I thought I'd get the ball rolling.

Here in the west of Oz, the start of summer has been a cool one with no need for any air conditioning yet. Nights have been dry and blowy from the east and due to the lack of moisture cool to cold. But that's soon to change.

At the moment it's blowing a gale from the east and the mins are in the mid teens celcius. Today we're going for 32C, but when the heat trough forms and moves inland the humidity should rise for a short time and the wind will blow from the west and we'll be getting mins in the high teens to low twenties. Next week we don't really drop below 30C during the day.

We're still in our first phase of summer. The local aboriginal tribes used to call the period of Nov, Dec the first summer, and Jan, Feb as the second summer and that is pretty accurate. Around January, February the heat gets turned up another notch.

Nice work Tyrone! I was wondering how long it would take. Nothing new to report here, hence the radio silence

Yesterday was a hot and very dry and blowy day. The dewpoint went down to −1.1C and temps were in the 30's. Got the retic going to bring the dewpoints back up again. Then around 1am I was woken by thunder and lightening and heavy raindrops on the back patio roof, but alas only 0.4mm officially. It brought the dewpoints back up to 15C though.

Our first heat wave is coming and a few weeks early by the looks of it. Forecasts are tipping it to be the hottest start to the season in around 71 years.

Today is 32C,

Wed 19-34C

Thu 21-36C

Fri 21-38C

Sat 23-39C

Sun 24-37C

Mon 20-40C

Got to keep the water up through this.

I'm in Adelaide at the moment. Feel like I'm in danger of joining the brass frogs shortly.

Rain on the radar!

Love the clouds that travel down all the way from the Equator to Australias "far east" and treat us with afternoon thunderstorms.

I also love the Channel Billed Cuckoo's ( pics below from net) which migrate down here from Sulawesi and PNG to lay their eggs in Crows, Currawongs or Magpies nests, they are very "Large n Loud" birds.

Wheelbarrowed 2 mtrs of mushroom compost to palms 2day so the afternoon thunderstorm is "very welcome"

Pete

Awesome aves.

Awesome aves.

Bob, its an "awesome Cuckoo", at 2 ft in length its the "worlds largest Cuckoo, its "very loud " screeching adds a very " jungle feel" Pete

21mm in this arvo's little storm, the lightning and thunder show was "excellent"

Pete, notice the Top End remains in that cloud free patch. Most annoying, especially this tme of year.

I get the Channel Billed Cuckoo at my place too, usually in the company of Crows. We don't have Magpies or Currawongs here.

Pete, notice the Top End remains in that cloud free patch. Most annoying, especially this tme of year.

I get the Channel Billed Cuckoo at my place too, usually in the company of Crows. We don't have Magpies or Currawongs here.

Yes Zig, even right now Its sneaking down below you, its 99% humidity here is your humidity "lower than norm" ?

Hope the NT and FNQ soon get "weeks of rain" and isnt the sound of the Channel Billed "Fantastic" Pete

Still in Adelaide Pete (tomorrow Melbourne) so only know current stuff from BOM site. But it's been getting back to the usual build-up scenario. High humidity over night, 40 to 50% during the heat of the day. Interesting thing I've found with FNQ (Cape York). Checking rainfall statistics, a lot of places there get less rain than we do, and it's spread more throughout the year than here. They must miss out on some of that real heavy rain.

There you go Pete, sometimes it does happen.

41c today in Perth! Down in Secret Harbour we are heading for a top of 35c.

Yesterday Albany was 26C with the top of Mt Clarence covered in low cloud in the morning. Came through Williams area around 5pm and the temp was 42C.

Been getting around the 40 mark at my place too, the wet season is struggling to dominate the build-up. But the monsoon is moving down out of Indonesia, so maybe soon.

Okay, I had to go plug my stupid American brain into google and figure out what 42C really is. . . and after that surprise remembered that some places were pushing close to 50C last January.

Like, seriously, are you just openly ablaze every summer now?

How high do you expect to get this summer?

What does heat like that do to your garden?

Yeah 42C is around 108F. Supposedly some places of Perth hit 46C (115F) on Sunday but that could be an exaggeration as no official sites reported it, but then it could be real.

A heat wave in the west is defined as 5 days or more in a row where the maximum temp doesn't drop below 35C (95F). This years heat wave is the earliest in 71 years for Perth. I'm a landscaper and the run up to Xmas is totally mental with everyone trying to get everything in and done by Xmas, so when a hot day comes you just have to keep going, although I do start early and try and finish by lunch time if possible. (Although lately I've been working right through to 5.30pm).

Technically January and February is where summer steps up another gear and we go into what the local Aboriginals call the "second summer". Who knows what we'll get this time around having already gotten this hot. Maybe the sea temps will really rise and we'll get humid weather and the odd thunderstorm which would be nice. I doubt we'll see temps much hotter though. I hope not anyway.

To have a tropical garden here, you need good irrigation systems and a canopy. Then you can modify the climate in the right direction. Upgrading our crappy sandy soils also goes a long way to making the plants survive summer. If you didn't do that you would have to just water them continually 24/7 for 4 months of the year.

Yesterday felt kind of bearable with a high of 37.7C (100F). Today we're going for a cool 30C (86F) but with high humidity so it will feel like its 37C today.

As a former Landscaper, you have my sympathies working in that heat the last few days. They go on about the cricketers having to monitor their hydration, what about the workers out there day in day out. Its a tough gig but very rewarding. Anyway, now that ive strayed from the topic ill zip it.

