The Big Wet

[elantra]

Well we’ve got as far as the final day of this summer.
It’s been long and hot and wet along much of the east coast.
And now for some disturbing statistics.
In case you missed it in the news this morning-various records for heat have been broken :

https://amp.abc.net.au/article/103522760

Of course, statistics such as this apply to a much greater area of Australia than just Brisbane.

“Brisbane weather” as a generalisation applies with little variation to an area of Australia between Coffs Harbour in the south to Bundaberg in the north.
That’s about 800 km of the east Coast.
And applies roughly 100 km inland along this distance.

[jasonc]

The nights have been hot and humid

[Andy01]

No sign of summer going away anytime soon.

Today got to a feels like of 36° (actual=32.3°), and at 6pm it was still feels like 30°(actual=27.4°). Saturday is predicted to be hotter than today.

[g-boaf]

No sign of summer going away anytime soon.

Today got to a feels like of 36° (actual=32.3°), and at 6pm it was still feels like 30°(actual=27.4°). Saturday is predicted to be hotter than today.

Only 36? We had a 40°C day today, one of the workers here had a reading that said feels like 45°C.

It was extremely hot.

[mikesbytes]

Air con worked a treat, not looking forward to my electricity bill

[elantra]

No sign of summer going away anytime soon.

Today got to a feels like of 36° (actual=32.3°), and at 6pm it was still feels like 30°(actual=27.4°). Saturday is predicted to be hotter than today.

Only 36? We had a 40°C day today, one of the workers here had a reading that said feels like 45°C.

It was extremely hot.

Yeah Sydney weather is not as good as it used to be.
I remember back in the 1990’s you could get on an aeroplane in steamy hot Brisbane and disembark in Sydney to exactly the same temperature but a lower and much more comfortable humidity level.

And actually enjoy a summers day around and about the Harbour.
Brisbane doesn’t have a nice scenic harbour like Sydney !
A ride on the Citycat boat up and down the Brisbane River is not as big a deal.
Hope your weather improves in Sydney soon.

[Cycling Wombat]

^ I'm not sure it will improve. If the oceans stay hotter then usual because of climate change we'll be stuck with increased humidity and rain along the coast.

[uart]

Hope your weather improves in Sydney soon.

The weather was perfect here in Newcastle for a ride this morning. 23/24 degrees with light cloud cover and no wind or rain. Yeah the humidity is still kinda high, but still a very pleasant ride.

[Andy01]

I just saw in the Courier Mail (Brisbane) today that we have broken the previous record for consecutive days with a minimum temp above 20°. Apparently the last day that dropped below 20° was New Year's Eve where it dropped to 19.9° (so only just below 20), so we are at 60 days and counting.

IMO that is what makes Qld's heat at times like this relentless - the fact that it doesn't "recover" at night and allow the building, roofspace, insulation material, pool water etc to recover or "normalise" overnight. When the temps stay up well in the 20's (and at times with minimum feels like temps of over 30°, everything just saturates and the only way to recover is using AC in quantity, which is costly.

Many other places (like Perth for example) get hot (over 40° at times) but generally cool down at night (Freemantle Doctor), so everything starts again the next day - instead of just accumulating.

[fat and old]

Many other places (like Perth for example) get hot (over 40° at times) but generally cool down at night (Freemantle Doctor), so everything starts again the next day - instead of just accumulating.

Or Melbourne. Gets hot 35-40 deg and then 10 minutes later is 21 deg.

[elantra]

Many other places (like Perth for example) get hot (over 40° at times) but generally cool down at night (Freemantle Doctor), so everything starts again the next day - instead of just accumulating.

Or Melbourne. Gets hot 35-40 deg and then 10 minutes later is 21 deg.

Good ole Brisbane is consistently mediocre weather right through the Summer (and also most of autumn)
30 degrees most days. Some days a bit more, some days a bit less.
At least you know exactly how hot it will be.
You can get on a plane in Brisbane knowing that if it’s 30 degrees today, it will still be 30 degrees tomorrow.
In Melbourne it can be 40 degrees one day and 20 degrees the next.
Probably averages out at 30 degrees in summer but at least some days will be pleasantly cool.

I can’t imagine how I would cope living in a city on or near the equator, where it is usually 30 degrees or more on most days for the whole year !!!

[Anrai]

I'm a bit out of the mainland's weather systems but SE Tassie has been unusually cool and dry this summer.
I can count the 30+ days on my hands but when they come they're drying the place out.
Last week I had to call in the beginnings of a fire I found on the abandoned railway next to the cycleway in Hobart.

