Summer (southern hemisphere)

[Tyrone]

Well it looks like a good summers day today. Forecast says 25C max which means I'll get somewhere between 30-32C which is just perfect. I knew summer would start at some point. Happy days.

[Danilopez89]

I'm just happy to see someone talking about summer...

Can't wait to feel some nice heat already. 

[tropicbreeze]

The weather's changed here as well. The very hot humid but no rain has given way to cooler more humid and more frequent rain. Average maximum temps for December are down to a touch under 36. Lowest maximum has been just over 32, the coldest day in about 4 months. But the storms have been picking up recently. A week back Noonamah AWS got 197mm rain in a couple of hours. I got 101mm. Of course, with that sort of rain only the first 20mm or so are much good. The rest is just run off and erosion. But it brought my dam from near to nothing up to about half full and started my creek flowing.

The monsoon trough is hanging just off the bottom of Indonesia, to our north west, and the MJO is moving across the Indian Ocean and expected to strengthen as it reaches us. We might end up with a dose of monsoon sooner than originally predicted. I've been doing some excavating and landscaping around my dam so it would be nice to see how it looks with water levels right up. Sea temperature anomalies in the Indian Ocean are going way up, especially off the Pilbara and Kimberley coasts where it's expected to get to +5. They're expecting a lot of kills of sedentary marine life. The mobile stuff should move to deeper cooler water. Not sure what it'll mean for cyclogenesis though with El Nino trying to drag it all the other way.

[Tyrone]

Glad to hear you have rain on the way. I didn't know the tropical Indian Ocean had anomalies around +5C. That's bound to do something.

We had 31.3C here yesterday, warmer than Perth's 28C. I woke up this morning to 21.3C and 95% RH. Supposedly going for a 22C max!!!! But we've already passed that with a 24.3C so far. The suns out, the grass is wet from dew, a beautiful morning.

 

[tropicbreeze]

It's a bit surprising to see you get warmer temps than Perth. Seems with a southwesterly they'd be much the same or a tad higher. On an easterly or northeasterly you'd expect Perth could get significantly higher.

Here the monsoon trough is still out over the Indian Ocean but today our weather is looking weakly monsoonal already. BOM is predicting the monsoon will develop over us during the weekend with maximum temps dropping down to 33 for a few days next week. A low is expected to develop in the trough line somewhere between Cocos and Christmas Islands over the weekend as well. GFS also has a low developing over the Top End mid next week, strengthening and moving into the Gulf, then crossing back inland over Borroloola. It's putting it at up to 69 knots. But that's a week off, and a week for models is a very long time.

I'm going to have to finish off my concrete work as quick as I can between these showers we're having now, won't get any better for a while. But I'm loving the rain and humidity we're getting, a big change from the previous 7 months or so.

[Tyrone]

Yes, we can get hotter than Perth on occasion. I think it comes down to where the heat troughs are sitting. The heat troughs sit on a general north-south line and where I am is a fair way east of Perth. East of the heat trough is hotter than on the westerly side. Once the heat trough moves east it drags in moisture and humidity off the Indian Ocean behind it. Basically Perth gets the cooler humid side earlier than down here. If Perth is hot one day we get the heat generally the next day, and by the next day Perth has cooled down again. Albany only 12 kms away and bang on the coast is significantly cooler than my place during the day and slightly warmer at night. No official forecasts work for my location, not even close.

[Pip]

It's hot down here and my air conditioner died .

I'm thankful for the swimming pool as the last four days have been over 40c. A cooler change is finally heading it's way over from the west but will still have to endure 44c before it does.

[Josh-O]

5 hours ago, Pip said:

It's hot down here and my air conditioner died .

I'm thankful for the swimming pool as the last four days have been over 40c. A cooler change is finally heading it's way over from the west but will still have to endure 44c before it does.

theirs always an ice cold Victoria bitter to smooth thing out  

[Pip]

15 minutes ago, Josh-O said:

theirs always an ice cold Victoria bitter to smooth thing out  

No offense to Victorians but  yuck! VB also  stands for vomit breath . I'm not much of a beer drinker. With all the wineries nearby I tend to drink what is locally produced. In heat like this my preference is for a sparkling white from Hugo winery.

