Southern Spring

[Daryl]

Well, spring is most definitely here...all of those wonderful fragrances in the air and nice warm temperatures...

A few 30c + days is good, and everything is looking rosy...

Life should be so good!

Daryl

[ariscott]

IT IS HOT!!!!! that's all I can say....

[DoomsDave]

When you see the Southern Cross for the First Time . . .

[tropicbreeze]

Ari, at Middle Point the lowest max for this September has been 35.8, highest 38.8, and the average for this month so far is 37.4. Just wait til it starts getting hot in Oct/Nov!

[ariscott]

It was 37deg yesterday, Zig!!! But it was all worth it!!! The first storm of the season this morning!!! WOOHOOO!!!! 36.7mm so far....... I hope this is a good sign of what is to come!!! YAY!!!!!

[tropicbreeze]

Can't complain Ari, you've got more than twice my total (so far). But, first rain since early May which in a few showers brought a monthly total of 16.6mm. Well, it was great to see some water running down the drive. Hopefully this will bring on the grass/weeds so the wallabies stay out of my garden and chewing it to pieces. They like that Golden Adonidia you gave me.

Hopefully the temps will stay down a bit now. I brought some plants back from Qld and they were struggling to cope with the change from Qld weather to NT weather,

[ariscott]

What did you get?? BTW, almost time to inspect your garden, Zig.... don't be embarrassed .... you should look at the state of my garden.... I haven't been in it for months....

Edited September 29, 2012 by ariscott

[tropicbreeze]

.... don't be embarrassed .... you should look at the state of my garden.... I haven't been in it for months....

You just want something to make you feel good about your own garden

[ariscott]

hhmm... needs a good clean out... removing some dead stuff.... dry season hasn't been kind this year

[amazondk]

Here on the american side of the southern equatorail zone the driest part of the dry season seems to have ended. We have been getting some rain almost every day. It is sometimes in pretty violent thunder storms and has done considerable wind damage in some parts of Mansus. The rainy season starts in November, so things are really ok.

dk

[amazondk]

When you see the Southern Cross for the First Time . . .

Dave, Here on the equator we get both the southern cross and the big dipper in the night sky many times.

dk

[tropicbreeze]

This past dry season has been different to most others. There's plants dying that have always managed to handle a dry season previously without any attention. An Allamanda on my front fence is crisp now. It's only ever got natural rain and had grown quite large. But this past dry has done it in.

A couple of Cyrtostachys renda were dying off when I got back, just not enough water. They seem to have stabilised now. And there is rain about, but it's very isolated and pretty much hit and miss. My place, apart from the previous weekend, has been all miss.

The temps have dropped a bit though, usually no more than 36 - 37 of late. The sun peaks in just under 3 weeks so don't expect anything to change much.

Even the frogs don't know what to make of it. They keep coming to check my weather station for the latest.

[ariscott]

a couple of drops in the last 2 days... but that was it... drops.... not even enough to register...

Last dry was bad, Zig. The garden looks shocking!!! Hopefully we can get decent monsoon this year so everything can come back from the dead and look half decent. I lost a few calyptrocalyx and a few other tender stuff. It was just too cold for too long....

[Walter John]

My Pinanga caesia looks gone, if no rain soon, I'm taking up cactus and succulents...(not really, but you get the anxiety picture)

[Tropicgardener]

My Pinanga caesia looks gone, if no rain soon, I'm taking up cactus and succulents...(not really, but you get the anxiety picture)

Not good to loose good palms due to dry............I just lost my Drymophloeus litigiosus that was missed by the irrigation system. Clouds come in during the afternoons and then just blow away

[Kennybenjamin]

I'm losing a few things as well, rain is required Immediately!!!! You can water all you like but without any moisture in the air some palms just aint happy campers!!

A few days this week over 30 degrees c with no sign of rain or storms, water tank empty and big water bill expected!! NOT GOOD!!!

[Walter John]

Rain is supposed to be a definite for tomorrow, I'm going to get some horse manure for my bamboo, even it's looking drab and I saw this afternoon that every one of my Chambeyronias are browning their bottom leaves, in other words, sacrificing to live. That's what I think anyway.