[brumby33]

Down here in Albury the last few Mornings it's been awesome sleeping temps of down to 11C but with tops of 34-37C at around 2PM till about 7.30PM then it'll gradually go down as the sun does. It's still nice till mid to late May then the early Winter rains come, well it did last year anyway but i've been told that Winters start off wet here and Humidity is high, great recipe for Mould. I seen that early morning temps are back around the 20C mark by Saturday 9/3/24

[open roader]

The Big Wet is just a memory down here in SW Vic.

Tomorrow marks 50 consecutive days without rain here. The countryside has rapidly flipped from 5 hues of verdant green to 17 shades of !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!. January was mostly endless warm dry week after week, February has been seemingly endless hot dry weather week after week. Now March continues the February theme. After 4 years of wet summers here it's not a surprise but still a slap in the face nonetheless.

Gravel roads are mostly off limits to me now as they are basically concrete slabs underneath with 3 to 4 inches of ball bearing gravel/sand/grit on top. Foolishly the local Shire has graded many roads bone dry and the lack of rain to settle the freshly graded aggregate has resulted in almighty runs of corrugations too. The less trafficked back roads are still good for gravel riding but from my front gate there is 4+km of diabolical 4 inch deep loose stuff with occasional runs of 6 inch high corrugations to reach an enjoyable (read safe) road to ride on so the road bike are getting a work out at present.

[brumby33]

The Big Wet is just a memory down here in SW Vic.

Tomorrow marks 50 consecutive days without rain here. The countryside has rapidly flipped from 5 hues of verdant green to 17 shades of !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!. January was mostly endless warm dry week after week, February has been seemingly endless hot dry weather week after week. Now March continues the February theme. After 4 years of wet summers here it's not a surprise but still a slap in the face nonetheless.

Gravel roads are mostly off limits to me now as they are basically concrete slabs underneath with 3 to 4 inches of ball bearing gravel/sand/grit on top. Foolishly the local Shire has graded many roads bone dry and the lack of rain to settle the freshly graded aggregate has resulted in almighty runs of corrugations too. The less trafficked back roads are still good for gravel riding but from my front gate there is 4+km of diabolical 4 inch deep loose stuff with occasional runs of 6 inch high corrugations to reach an enjoyable (read safe) road to ride on so the road bike are getting a work out at present.

Sounds like you might need a Fat Bike in that type of gravel

[elantra]

The Big Wet is just a memory down here in SW Vic.

Tomorrow marks 50 consecutive days without rain here. The countryside has rapidly flipped from 5 hues of verdant green to 17 shades of !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!. January was mostly endless warm dry week after week, February has been seemingly endless hot dry weather week after week. Now March continues the February theme. After 4 years of wet summers here it's not a surprise but still a slap in the face nonetheless.

Gravel roads are mostly off limits to me now as they are basically concrete slabs underneath with 3 to 4 inches of ball bearing gravel/sand/grit on top. Foolishly the local Shire has graded many roads bone dry and the lack of rain to settle the freshly graded aggregate has resulted in almighty runs of corrugations too. The less trafficked back roads are still good for gravel riding but from my front gate there is 4+km of diabolical 4 inch deep loose stuff with occasional runs of 6 inch high corrugations to reach an enjoyable (read safe) road to ride on so the road bike are getting a work out at present.

Yikes !
That would be very debilitating.
As they say- water is life, and when things go dry it starts to play tricks with our minds.
Not good ones.

Depending on your circumstances, now would be a good time to plan an intestate trip to Qld or NSW !

Everything looks very green up here, well everything within about 200 km of the coast.
There’s even muddy trails.

But we can’t guarantee that this extraordinary profusion of greenness will last much into winter.
Depends on the weather of course !

Some places up here almost never go “brown” even during periods of drought.
South of Brisbane are the craggy basaltic outcrops of the McPherson Ranges, including its offshoots like Wollumbin (Mt Warning), Tambourine, Springbrook etc.
These Mtns are massive rain generators but even when the rains fail, there are complex underground water channels which (hopefully) never fail.
So the various rivers that flow off these mountains (such as the Nerang, Tweed, Richmond and Condamine stay well supplied with water.

Apologies for the digression, I hope that things improve in SW Victoria and a bit of therapeutic moisture improves the condition of your trails

[DavidS]

Yep, barely raining at all in Melbourne. We have water tanks for our garden, 6,500l and they are almost empty and pretty much no rain in sight.

