Weather

It was another beautiful day right across the region, with a few showers lingering off the coast. But the big dry continues. There has been a big turnaround from what was a very wet summer and start to autumn, now in May we are hardly seeing a drop of rain. That trend is set to continue for the rest of the week.

There is a little high cloud moving across South Australia and we might see a little of that come across over the next 24 hours.

On the synoptic chart we are protected from the wet weather thanks to a large high that has locked itself in over Eastern Australia. As it weakens and moves offshore, another one is moving in to take its place. That’s all thanks to that big belt of high pressure that’s been sitting in the mid latitudes.

Light onshore winds have been building during the day and we might see some showers develop on Sunday afternoon.

The nights are remaining cool and calm so there are will still be some fog patches and frosts on the tablelands. But the days are beautiful and calm with lots of sunshine.

Boating looks great this weekend but the swell is going to fade away.

LAST NIGHT’S WEATHER SHOT
Ailsa Schilling Took this shot at Taloumbi. Beautiful spot near MacClean on the Northern NSW coast, showing a cold, calm morning with mist.

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With the temperature starting to drop, Gavin Morris explains how the weather mechanism works at this time of year.

“We are now under the influence from cold polar air rather than warm tropical air. Because Australia is in the mid latitude we get weather influences from both.

There is a constant high pressure system over the south pole and wrapping around that is several low pressure systems.

At the roaring forties there are tight isobars causing powerful winds and there is a belt of high pressure caught on the mid latitudes. But the low pressure systems are spinning around clockwise and they are rotating quickly around the south pole.

That part of the globe has been incredibly active and consistent now for the past two weeks, which tells us that this influence of cold air is going to remain.

Because the polar storms are so big, all of that cold air is shooting off them into the upper parts of the atmosphere and through the centre of high pressure systems. That is where cold air falls, that’s why our nights have been so incredibly icy and there has been sub zero temperatures on the ranges.”

LAST NIGHT’S WEATHER SHOT
Jenny Hill captured these ice stalactites hanging from the water feature in the park at Walcha. Sub zero temperatures have been widespread inland with more frosty nights on the way.

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We have an incredibly dry atmosphere across eastern Australia at the moment.

A huge system is pulsing its way up the Tasman.

A huge pressure gradient is generating powerful winds and that is what is causing the massive swell across the entire Eastern seaboard at the moment.

But we are protected by a huge high over Easter Australia. A couple of showers will skim the coast in South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers as we move through the week.

At the end of the week we can see a huge belt of high pressure over the country, that’s what will maintain the clear skies but they are making for some cold nights.