[tropicbreeze]

Weather here is looking like hotting up, so to speak, over Christmas. Predictions are turning more to torrential rain and strong winds from around Wednesday through to the weekend. Maximum temps around 30 to 31. A tropical low is expected to form over the Top End and intensify, then move out over the Gulf of Carpentaria and further intensify. GFS has it up to 79 knots. Some weather watchers are already betting on TC formation by Wednesday, BOM also has the risk of formation as high saying the TC may form Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hope Santa and his reindeers have their floaties on and the landing lights are working on his sleigh. All the pressies will need to be in shrink wrap plastic as well. Looks like being a rough windy trip for him this year.

 

[Tyrone]

Had a 39.6C max today and tonight is balmy and warm. I irrigated everything today. Should see things take off like dynamite with that sort of heat and water.

[Tyrone]

Well my temp spreadsheet and graph is looking really schizo for Dec 2015. On Wed we had 39.6C and today is forecast to be 19C so we may make 22-24C depending on the cloud cover and wind speed. I believe Victoria is getting record heat and the NT is getting drenched.

[Pip]

Northern Adelaide has dust storms thanks to the bush fires from a few weeks ago.

[peachy]

This is the first cool xmas day I can remember. A divine 22c after all night rain. Plans to get up and cook something special went out the window. I stayed in bed till 6pm with my lazy poochies.

 

[Tyrone]

Well we had a few days in the high 30's, but the last couple of days have been cloudy windy with the odd bit of rain. A little warmer would be better to kick everything along.

[tropicbreeze]

Bit surprised Tyrone. Usually when we get all monsoonal here down your way usually get hot.

Here it's been a very unexpected sort of a December this year. With all the doom and gloom of El Nino they said we wouldn't get the monsoon until January. My total rain for December is 574mm. All brought about by that gunna-be not gunna-be cyclone which ended up going inland into the drought stricken areas anyway. A great Christmas present for many people. My dam overflowed and I've been in swimming and canoeing already, something that mainly doesn't happen until January. There's a lot more of the wet season to go yet. Let's hope it's at least average and doesn't just die in the ........

View of part of my dam in the rain.

The dam overflow channel.

[Tyrone]

6 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Bit surprised Tyrone. Usually when we get all monsoonal here down your way usually get hot.

Here it's been a very unexpected sort of a December this year. With all the doom and gloom of El Nino they said we wouldn't get the monsoon until January. My total rain for December is 574mm. All brought about by that gunna-be not gunna-be cyclone which ended up going inland into the drought stricken areas anyway. A great Christmas present for many people. My dam overflowed and I've been in swimming and canoeing already, something that mainly doesn't happen until January. There's a lot more of the wet season to go yet. Let's hope it's at least average and doesn't just die in the ........

View of part of my dam in the rain.

The dam overflow channel.

That's absolute paradise. You've had in December just a little bit less rain than what I've had for 2015!!!! We've been about 40% down on what we should have had.

Perth up north has been hot, but their is consistent easterlies down here that come off the ocean about 25km away and so we have cool cloudy weather with the odd bit of drizzle now and then. I just took my last temp reading for Dec and 2015 and this December (don't laugh) I've averaged a 10.4C min and 26.6C max which is about the same as last year. In Jan/Feb both the max and min jump up 3 or 4C which will be nice. The cool weather has been good for cleaning up around the place. I just spent today mowing, whipper snippering and cleaning up an area ready for planting Howeas, Livistonas, Archontophoenix and tree ferns this weekend. Finally things are starting to happen here.

[Tyrone]

Today the easterlies have become unrelenting and virtually gale force. Normally at night even after a windy day the winds drop right out. Not tonight. They're just powering thru the night. Looking at the synoptic situation we have a virtually unchanged synoptic pattern for the next 7 days. A high in the Bight and a heat trough and low pressure coming down the west cost squashing the isobar lines together nice and tight over us. Yuck.

[Tyrone]

Well just when I go back to work the easterlies ease off and the day was a beautiful 28C day. Typical. 

[tropicbreeze]

You're not getting paranoid, are you? LOL,

Here the rain absolutely died just before the New Year. The sky has been looking very much like dry season, except humidity is still very high. During the rain we had 3 days with the temperature not getting above 30, but now it's around 35. Planted out 12 Areca catechu seedlings during the rain, nearly half of them have sunburn. Rigged up some shade so hope they'll come good. In about 5 weeks the sun will be overhead again and after that the seedlings will be in natural shade most of the time.