Lawn was green for a while there back in December, rare for our lawn, but patches of brown again now.

DS

[MichaelB]

The Big Wet is just a memory down here in SW Vic.

Tomorrow marks 50 consecutive days without rain here. ...

We haven't recorded any rain since 27th January.

And nothing scheduled till after the 12th March. If we get there, that'll mark 45 days without.

In 2024, temps have been +0.7, +1.6, and +3.8 (to date) for Jan, Feb & March respectively.

[mikesbytes]

Australia - a country than can have bush fires and floods at the same time...

[elantra]

Australia - a country than can have bush fires and floods at the same time...

Yes so true…

For many people the memories of flood and fire events are probably still close to the surface.

Interestingly, I have spent much of my life living in places that historically suffer floods but not fires (Queensland and northern NSW)

So the fires of 2019/2019 were something that I had never seen before and I’ve gotta say it was quite a shock.
In Southern Qld there were serious and destructive fires in places that In recorded history had NEVER had fires before.
Places like Binna Burra and Canungra to name but a few. It was quite a shock when these places were ravaged by fires. The environmental damage was extreme, including native animals injured or killed.
Also in these areas the human damage to homes, businesses, and public recreation parks.
Later, when bigger fires affected areas to the south including New England Tablelands, Coffs Coast, South Coast NSW and Gippsland, and lives were lost in these areas, it was easier to understand how frightening and catastrophic a situation it was.

Up in northern NSW/ southern Qld right now the environmental consequences of a very wet summer are evident.
Effects of a heavy wet season include a current plague of Toads. I haven’t seen this many Toads for decades.
And the grass beside the roads - it’s about 4 feet high and makes the roads seem narrower !
And the roads are full of potholes of course.

At least the heat seemed to be dissipating now. It is truly amazing how comfortable a maximum temperature of 28 degrees feels compared with most days through summer which were 31 degrees.
Just 3 degrees makes a really huge difference.

[piledhigher2]

At least the heat seemed to be dissipating now. It is truly amazing how comfortable a maximum temperature of 28 degrees feels compared with most days through summer which were 31 degrees.
Just 3 degrees makes a really huge difference.

Speak for yourself, Melbourne's facing a forecast of 28, 39, 38, 38 off the back of over a month of no rain, in March.

[warthog1]

At least the heat seemed to be dissipating now. It is truly amazing how comfortable a maximum temperature of 28 degrees feels compared with most days through summer which were 31 degrees.
Just 3 degrees makes a really huge difference.

Speak for yourself, Melbourne's facing a forecast of 28, 39, 38, 38 off the back of over a month of no rain, in March.

I live in Bendigo just up the road. Been a pretty mild summer imo. Has to be a few warm days at some point. Back to the cold soon.

[jasonc]

At least the heat seemed to be dissipating now. It is truly amazing how comfortable a maximum temperature of 28 degrees feels compared with most days through summer which were 31 degrees.
Just 3 degrees makes a really huge difference.

the humidity has definitely dropped off making it more pleasant. still a bit further to drop (hopefully) over the next couple of weeks

[MichaelB]

At least the heat seemed to be dissipating now. It is truly amazing how comfortable a maximum temperature of 28 degrees feels compared with most days through summer which were 31 degrees.
Just 3 degrees makes a really huge difference.

Speak for yourself, Melbourne's facing a forecast of 28, 39, 38, 38 off the back of over a month of no rain, in March.

Similar here in Radelaide

36 Degrees today (fri 8th March)
40 on Sat
39 on Sun
38 on Mon (Pub Hol)
34 on Tue
33 on Wed
28 on Thur.

Still no rain since 27th Jan. Keeping garden green for sale is gonna cost a motza in water ....

[elantra]

…….
Similar here in Radelaide

36 Degrees today (fri 8th March)
40 on Sat
39 on Sun
38 on Mon (Pub Hol)
34 on Tue
33 on Wed
28 on Thur.

Still no rain since 27th Jan. Keeping garden green for sale is gonna cost a motza in water ....

Now watching the A-League game, which is in Adelaide tonight
The commentary team says that the start of the game was delayed by half an hour, due to heat.

Someone said that the heat was dissipated by a “downpour” an hour or 2 ago.
Which prompted another commentator to say that only someone used to living in the “desert” would describe it as a downpour !