’s capitals across the Easter long weekend

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A weather system moving in from the south-west will bring rain across southern regions from Monday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology

The long weekend has brought fine weather to Australia’s capitals – but most cities will see a soggy return to work on Tuesday.

Despite a foggy start to Saturday morning in Melbourne and rain across Brisbane and Darwin, sunshine is forecast for Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide with similar conditions to continue through Saturday and Sunday.

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Warm and sunny weather expected for most Australian capitals over Easter weekend

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Calm outlook for Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney follows extreme bouts of dry and warm weather across south and west of country

A spectacular Easter long weekend is expected for much of Australia, with warm and sunny conditions forecast for most capitals before rain reaches the eastern states at the start of next week.

Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney can all expect warm and sunny weather during the long weekend.

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Ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan: evacuations in NT ahead of ‘one-in-a-hundred-year flood’

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McArthur River at community of Borroloola predicted to peak at 18 metres, three metres higher than previous 2001 record

More than 100 people have been evacuated from the remote Northern Territory community of Borroloola as it faces dangerous record flooding just days after it was lashed by Tropical Cyclone Megan.

The McArthur River at the township was forecast to peak at 18 metres by Thursday afternoon, three metres higher than the previous 2001 flood record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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NSW temperatures to plunge as cold weather sweeps south-east of Australia

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The cold front has been moving steadily across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania

Parts of New South Wales will feel a sudden drop in temperature on Wednesday evening as a cold front continues to sweep the south-east of the country.

The cold front has been moving steadily across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania since Tuesday and will reach NSW on Wednesday.

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Weather tracker: cyclone warning in Australia while Finland freezes in -16C lows

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Meanwhile, South Sudan has ordered schools to shut amid extreme heatwave

A cyclone warning has been issued in northern Australia for coastal communities from the island of Groote Eylandt to the Northern Territory/Queensland border. Tropical Cyclone Megan, which developed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on Saturday, has been declared a category 3 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Megan is forecast to make landfall on Monday, but has already brought gale-force winds and heavy rainfall to some areas over the weekend. Groote Eylandt was cut off after more than 400mm of rain in just 24 hours on Sunday.

There is a chance that Megan could strengthen further into a category 4 storm before making landfall, with the potential for damaging wind gusts of up to 125km/h. Megan is the fifth named cyclone in Australian waters so far this season, which is below the average of about 10 by this stage of the year.

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Australia politics live: Steven Miles says Suncorp Stadium will host Brisbane Olympics opening and closing ceremonies

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Follow the day’s news live

‘There’ll be a lot of people grieving today’

Both Barnaby Joyce and Tanya Plibersek were asked about soldier Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon.

The Fitzgibbon family are a family of honour. Jack died in service to our nation. Joel has served our nation. The family will be absolutely grieving. We hope and pray Jack is with our maker, give comfort to them. You’ve seen the Fitzgibbons, you’ve watched them on television. They’re a great family. He is also my mate. We’ll turn up and give what support we can to Jack’s family.

It’s just the worst thing that any parent can imagine and so our hearts go out to Joel and Diane and their family and the friends and comrades that Jack had in the service as well. We know there’ll be a lot of people grieving today.

Well, first of all, of course it’s not on government devices in Australia either. We’ve got a ban here in Australia on government devices. But there are 8.5 million Australians who are using it.

We’ll take the advice of our security and intelligence agencies on anything we need to do around TikTok. I think people should be careful of the data that they put online in general. Like I say, if the security and intelligence agencies give us advice on TikTok, we’ll take it.

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Tropical Cyclone Megan intensifies to a category-three storm as it bears down on Northern Territory and Queensland

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Wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring heavy rain and flooding to coastal communities

Top End communities are bracing for the crossing of severe Tropical Cyclone Megan, with destructive wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring widespread damage, heavy rainfall and potential flooding to coastal communities into next week.

The cyclone formed over the Gulf of Carpentaria, east of Groote Eylandt, on Saturday afternoon and was moving south towards the Northern Territory and Queensland border as a category-two system on Sunday morning.

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Appeal for information after death of man found injured on Sydney road – as it happened

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Paterson blasts government’s immigration detention policy

Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson is now asked about immigration detention, given the government has been briefing that the high court is unlikely to allow indefinite detention to continue.

We have a risk now, that is that offenders, foreign offenders, are in the community reoffending against Australians. People are victims, who should haven’t been, because these people should not have been released. Once they were, they should have been taken off the streets.

All Australian politicians are active on the platform. I think that is OK as long as they follow the government’s national security advice about mitigating the risks. For example, it shouldn’t be on the same device they have their work or personal information on, on a stand alone.

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Tropical Cyclone Megan: residents warned to prepare for strong winds and rain as system forms off NT

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Bureau of Meteorology expects the cyclone to strengthen to a category-two system overnight and into category three by Sunday evening

A tropical cyclone has formed over the Top End, with Territorians warned to prepare for destructive wind gusts, heavy rainfall and potential flooding over coming days.

Tropical Cyclone Megan formed over the Gulf of Carpentaria, east of Groote Eylandt, on Saturday afternoon and was expected to move south-east, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

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