Weather: Cold Australian winter ends with a wash-out and warmer temperatures after coldest July in years
After Australia’s coldest July in years, the last month of winter, August, will bring higher than average temperatures and rainfall.
There was one exception to the chilling July, however. While the rest of the country turned on the heating, Perth experienced its warmest July in three years, but this weekend it is set to rain heavily.
Melbourne was the polar opposite of Western Australia’s capital, experiencing its coldest July in nine years.
But the worst of the cold may be over this year in Melbourne and elsewhere, with higher than normal temperatures expected across most of the country in the coming weeks.
In fact, in much of Australia, night-time temperatures are expected to be 70 to 80 percent higher than the median minimum temperature for the month.
Higher daytime temperatures are also expected in August, especially in northern, eastern and southeastern Australia.
However, Perth’s good weather appears to be over as temperatures across Western Australia and central Australia are closer to average.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has also warned residents in Western Australia to prepare for unusual rainfall over the coming days.
After Australia’s coldest July in years, August – the last month of winter – is set to bring above-average rainfall
“It’s not usual to have rain at this time of year, it’s normally the dry season,” said meteorologist Jonathan How.
The system is expected to move east towards central Australia over the weekend, bringing heavier rainfall to southern parts of the Northern Territory and northern parts of South Australia.
BoM meteorologist Angus Hines had previously said that rainfall would be widespread, with some areas seeing 20, 30 or 40mm of rain.
“If you have that much rain in normally dry areas of central Australia, it could certainly have implications, particularly for travel and transport,” he said.
‘Many of the outback roads in these parts of the country are dirt roads and it doesn’t take long for them to become muddy and in some cases impassable when it’s very wet.
‘There may be road closures this weekend, but there is still some uncertainty. It is not yet entirely clear how this will play out.
‘But we do expect it to rain in this part of the country on Saturday and especially Sunday.’
The rainfall is expected to intensify as it moves east across central Australia over the weekend, with the potential for even heavier rainfall when it reaches the eastern states next week.
Although it is getting warmer, temperatures in Australia dropped to as low as -8C on Saturday morning.
“We had another cold start this morning, particularly in eastern Australia,” Hines said.
Adelaide (pictured) is expected to reach a high of 16C with some sunshine on Saturday, while Sunday is expected to see a high of 17C but with a chance of showers
On Saturday morning, temperatures in Canberra dropped to -5.6 degrees Celsius, while Cooma in the Snowy Mountains dropped to -8.4 degrees Celsius, no longer the coldest place in the country.
“We’ve seen very low temperatures this morning in northern New South Wales and again in south-east Queensland, with some fog around metropolitan Adelaide,” How said.
‘Generally quite cold… a continuation of what we have seen over the past week with those cold mornings.
‘The nice thing about the cold mornings today is that they are also sunny days.’
Large parts of New South Wales, Queensland, northern Victoria and Canberra will be sunny on Saturday.
“As for the remainder of the weekend, we expect fairly stable conditions for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania,” How said.
‘A high pressure system over Australia is bringing fairly calm and dry conditions. If you live on the coast there is plenty of sunshine so it is a great day to get out and about.’
Sydney has a mostly sunny weekend ahead, with maximum temperatures of 19 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.
In Melbourne it will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers, with a maximum temperature of 15 degrees over the weekend.
In Brisbane it is also sunny, with a maximum temperature of 23 degrees and a light wind.
In Perth it is mainly sunny with a maximum temperature of 19°C and there is also some light wind.
Sydney (pictured) has a mostly sunny weekend ahead with a maximum temperature of 19C on Saturday and Sunday
Saturday in Adelaide is expected to see a maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius with occasional sunshine. Sunday is expected to see a maximum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius, but there is a chance of showers.
In Hobart there is a chance of showers in the weekend and temperatures up to 14 degrees Celsius. In Canberra there is also a chance of sun and temperatures up to 14 degrees.
The minimum temperature in the NT is expected to drop to -3C on Sunday.
This weekend will be mostly sunny in Darwin, with a maximum temperature of 32°C.