[newcal]

I hear you guys, dry as a chip here,lost a few palms as well,big water tank down the bottom is empty and using town water now =$$ ouch!. Lets hope this predicted rain eventuates today as i need at least 2-3 inches just to keep everything alive...Cheers Mike Green(Newcal)

[Tropicgardener]

Raining here now...............today was the day for the power to be put on my new shed, been waiting for a month..........now they can't do it.......but the rain is good anyway.

[Walter John]

Yes, we received some nice rain, need a lot more though.

[tropicbreeze]

The cold dry blast from the south is finally getting through to here. This morning at my place was 19.3 making it the coldest for nearly a month. The maximum so far today is 38.2, the hottest for ...... well, 3 days. And no chance of rain anytime soon with that huge mass of dry air coming through. Means no cloud cover any time with the sun nearing peak and UV index up to 14.

Fear that the Cyrtostachys renda that got too little water while I was away might not make it despite getting some (belated) heavy watering. Surprisingly (for me) are 2 Prichardia pacifica that got just as little water, out in full sun, and are still okay.

[Eric F]

Even the weeds in my lawn have stopped growing. My wife keeps glaring at me every time she sees me near the water hose.

[Walter John]

Even the weeds in my lawn have stopped growing. My wife keeps glaring at me every time she sees me near the water hose.

haha

Even the measly showers forecast for today are now no longer forecast, I think the Gold Coast may have had some rain in the last few days, but it's bone , I say, bone dry here.This is reminding me of the drought years. This is Australia though, you get this..One tends to hold off too many plantings though, there's nothing beats a good watering in from up above..

[Daryl]

No rain here either Wal...Tweed got a good storm or two over the last few days though. This wind is shocking though...as if everything isn't dry enough already, and stressed palms + strong wind =

[tropicbreeze]

www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-24/forecasters-surprised-by-el-nino-turnaround/4332260

Forecasters surprised by El Nino turnaround

The weather bureau is predicting a big change in Australia's weather forecast this summer, with an El Nino no longer expected.

Average rainfall is predicted in the coming months in the absence of El Nino - the climate pattern that brings drought-like conditions.

The chief climate forecaster says it is the biggest turnaround in weather patterns since records began.

In the 21st century, Australia's major weather pattern has been El Nino.

It has meant drought has dominated the landscape until the big rains of the past few years.

For climate forecasters, this summer was shaping up as deja vu, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting another El Nino - until Wednesday, that is.

The bureau's manager of climate prediction services, Dr Andrew Watkins, has changed the forecast.

"Come September, all of a sudden, the temperature started to cool down, the trade winds started to become a little bit enhanced, and the cloud patterns and other indicators like that headed away from El Nino," he said.

"So this is what we're looking at as climatologists, giving us the heads up about what may happen over the next few months, and indeed what we're seeing now is a backing off from those El Nino thresholds."

Dr Watkins says they are not sure why there has been a cooling down.

"It actually is quite a unique situation if we end up not going into an El Nino event," he said.

"It'll sort of be the biggest turnaround that we've actually seen in our records going back to about 1950, so quite unprecedented."

Warming in the Pacific Ocean as recently as August pointed to another El Nino weather event, but the forecasters witnessed a huge turnaround.

While it is good news, they say they have never seen conditions change so quickly.

"When we go and look at our records of ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific, we really haven't reached the level that we reached, say, in early September, and then turned around away from El Nino," Dr Watkins said.

"Every time we've got that close to an El Nino, it's actually settled in and indeed September, October is the normal time things bed down with these events.

"We actually haven't seen a turnaround quite like that."

No El Nino means it is more likely to rain across much of the country.

"And we're looking at actually increased likelihood of above-normal rainfall totals through much of the Northern Territory, northwest Kimberly and WA, and even into western Queensland as well," Dr Watkins added.

Grain of salt

But a lot of farmers take these sorts of predictions with a grain of salt.

Andrew Weidemann, the president of the Victorian Farmers Federation's Grains Group, runs a mixed farm in the state's north-west.

"The weather bureau tend to put out these predictions, but I guess in the farming sector what we deal with is results," he said.

"The results we're looking for are moisture at the critical times of the season to try and produce as much as we possibly can."

Much further north, the change is pointing to a good wet season in the vast grazing country across the Top End.

Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association executive director Luke Bowen says the forecast is good news.

"Good news for the monsoon region, given that there had been predictions that it was going to be a very, very late wet," he said.

"It's also potentially good news for those areas south of the tropic, where we've had a run of a couple of good years through central Australia, through the arid zone."