[Tyrone]

Yeah, I'm probably paranoid. This is the worst summer I've experienced in my whole life though. Today work took me about 150kms away and we came across some thunderstorms and it was very sticky and humid. The sun came out and it kind of felt like a warm humid summers day. We even had the air con on. Coming back to Albany the clouds thickened to a dark gloom, the temp dropped so we had to turn the air con off, the wind blew up a gale from the east and even though the thunderstorms hung around, there was no real rain just gusty easterlies and a bit of drizzle. Still the night temps have jumped 6C in Jan from Dec, but the days have been ho hum. Not summer in my opinion. As someone told me the other day, Albany summers are way over rated.

[Daryl]

That dam looks very nice Zig.

Tyrone, I visited Albany and Esperance many years ago in the summer, and I can remember it being really quite chilly...I was quite surprised, but remember the coastline around Esperance was very nice, regardless of the temperatures.

We had a soggy Christmas and start to the new year here...not constant rain, but very showery...50-60mm or thereabouts...very steamy today though!

 

[Tyrone]

Coming from Perth with scorching summers to down here with mild summers is a bit of a shock. Perth is 39C today whereas Albany has a forecast 24C today (probably 29C at my place). At least the nights are up around 17C now. In Perth you pack your jumpers away from about November and don't touch them again until around May. Down here you always keep one handy, especially if you're going out at night, even in summer. Up in Perth I remember one Feb where we left the air con going for 3 weeks straight 24/7. It was the only way you could get to sleep during those heat waves. Down here we have an air con, but it's never been used for cooling the place. So our electricity bill is a bit lower.

Today it's blowing it's bags off from the east again, but the sun is definitely out. It should be a nice day. :)

[Tyrone]

Been up in Perth for a week and it was mild at first then up to high thirties again. Yesterday I did some cleaning up at my place in Perth and intended to transplant some Howea belmoreana down to my Albany place but aborted the idea due to it nearly reaching 40C. I drove back down through thunderstorms for a good 300 plus km stretch. It actually felt cold in some sections. My place in Albany reached 41.2C yesterday, warmer than Perth. Then we had a steamy night by Albany standards with the odd flash of lightening and a bit of rain. Today is a steamy day and the thunderstorms are closing in. I just had to dig a hole for a dead sheep and it was so hot and humid it nearly killed me. The BOM is saying up to 20mm today and by Wed we may have had around 70mm. We'll see what happens.

[tropicbreeze]

Half your luck, even for only your one day's 20mm. My total for January so far (bit over half way point) is 19mm, whereas average is closer to 400mm. This is what I was afraid of. Deluge in December, most of which disappeared as run off, then ultra dry. Last wet season we had a deluge during 2 weeks in January then very dry (for a wet season). Hate this El Nino. We could be lining up for a very long dry season with the water table way below normal.

[Tyrone]

Well it has rained all day. Consistent steady rain and I've recorded 15mm of rain today with more on the way. Everything is saturated and palms are opening leaves everywhere. 

On the news today it commented on Albany having its driest year in 138 years of records in 2015 with 596mm of rain. This is good news as it basically says the rainfall can only get better from here. If I can grow palms in this then this place can support more growth.

[Pip]

Hot hot hot over here, no rain! Fingers crossed for some of that rain in the west reaching my garden. I'm not holding my breath.

[tropicbreeze]

Well, Age of Miracles apparently isn't over, yet. As of this morning my rainfall total for January so far was 19mm. This afternoon a small shower came through and dropped 3.4mm. I greeted that with a few colourful expletives expressing discontent with the weather gods. Then within about 15 minutes the skies opened up and in just over half an hour I got 89.2mm. The dam had dropped about a metre over January but by morning it should be topped up. Although it's still only around 25% of average, at least it's not the disaster that it was shaping up to be. I wonder if a few expletives directed at the lotto gods might have a similar positive effect. BOM in its tropical notes this week said the rest of January will be dry but that February will see a return to a normal wet season. I can only hope.

[Tyrone]

Got a flash flood warning for my area today, so if a big thunderstorm parks itself over the valley and lets rip things could real interesting. Would love my watercourse to flow in summer.