As a former Landscaper, you have my sympathies working in that heat the last few days. They go on about the cricketers having to monitor their hydration, what about the workers out there day in day out. Its a tough gig but very rewarding. Anyway, now that ive strayed from the topic ill zip it.

I appreciate your thoughts mate. At the end of this week I finish my stint as a landscaper.

Today was 28C and cool with high humidity and sea breezes. Lovely.

Not to mention a fine ashes victory! They say it could be the last international test at the WACA for some time. Maybe an extended period of time with the new stadium at burswood!?!? Once again im straying off topic..

If I recall they are skipping a test at the WACA during the World Cup year, but we are getting an extra couple of one dayers to compensate for this.

Poor Poms, can't play cricket and can't grow palms!

one of these days I'll make myself sit down and force myself to understand cricket. . .

Its a funny old game. A test match can go for five days and end in a draw!!! Haha. Its got alot of british reminders, like stopping for a tea break etc. Some people dont like it but I love it

Was watching the news and saw how the heat made the pitch crack right up and send the ball going in all different directions. In that sort of dry heat there is no way to keep the pitch intact without bringing a sprinkler out every now and again, which would make the game slightly ridiculous.

Tyrone, you might be getting a visit from the tail end of Tropical Cyclone Bruce in a week or so.

Tyrone, you might be getting a visit from the tail end of Tropical Cyclone Bruce in a week or so.

Woohoo.

Yeah I was looking at the predictions and it would be great if it happens, but the predictions seem to make it go way south. But it may draw in some tropical humidity off the Indian Ocean.

It's travelling along the northern side of a subtropical ridge. But in a few days that should start to erode and let it slip down and then start to move eastwards. So you're still in with a chance.

Looks like a cyclone will be forming off the Kimberley Pilbara coast area by Friday. The long range synoptic doesn't put a high beneath it along the west coast about that time either. Normally there is a blocking high when something like that forms.

A bit humdrum in the lower west lately. 30C every day, nights in the teens. Blue sky blue sky blue sky, with the odd bit of cloud now and again. No rain. Although down in Albany on Friday they got 36mm in thunderstorms.

Looks like it will be a nice summery Christmas here...

Forecast for the rest of Tuesday

Max 33 Light late shower or two.UV Alert from 7:40 am to 4:00 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 14 [Extreme]

Wednesday 25 December Min 21 Max 30

Thursday 26 December Min 21 Max 32

Friday 27 December Min 21 Max 32

Saturday 28 December Min 21 Max 31

Sunday 29 December Min 21 Max 37

Monday 30 December Min 21 Max 29

Hope the heat n moisture being dragged down from the forecast cyclone brings a few wet days or evening thunderstorms to the far east. Pete

Tropical Cyclone Christine is due to form in the early hours of tomorrow (Christmas Day) about 280 kms south west of Darwin. The circulation is already visible on Darwin radar.

Here's the forecast here

Wed 16-31 UV alert 8am − 4.40pm UV Index 14 (Extreme)

Thu 17-30

Fri 16-29

Sat 18-35

Sun 20-33

Mon 16-31 Thunderstorms

Tue 17-26 Thunderstorms

I think that TC Christine is expected to bring us rain and unsettled weather on Mon, Tue

Tyrone, it's more likely to be a combination of ex-TC Amara and ex-TC Bruce you get Monday/Tuesday. Ex-TC Bruce is expected to cross back into the Australian zone today, ex-TC Amara is not far behind. Seems like they'll move through somewhere between 30 to 35S. (Pre-)Christine has been dragging the chain a bit with development but is later expected to be pushed a fair way out into the Indian Ocean by a developing subtropical ridge.

Tyrone, it's more likely to be a combination of ex-TC Amara and ex-TC Bruce you get Monday/Tuesday. Ex-TC Bruce is expected to cross back into the Australian zone today, ex-TC Amara is not far behind. Seems like they'll move through somewhere between 30 to 35S. (Pre-)Christine has been dragging the chain a bit with development but is later expected to be pushed a fair way out into the Indian Ocean by a developing subtropical ridge.

Yes, I doubt that they will be cyclones this far south this early in the season. But if we had this scenario in March April, then it could be different, but even then it would likely be a cat 1 down here.

The BOM now has TC Christine crossing at Karratha, Port Hedland area which if it does that will leave us with no rain at all. It's more likely to create rain anywhere from Esperance to Melbourne if it crosses that early.

Here my part of the southern hemisphere there has been a lot of rain in much of Brazil. In the deep south there has been a heat waver which has impacted Argentina and southern Brazil with temperatures above 40 C. Here on the equator it is our amazonian winter season, which is the rainy season. This year the rains started early and most days there has been some percipitation. The Intertropical Covergence Zone is pulling the rain across much of Brazil. As you can see by the satellite image it is mostly sunny over my area in the central Amazon basin today.

dk

Some big numbers coming up next weekend, Saturday 39c & Sunday 40c!

Yep, here we go again. January so far has been a cool affair being about 5C cooler than average.

Monday 22-39C UV warning 8.10am-4.40pm Index 14

Tuesday 18-29C Humid

Wednesday 17-31C

Thursday 17-31C

Friday 19-36C

Saturday 21-40C

Sunday 24-39C

Monday 21-35C

Tuesday 18-36C

Looking further ahead Sun 19 Jan 23-28C and thunderstorms. That's a quality palm growing day.

41C on Saturday now.