Winter down under

[cbmnz]

Time for a new thread now Summer is well and truly over. The next three months I have to be careful don't get caught out by a surprise frost, sometimes amount of wind/cloud cover defies even the professionals best efforts to forecast it. From 1 September it gets much easier, to get a significant frost that late needs perfect conditions which are easy to see coming.  Count yourself lucky if you never get frost where you garden.

[sipalms]

Light frost on the windscreen here this morning, certainly not on the ground though. Looking like a sunny settled week ahead with temps nearly 20 over the next couple of days.

[Tyrone]

Already had two frosts in the last couple of weeks with ice on the car and exposed area of lawn. Nothing under canopy thank goodness. No damage whatsoever but my neighbours kikuyu filled paddock looks like it had to roundup poured on it. My areas still look deep green. 25C tomorrow, then winter hits.

[cbmnz]

First time this year have the word frost in the official forecast. Have put covers out but doesn't have the feel of a hard July frost at all.

[greysrigging]

1 hour ago, cbmnz said:

First time this year have the word frost in the official forecast. Have put covers out but doesn't have the feel of a hard July frost at all.

Snow flurries in Dunedin yesterday I see ?

[cbmnz]

10 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Snow flurries in Dunedin yesterday I see ?

Yes there were. They've been having some wicked wind in the far South, the ridges are finally migrating back to the tropics, bringing the roaring forties Westerlies over NZ again.

[cbmnz]

12 hours ago, cbmnz said:

First time this year have the word frost in the official forecast. Have put covers out but doesn't have the feel of a hard July frost at all.

Could have been a frost as was down to 2.5C at 2:30am but then a wind change brought the marintine air back again.

[Bennz]

Light frost in sheltered valleys at 200m elevation here this morning, but nothing lower down.  Most of this farm has been frost free for several decades but the last few years have seen more frost. Still no frost in the nursery/orchard area in living memory... long may that continue (but I live in constant dread)! 

 

[cbmnz]

Interesting sea temp anomoly ATM.  Warmer than normal around NZ and East Aust but cooler around West Aust. Suggests should see a warmer than average winter overall in NZ  but of course for palm growing its not the average it's if that one killer frost occurs or not that matters.

[Tyrone]

It’s going to be an interesting winter for me with those sst’s. They’re predicting average rain and higher than average temps somehow, so there you go.

[greysrigging]

An interesting read...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/positive-indian-ocean-dipole-bad-news-for-drought-crippled-areas/11120566

[greysrigging]

Just about set the calendar with the first big wintery spell at the end of May. Might even see snow on the ground as far north as the New England Ranges in NSW and slight possibility of a flake or three in Stanthorpe, Queensland !
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/wintry-week-ahead-for-southeastern-australia/529741

[greysrigging]

Lots of snow in the South East Alps
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/weatherpulse/player/Weatherpulse-Best-May-snow-in-decades/6042194047001

[sandgroper]

A warm dry start to winter here in Perth, 26c for the first day of winter on Saturday and looking reasonably dry and warm for the coming week. Hope we get a bit of rain soon.

[cbmnz]

8 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Lots of snow in the South East Alps
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/weatherpulse/player/Weatherpulse-Best-May-snow-in-decades/6042194047001

That cold comes NZ's way for the Queen's Birthday weekend. Some model outputs had 10cm snow in Christchurch city but the Govt Metservice does not agree. Sunday night is the frost risk for me.  But just nudging 0C is nothing for my locality, a bit of frost-cloth where needed and everything will be fine.

[greysrigging]

We really are 'soft' when it comes to cold....lol !
https://www.australianewsly.com/2019/05/30/aussies-warned-to-take-the-day-off-work-as-temperatures-plummet/?fbclid=IwAR1Nv5KvqqeU3Hxzbk9sdDYGIx3CjIv49tYz7uPr0ARnJQyOVyxg2PIuMDQ

[greysrigging]

Record breaking frosty nights in Southern Queensland...
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/frosty-start-in-southern-queensland/529768
Winter has set in with a vengeance  in the south east of the Continent with the major ski resorts opening early this year.
http://www.australianweathernews.com/news/2019/190531.SHTML

[Tyrone]

Had warm days and nights down here lately. Nights in the teens to high teens and days in the low twenties. We nearly copped a thunderstorm last night. Just nearly. There was lightening and even red on the radar but it somehow dissipated and just spat a bit. I’m still watering and it’s now winter. Days in the low twenties for the next week. Palms opening spears everywhere. 

[sandgroper]

First day of winter, great for the palms but not too good for anyone else, we need rain.