[Tyrone]

Well I got 36mm of rain here yesterday in steady rain sometimes quite heavy, but without destructive high winds. So my total for this rain event which started on Sunday night is 56mm which brings my January total to 76mm. Not bad for January in the south west. About 3 times the average. My water tank is overflowing and is filling my upper dam. It's great to have a full tank in the middle of summer. The plants are growing like mental. Everything is saturated and looks like the sort of rain you'd get in winter not summer. The lawns and weeds are now completely nuts.

Further north got much more rain. The Albany Hwy was closed 150km north at Kojonup with creeks higher than the road. Gnowangerup got serious flooding in town as they built the town next to a creek which most of the time looks like a salty little salt marsh 200mm wide with the odd puddle in it here and there. They were saying you could white water raft it yesterday. A road train just south of Gnowangerup got swept off the road with the driver finding refuge on top of his truck. Areas around Wagin about 220km north had 250mm of rain in 2 days which has washed fences, dams, and stock feed away. These areas were looking at destocking due to drought before this. If they can get feed growing then that may not need to happen. Having been out on the road lately many of the fields that should look desolate and dusty now actually have green growth on them. 

I've got to go up to Kojonup today for work, so it will be interesting to see the state of things up there today.

[Pip]

Adelaide finally got a summer thunder storm yesterday with rain only 35mm, it fell in under a half hour, causing flash flooding and car accidents. I'm not used to this kind of humidity at all but my garden seems to love it.

[Pip]

Unfortunately a 39 yr old man was killed by lightning stike on friday during that thunderstorm.

[steve99]

Well, it's been rather dry here on the Gold Coast this January and considering it's suppose to be one of our wettest months, many here are starting to panic with lawns and gardens getting extremely dry.  Luckily, today the heavens opened (at least where I live) dumping 35mm of much needed rain.  For those in South East Qld who missed out all is not lost.  Forecasters are predicting more rain later in the week.  Then agian, forecasters don't alway's get it right.  But here's hoping!

[Tyrone]

Well January this year is shaping up to be a humid and stormy month. There's more cloud around than there should be for January. Had to go to Perth on Monday and they've been getting the odd thunderstorm here and there and it's been humid. Normally in Jan in Perth it can be rare to see even a cloud for days even a whole month. Had to drive through the Gnowangerup area and the creeks had often damaged the roads lifting the bitumen off and eroding the edges. The fields are really greening up. The farmers are going to have massive weed issues this year. The weeds here are sprouting by the billion. I need to spray but I've got to do it on a day that thunderstorms are least likely to come through and when the wind is lowest otherwise there will be collateral damage.

[steve99]

Humidity was through the roof here today, and I mean through the roof !   Forecast for the next 4-5 days is similiar.   Anyway, we scored 33mm in storms here this afternoon which certainly cooled things down a little.

[Pip]

Oh no summer disappeared today. There was mist hugging the hill side and rain throughout the day the sun didn't show up at all. 

[Tyrone]

Don't worry Pip, there's plenty of summer to come yet.

There's thunderstorms up the west coast today and a cyclone off the Pilbara. More rain coming.

I mowed my lawn only a week ago and it looks like it has had 3 weeks growth. Trouble is I won't be able to mow it for a bit longer. I also need to buy a catcher for the back of the ride on lawn mower and scalp the lawn on the lowest setting and then take all the clip away and compost it instead of slashing as the lawn is as bouncy as a trampoline now.

 

[tropicbreeze]

January's come and gone in very underwhelming style. My total rainfall for the month was 165.2mm, 39.6% of average. Looks like I've lost half of the Areca catechu seedlings I planted out during the December rain. Still not the end of the wet season (officially) but we get high sun in about 10 days time and little or no cloud cover is stressing a lot of the garden. Humidity levels are quite high though which makes it a bit better for everything.  On the upside, I managing to get a lot of mowing and weed spraying done.

 

[Pip]

Very true Tyrone the cyclone that hit the Pilbara is now an intense tropical low that expected to hit Adelaide sometime Tuesday. The expected rain is only to be 5 to 15mm a bit more in the hills. 

[Pip]

Woke up to the sound of  very heavy on the tin roof this morning. Looks and feels like winter outside. I think more rain has fallen than expected. Heavy showers seem to have slowed to soft constant soaking rain it will be nice not to have to water the garden for a week or so. I'm not looking forward to driving to work later today.