[Daryl]

I certainly hope they are right!

[Walter John]

So basically a normal/average weather pattern from Nov to Feb, the trouble is, it has been so bloody long since that has happened, what is average ?

I read somewhere that Sth Western Qld will get wetter than av with the coastal strips average, whatever that is.

a grain of salt...

[tropicbreeze]

Apparently Japanese Mets have been saying neutral conditions all along. So there is a suggestion that BOM pushed El Nino conditions to try and hold their budget line in the face of the Redhead's razor gang. "Neutral conditions" aren't funding-worthy. So maybe the "biggest turn around" is not so much the weather's as the bureau's.

[tropicbreeze]

www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/late-wet-tipped-as-el-nino-goes-missing/4333510?section=nt

Wet Christmas tipped as El Nino goes missing

By Lauren Day

The weather bureau says the wet season is likely to arrive earlier than expected in the Northern Territory after a big change in Australia's summer forecast.

In the biggest turnaround in weather patterns since records began, the bureau is no longer predicting an El Nino event, which brings drought-like conditions.

Forecaster Joel Lisonbee says it won't make a big difference to the Territory's weather but it will be a more "average" season than expected.

"Based on the forecast of a developing El Nino, we expected the monsoon to onset just a little bit late," he said.

"But now that we are seeing things go back towards the average, we are expecting more of an average onset, which is right around the week of Christmas for us, late December."

Mr Lisonbee says Territorians can still expect two or three cyclones to form this wet season.

[ariscott]

El Nino was never here as far as we are concerned (we as in amateur weather lover here in Darwin). Bring on the 'normal' weather pattern.....

Regards, Ari

[Daryl]

Still no rain here...only about 1 hour of rain on one day since mid July...everything is getting very crunchy...and palm leaves are all over the ground! Drought please end!

Daryl

[NApalm]

Good solid rain here now! Super pumped. Summer nights, windows open, listenning to the rain all night and tomorrow. Only downside is the cricket will be called off for sure. I cant believe it but thats alright by me... Just once

[Kennybenjamin]

Had some rain recently but nowhere near enough, have heard talk of severe storms tomorrow? Hopefully just lots of rain!!!

Growing season hasn't really started for me yet, lots of unopened spears (multiple per plant for many) and lots of deaths... Sucks!!

Very regular hand watering does not seem to do the job?? Need more moisture in the air me thinks!!

How are others going??

[NApalm]

Hanging out for some more rain tomorrow. They reckon 30-50mm probably but COULD get up to 100mm in some areas! I hope that area is good ole Logan. Haha. Heading to the redlands tropical foliage festival in the morning and ill plant in hope. Plant it and it will come...

[Eric F]

Heading to the redlands tropical foliage festival in the morning and ill plant in hope. Plant it and it will come...

Maybe I'll see you there! While you are in the area, stop at the Thornlands Park Nursery on Boundary Road. They have some good size Areca, Pinanga, Burretiokenta, Dypsis, and Ptychosperma that you may like.

[NApalm]

WHAT! Done deal. Nice tip

[Daryl]

The storms last week mainly missed us but we got 11mm out of them...not enough to water the garden though...driving around town yesterday arvo I spotted these palms which have always looked healthy...looks like the drought is taking its toll now

Daryl

.

[Pedro 65]

104mm last week which was "Very Welcome, a great break from a long dry and the dam got a break from pumping 30,000 ltrs a week , our water source is a "saviour" in dry times, its raining now and we look fwd to good falls this wkend.

[Walter John]

Heading to the redlands tropical foliage festival in the morning and ill plant in hope. Plant it and it will come...

Maybe I'll see you there! While you are in the area, stop at the Thornlands Park Nursery on Boundary Road. They have some good size Areca, Pinanga, Burretiokenta, Dypsis, and Ptychosperma that you may like.

I spent many hours at that nursery over my palm nutty years..Nice garden to see as well.

Plant it and it will come, I agree.

[Kennybenjamin]

Bugger all rain for my garden so far today, 3.4 mls....... another storm front about to move through this area though..... Second chance for today..... Fingers crossed!

My work on the other hand had super strong winds, almost cyclone / hurricane like and 23 mls (nearly an inch i think?) Some damage caused around Brisbane CBD and it's surrounds.

Heavy activity currently heading in your general direction Wal, hope you get heaps of rain and your garden soaks it up, without damage!!