[greysrigging]

Darwin Airport had its first sub 20c minimum of the 'dry' this morning.... was a shock to the system.... had to pull up the doona this morning and put on a T shirt instead of a singlet.....
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/nt/darwin-daly/darwin

[cbmnz]

15 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Darwin Airport had its first sub 20c minimum of the 'dry' this morning.... was a shock to the system.... had to pull up the doona this morning and put on a T shirt instead of a singlet.....
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/nt/darwin-daly/darwin

See Darwin has never gone down into single figures (C) since European settlement. 

[cbmnz]

Wind is up, forecast low for tonight has risen to 1C. Protection all in place, even for the Bangalow which I vowled was an expendible/experiment  when planted. LOL. Might be waiting a few weeks yet for first proper frost though if does not happen tonight.

[UK_Palms]

17 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Darwin Airport had its first sub 20c minimum of the 'dry' this morning.... was a shock to the system.... had to pull up the doona this morning and put on a T shirt instead of a singlet.....
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/nt/darwin-daly/darwin

LOL  

This comment actually had me cracking up. We're just hitting summer time here in the UK, and after a high of 29C during the day yesterday, the low temperature only dropped down to 17C last night. It was so hot, I could barely sleep a wink, even with my window wide open. And I've just had an ice cream for breakfast, while watching the sunrise on my patio, in nothing but my boxers. I could imagine you would be wearing a coat and gloves under those conditions!  

[sandgroper]

4 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

LOL  

This comment actually had me cracking up. We're just hitting summer time here in the UK, and after a high of 29C during the day yesterday, the low temperature only dropped down to 17C last night. It was so hot, I could barely sleep a wink, even with my window wide open. And I've just had an ice cream for breakfast, while watching the sunrise on my patio, in nothing but my boxers. I could imagine you would be wearing a coat and gloves under those conditions!  

I know I would!

[sandgroper]

2 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Wind is up, forecast low for tonight has risen to 1C. Protection all in place, even for the Bangalow which I vowled was an expendible/experiment  when planted. LOL. Might be waiting a few weeks yet for first proper frost though if does not happen tonight.

Mate, would love to see how you're protecting your palms, I try to push the limits here in Perth too so I'm interested in how you combat the cooler weather where you are.

[cbmnz]

18 minutes ago, sandgroper said:

Mate, would love to see how you're protecting your palms, I try to push the limits here in Perth too so I'm interested in how you combat the cooler weather where you are.

No unique method. Just overhead cover, trying to reflect the ground IR radiation back. Radiation frost is the enemy here. When wind swings to the South have some of the clearst air in the world and really efficient ground radiation at night. Commercial frost cloth works but works best if not touching the plant, hence need a frame. Get the idea from this photo, have temporily wrapped the sides as well to make a little greenhouse for the frost risk period.

[greysrigging]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

LOL  

This comment actually had me cracking up. We're just hitting summer time here in the UK, and after a high of 29C during the day yesterday, the low temperature only dropped down to 17C last night. It was so hot, I could barely sleep a wink, even with my window wide open. And I've just had an ice cream for breakfast, while watching the sunrise on my patio, in nothing but my boxers. I could imagine you would be wearing a coat and gloves under those conditions!  

Just wait until we get a 15c ( or heaven forbid a sub 15c morning ! . Locals in coats and hoodies ( and shorts and thongs.... er... the feet type... ), news stories and front page of the local paper dedicated to the cold.... haha
This was a brutally cold day in Darwin..... mid afternoon and only 18c in my suburb and a cold south easterly blowing. Coldest day in my 40 years here....

[greysrigging]

3 hours ago, cbmnz said:

See Darwin has never gone down into single figures (C) since European settlement. 

The Airport site has reported since 1942.... lowest min temp 10.4c from memory. Having said that you only have to go 30klm inland to the rural outskirts ( Humpty Doo ) and sub 10c minimums are fairly common in the Dry Season, and has even got as low as 5c !
The old Post Office site in the City ( coastal location ) lowest ever 13.4c
No, we do not handle sub 20c that well.... haha....

[tropicbreeze]

I remember that April 2017 chill event clearly. There was a cyclone forming off the coast which got hit by a massive surge of very dry air. The evaporation of cyclonic rain into the dry air caused a sudden chilling which then took the heat out of the air. The effects were short lived, but very memorable.

Noonamah  April  2017

Date       Day         Min         Max        Rain

7              Fr            23.4        34.3        9.8

8              Sa           24.7        35.3        0.0

9              Su           23.4        34.4        0.0

10           Mo          24.1        32.5        9.8

11           Tu           20.4        22.9        19.2

12           We         17.7        28.0        56.2

13           Th           22.8        32.4        1.2

14           Fr            23.4        33.3        0.0

15           Sa           24.2        34.7        0.0

 

[UK_Palms]

2 hours ago, greysrigging said:

The Airport site has reported since 1942.... lowest min temp 10.4c from memory. Having said that you only have to go 30klm inland to the rural outskirts ( Humpty Doo ) and sub 10c minimums are fairly common in the Dry Season, and has even got as low as 5c !
The old Post Office site in the City ( coastal location ) lowest ever 13.4c
No, we do not handle sub 20c that well.... haha....

