The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has predicted that a hotter than normal summer is on the way to most parts of Australia.
Manager of Long-range Forecasting at BoM, Andrew Watkins said the outlook showed most of the country had an 80 per cent chance of exceeding normal temperatures over the next three months.
“Summer in Australia typically brings hot temperatures for many communities and the outlook indicates this summer will be no different,” Dr Watkins said.
“We’ve already seen extremely hot temperatures through parts of north and central Queensland in recent days and this should act as an important reminder of the kinds of conditions we can get during an Australian summer.”
He said that in terms of rainfall, the outlook showed a drier than average three months likely for large parts of Western Australia, Queensland and the Top End of the Northern Territory.
“For the rest of the country there is no strong push indicating wetter or drier than average conditions,” Dr Watkins said.
“Having said that, locally heavy rainfall events similar to what we have seen in NSW …. are always a possibility during summer, no matter what the outlook is showing.”
He said BoM’s outlook remained at El Niño alert, meaning the chance of an El Niño forming in 2018 was 70 per cent, roughly triple the normal risk.
He said El Niño typically brings drier and warmer conditions to eastern Australia but the rainfall effects tend to be less pronounced in the south during summer months.
Dr Watkins said preliminary figures showed that the Spring just past was likely to be one of the 10 warmest on record for the country as a whole.
BoM’s latest weather outlook can be accessed at this PS News link.
