Hot and dry finish to summer for the southeast

The transition period from summer into autumn is likely to see lower than average rainfall for eastern and central Australia, and wetter conditions for the northernmost parts of the country – according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) three month outlook released today.

As illustrated in the figure below, large parts of Victoria and NSW, southern Queensland and northeast SA are predicted to have the lowest chance (30%) of exceeding the median rainfall for the February to April period. Despite having a slightly higher chance (35%), drier than average conditions are likely to extend further across SA, southern NT, and the remaining regions of NSW and Victoria.

In contrast, the outlook for northern WA and NT is for a wetter than average three months – largely influenced by tropical weather systems across northern Australia in February in particular, typical for the time of year. 

Following some very hot weather across the eastern states over December and January, the BOM predicts higher temperatures to continue. Minimum and maximum temperatures are forecast to be above-average in eastern and central Australia for the outlook period, but cooler than average in northern WA and northern NT.