Styx

Major thunderstorm outbreak to deliver much needed rain to Queensland and NSW - ABC News WWW.ABC.NET.AU While even a 50mm soaking is unlikely to put out the larger blazes, the rain should assist in controlling the future spread of fires while also preventing new ones igniting. Good news. Bushfire has destroyed 70 homes in eastern Australia so far this spring with 4 fatalities - the most destructive fires so early in the season, since 2013. September-October has been the driest start to spring in Australia on record, edging out 2019 (there is a historical graph of this in the embedded story). October was another warm month but not as anomalously warm as September.

BoM confirms Australia had its THIRD warmest September with a +2.4C temperature anomaly. For mean maximum temperature alone it was the SECOND warmest, just behind September 2013, with a +3.4C anomaly. The bigger statistic is how dry it is at the moment - the DRIEST September on record for Australia.

Western Australia latest area to be impacted by significant spring heat in Australia. Perth max of 34.3C on Wednesday (+13C above average) breaks September heat record (records since 1897), numerous other places across a very wide area in that state, more monthly records likely to fall by the 30th in the west. Perth Highest September Daily Maximum 34.3C....Sep 27th 2023 34.2C....Sep 20th 2014 33.1C....Sep 9th 2019 32.7C....Sep 30th 1918 32.3C....Sep 18th 1988 ABC News article looks at the situation. September temperature records broken across WA amid unusual wave of scorching spring weather - ABC News WWW.ABC.NET.AU September temperature records tumble across Western Australia today, including in Perth, as an unusual wave of scorching spring weather sets in over the state. By October 1, the heat makes it to the east, very hot again for New South Wales...inland near 40C, Sydney 35C. Intriguing worrisome developments at the beginning of the warming season; especially in light of current global events !

Quite a pronounced September heatwave across central eastern Australia just gone...lasting 5 or 6 days between 15th/16th through to the 20th, maxima somewhere between 8-12C above average, but peaking higher than that in some spots. A number of all-time September heat records were broken, almost all of them in New South Wales, but the duration of days in a row exceeding 30C for September ( 5 or 6 ) was the standout. Certainly very unusual to see such elevated fire danger ratings at the very beginning of spring. Sydney had 5 days in a row over 30C ( a September record ) and the peak of 34.6C on the 20th was the equal highest September temperature (records since 1859 ). Sydney September average maximum is 20C. Sydney Highest September Maximum: 34.6C.....Sep 19th 2023 34.6C.....Sep 26th 1965 34.2C.....Sep 25th 1980 33.9C.....Sep 20th 2023 33.8C.....Sep 13th 2017 ............................................... Winter across Australia was the warmest on record. Never known of a winter in Tasmania to have no snow below 700m asl, like we've just experienced. We now enter what may be an extended period of dry weather or drought into summer, with El Nino and IOD climate drivers pointing that way.