Lightning observations from the last 24 hours show prolific lightning strikes around the eye of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it approached and crossed the coast in far north Queensland.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle crossed the far north Queensland coast as a high-end category 4 system this morning. This was the first category 4 tropical cyclone to hit the state since Trevor in 2019. More details at: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/cyclone...

Back-to-back 50°C days in South Australia! Andamooka reached 50.0°C on Thursday and Port Augusta reached 50.0°C today (Friday). These are among the top nine temperatures on record in Australia.

Now that's hot! South Australia's Andamooka reached 50.0°C on Thursday, which was Australia's first 50°C in four years. 🥵 More details here: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/austral...

Sydney reached 42.2°C today, making this the city's hottest day in seven years and equal hottest December day on record. Details here: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydney-...

The likelihood of La Niña occurring this year has just increased due to a change in the way the BoM calculates sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

One of the biggest rainbands in years will deliver rain to about 80% of Australia over the next 5 days. This system will be great news for drought-affected areas in southern Australia. Here are the details: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/widespr...

Record-breaking waves hitting the Gold Coast today! A maximum wave height of 16.52m was just observed off the Gold Coast. This is the site's largest wave on record, obliterating the previous record of 12.0 metres from 1996, with observations available back to 1987. 📷: Qld Gov

Tropical Cyclone Alfred will pass over this tongue of warm water in the East Australian Current (EAC) as it approaches QLD's southeast coast. This may help it gain strength prior to landfall, with current forecasts suggesting landfall as a high-end cat 2 system. 📷: IMOS

Tropical Cyclone Alfred has now made the right-hand turn and is tracking towards Australia's east coast.

Alfred has been looking like a subtropical cyclone today - a hybrid system featuring both tropical and extratropical cyclone characteristics. Despite this, forecast models suggest it will regain its tropical structure as it approaches Australia's east coast in the coming days.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia has just been upgraded to a category 5 system, with wind gusts estimated to be reaching 285 km/h near its core. Landfall still excepted to occur between Roebourne and Port Hedland late on Friday.

A ring of lightning is surrounding the eye of Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia this morning. This is a sign that the system is intensifying rapidly. Zelia is expected to make landfall as a category 5 severe tropical cyclone on Friday. Details here: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/western...

Adelaide's running maximum of 42.6°C today is the city's highest temperature in four years. Further north, Oodnadatta just registered South Australia's first 48°C of this summer.

Tropical Cyclone #Zelia will move over this blob of very warm water in the next 2-3 days, where sea surface temperatures exceeding 31°C will help it strengthen rapidly. Current forecasts suggest landfall over the Pilbara coast as a category 3 severe tropical cyclone on Friday.

Parts of Queensland's North Tropical Coast have received 900 mm of rain over the last three days. Unfortunately, forecast models predict another round of heavy rain from this weekend into next week, which is likely to cause further flooding. Details at: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/900mm-o...

More than 73,000 lightning strikes were detected within 100km of Sydney during yesterday's violent thunderstorms. This was part of a larger storm outbreak that produced a whopping 1,819,000 lightning strikes over eastern Australia during the 24 hours ending at 8am today. ⚡️

A mass of very hot air will build over Australia in the coming week in the absence of the monsoon. Temperatures could approach 49°C over the interior when this heat peaks next Monday, possibly challenging records in some states. More details at: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/extreme...

Southeastern Australia's first heatwave of 2025 could see #Melbourne sweating through its hottest weekend in 10 years. 🥵 More details here: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/melbour...

The temperature in Victoria just hit 47°C for the first time since December 2019, during the Black Summer. The hottest place in the state so far today is 47.1°C at Walpeup, although this could change in the coming hours.

Temperatures are going to soar across northern, central and eastern Australia this weekend and early next week. Some place will experience their hottest weather of 2024 as temperatures climb to the mid-to-high 40s. Details at: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/huge-he...

#Sydney's dew point temperature has been hovering around 21-23°C today, comfortably in the 'getting uncomfortable' category. Higher dew points make it harder for your body to lose heat through the evaporation of sweat, which makes you feel hotter. 🥵

Forecast models are showing potential for two tropical cyclones to the northwest of Australia next week. Sea surface temperatures in this region are currently 2-3°C above average, so there's plenty of energy available for cyclogenesis. More details: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/two-tro...

Australia just had its warmest spring on record with a mean temperature anomaly more than 2°C above the 1961-90 average. Here's the full story: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/austral...

This is Tropical Cyclone Robyn, the first tropical cyclone to form inside the Australian region during the 2024-25 cyclone season. More details at: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/tropica...

It has been a sweaty start to the day in #Sydney. 🥵 Here are some of the standout running maximum temperatures as of 10am AEDT: 🌡️ 34.7°C at Richmond 🌡️ 34.5°C at Sydney Airport 🌡️ 34.2°C at Penrith

A big week of rain and thunderstorms to round out spring in Australia. While wet and stormy weather will hit part of every state and territory this week, the heaviest falls will occur over an arc stretching across northern and eastern Australia. More details: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/big-sto...

Check out these awesome von Kármán vortices over the East China Sea on Monday. More details about these rare clouds here: www.weatherzone.com.au/news/satelli...

More than 12.7 million lightning pulses were detected over Australia last week, with lightning hitting every state and territory. ⚡ While November is typically a stormy time of year, thunderstorm activity is being enhanced this month by abnormally warm sea surface temperatures near Australia.

More than 1.5 million lightning pulses were detected over Australia between 9am and 9pm AEDT today.

A line of thunderstorms is currently stretching from Sydney to Lightning Ridge and beyond, spanning roughly 1,400km from western Queensland to the Tasman Sea. These are part of a broader storm outbreak that is producing 2,000-3,000 strikes per minute over Australia tonight!

A burst of heat will sweep across southern and eastern Australia this weekend, causing extreme fire danger ratings in parts of SA, Victoria, NSW and Queensland. Locally catastrophic fire danger ratings are possible in SA on Saturday.