I camped out near the Jim Jim falls in Kakadu national park back in June 2014 and all I can say is that it was bloody freezing at night under the clear skies, and I was completely underdressed for it! I'm talking below zero. I was only around 50 miles inland, but we woke to find frost on the jeep's windscreen and the external temperature gage was reading -1C at 6am! Even more shocking was the fact that the temperature had risen back up to 29C by early afternoon. A temperature swing of 30C between night and day!

Still not as cold though as the crazy -4C I experienced while camping out in Alice Springs. Locals were telling me it was the coldest they had seen in nearly a decade.

Darwin might have an insanely warm climate in the far north of the NT, right smack bang on the northern coast, but go inland in the NT during mid-winter and it certainly does get cold. Especially out of town on the clear nights when there is no wind. It caught me completely off guard, having been travelling the northern coastline from Perth > Broome > Darwin > Cairns > Brisbane > Sydney, in mid winter. Well Alice Springs was a real shock to the system. I don't think either of the two days that I was there warmed up past 10C either. I think the high temperature on one of the days in Alice Springs was like 8-9C. World's apart from the constantly tropical Darwin!  

[greysrigging]

Alice Springs has a Continental climate and also has a bit of altitude. Not as extreme as say Las Vegas, but not far off it...... Has got as low as -7.5c ( 18.5f ) and only 7c ( 44.6f ) max in the past. Snow has been reported from the highest peaks of the MacDonnell Ranges ( 5000' ASL ),  and the town center, in the valleys between the ranges, is a renowned frost hollow.
Darwin residents generally avoid the Alice in the winter months.... lol !

[cbmnz]

Some wind at times last night kept the air temp  from getting too low min -0.6C with only 1 hour below freezing, But it was a good night for the ground to cool,  clear all night and nearly at the winter solstice.

Everything seemed to work as expected, only  loss might be one in ground pepper plant that was well away from the  house. That was always a longshot to keep alive all winter.

The frostcloth had a good layer of ice on  top, but underneath no ice and foliage felt normal to touch.

The uncovered leaves of the banana had some surface ice on them but felt ok,  not rigid, will see.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tyrone]

Looked at the averages for June (only 3rd day in)and we are nearly averaging 22C. Got a couple more 20C plus days then the bottom falls out of the max temps and we are mid teens and rain. More typical weather for June. It’s been great to get stuff done though. We moved around 20m3 of old lawn clippings onto around 200m2 of garden area as mulch yesterday ready for the rains to begin. I’m aching today. Going back to work for a rest.

[greysrigging]

Fair old winter blast in NSW at the moment with reports of snow falling but not settling around Stanthorpe in Queensland. I went to College in Armidale and can remember a couple of good falls in the late '70's
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/snow-rain-and-damaging-winds-in-nsw/529781

[sandgroper]

Changing for southern WA by the weekend, looks like we're in for some heavy rain and much colder weather in Perth. Looking forward to seeing some rain but I can live without the cold.

[Tyrone]

Had a min near zero this morning. Ice on the grass but nothing near trees or under canopy thank goodness. Had ice on my windscreen and bonnet on the car this morning. Couldn't scrape it off. Had to pour water on it from the dog bowl. By the time I'd put the bowl back and get into the car to start it the ice started reforming in front of my eyes. Quickly started the car and got the windscreen wipers working and took most of the ice off after a minute or two. It's kind of weird watching an iced up bonnet melt as the engine heats everything up directly underneath.

Got to around 22C with really low dew points and gusty northerlies. I watered around mid day so that the humidity got a bit higher. A big change is a coming tomorrow night. No low humidity when that lot comes through. Monday they are predicting 25mm of rain and mid teens as maximums for the foreseeable future. 

[greysrigging]

https://www.9news.com.au/wild-weather/weather-forecast-australia-rain-and-winds-set-to-batter-east-coast-chance-of-snow-in-queensland/daa44e55-f636-4b9f-b669-ccc86c2d8128

[Tyrone]

After a freezing morning yesterday, I woke up to 17C 22%RH and howling north easterlies today. I went outside and ominously the air is thick with smoke. Most of southern WA is under a total fire ban.  The trouble is many farmers and landowners have recently started burning off across the region. Old smouldering fires that may have appeared out can reignite into blazing infernos in these conditions. Sparks can travel for kms on the wind and the air has made things tinderbox dry. 

[sandgroper]

There is a fire burning around Mundijong at the moment, the winds are blowing around 27kms at the which is a worry. Up to 40mm of rain predicted for tonight and tomorrow. 

[Tyrone]

I just looked at the dfes website. There would be at a guess 30-40 fires across the state at the moment. The idiots are out burning stuff still down here. Total knuckle heads.