Southern Hemisphere Growing Season 2025/26

[cbmnz]

Did see this report. https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/coldest-november-morning-on-record-for-parts-of-se-australia/1891009    12C below average low is brutal and wrecks havoc with spring growth as I experienced in early  Oct 2022.

[tropicbreeze]

Possibility of very early tropical cyclone in the coming week. Currently under the influence of a tropical low to our west northwest moving our way. One model has it as a cat 1 or 2 by Thursday moving close or over us. Another model has it passing to our north and dissipating in Indonesia without developing. And BoM has it still hovering along our north coast on Sunday with a moderate chance of developing. We'll see how the "ducks line up" later in the week.

Meantime lots of rain. My dam usually has a number of false starts before filling by end of December. The way it's going it might be full within the next few days. Average temp for November so far is maximum 35.5 and minimum 24.4. November rain to today 236.5mm and to this point in the month is 299.2% of average. Top score for last 24 hours rain was Charles Point with 228.4mm.

[Jonathan]

On 11/14/2025 at 10:59 AM, cbmnz said:

Did see this report. https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/coldest-november-morning-on-record-for-parts-of-se-australia/1891009    12C below average low is brutal and wrecks havoc with spring growth as I experienced in early  Oct 2022.

Interesting...guess I'm not imagining the cold then.

Average Max of 17.2 so far for November, 1.6c below average. I want my money back!

[tropicbreeze]

Tropical Cyclone Fina has developed and is now cat 2. Still heading eastwards above the NT coastline. It's running into some dry air and slightly increasing vertical wind shear but sea surface temperatures of 30 to 31C are feeding into it. The vortex is tilted but expected weakening of the wind shear may straighten it later. It's a relatively small system with a radius of 30kms for maximum winds. This means changes in environmental conditions can affect it rapidly, making forecasting difficult and reducing confidence in predictions. There's a subtropical ridge building to the south which is expected to turn TC Fina south and then south west bringing it over Darwin overnight Saturday/Sunday. There's a possibility it could become a cat 3 but land interactions following crossing of Cobourg Peninsula should reduce this before reaching Darwin.

Apparently there's been panic buying of bottled water and supermarket shelves are empty. I've got 2 "big bottles" holding 40,000 litres so should last. And enough generator fuel to keep me going a good week. At least, it's not going to be a "Christmas Special". 

Extended track forecast from JTWC

[Bennz]

On 11/17/2025 at 8:54 PM, Jonathan said:

Interesting...guess I'm not imagining the cold then.

Average Max of 17.2 so far for November, 1.6c below average. I want my money back!

Wow it is tempting to reply to that! But maybe we should keep the politics out of it.

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, Bennz said:

Wow it is tempting to reply to that! But maybe we should keep the politics out of it.

Yes, well...I know your views on that subject, so perhaps better not eh? 

[cbmnz]

Mowed lawn short 7 days ago and it looks like this. It is the growing season. 2 days of warm rain midweek with warm sun either sides of it.

[Tyrone]

Well this has been the coolest spring in the 11 years I’ve been down here. The last week we were barely making 20C. The nights haven’t been cold being 14-16C but when the days are only 2 or 3C higher than the nights with rain and winds it still feels cold. Have had the fire on at night. Last Monday I came back from Perth where it was 35C and arrived at 16C. There’s been no real warmth. Also we’ve had rain and I’ve not turned the garden irrigation on yet and it’s almost December. I’m normally watering on and off by mid October. We had about 9mm of rain today and we are expecting rain and thunderstorms tonight with possible hail. We are not far off 1000mm of rain for the year. The lakes are all full like winter and the steam is flowing well. I probably won’t start irrigating until some time in December which is a record for me. 
I can hear the rolling thunder approaching. 

[Jonathan]

1 hour ago, Tyrone said:

Well this has been the coolest spring in the 11 years I’ve been down here. The last week we were barely making 20C. The nights haven’t been cold being 14-16C but when the days are only 2 or 3C higher than the nights with rain and winds it still feels cold. Have had the fire on at night. Last Monday I came back from Perth where it was 35C and arrived at 16C. There’s been no real warmth. Also we’ve had rain and I’ve not turned the garden irrigation on yet and it’s almost December. I’m normally watering on and off by mid October. We had about 9mm of rain today and we are expecting rain and thunderstorms tonight with possible hail. We are not far off 1000mm of rain for the year. The lakes are all full like winter and the steam is flowing well. I probably won’t start irrigating until some time in December which is a record for me. 
I can hear the rolling thunder approaching. 

Sounds like you're having the same spring as us. Everyone down here is complaining bitterly about the wind, rain and lack of heat...even the sunny days feel cool at the moment, very unusual. Hopefully we get paid back at the other end of summer!

[Bennz]

Tyrone, what is your average annul rainfall? I have a vague recollection it's around 1200mm, with strong winter maximum?

 

We're sitting on 760mm ytd here, meaning it could be one of the driest years on record if we don't get good rain in December. Combined with a lot of wind last month it is pretty dry, but the semi regular small drizzly falls this month have kept things green and still growing. 

[Tyrone]

4 hours ago, Bennz said:

Tyrone, what is your average annul rainfall? I have a vague recollection it's around 1200mm, with strong winter maximum?

 

We're sitting on 760mm ytd here, meaning it could be one of the driest years on record if we don't get good rain in December. Combined with a lot of wind last month it is pretty dry, but the semi regular small drizzly falls this month have kept things green and still growing. 

Hi Benz. Average rainfall is around 900mm annually but it can vary a lot year on year. The driest we’ve seen here was 600mm when we moved down in 2014. However it didn’t feel that bad because Perth can be similar and I was used to Perth. The wettest we’ve had was just over 1200mm which was the year that flooded the property and killed half the pine trees. 
In 2015 I planted up the fruit orchard all in hollows because that’s how you do it in Perth. Then the proper winter rains came and all the trees were swamped, so I had to dig them up and replant them higher. Steep learning curve. 

[Bennz]

I still plant palms in hollows, bangalows etc thrive with that treatment, maybe differnt on very slow draining soils. Just planted a row of Bambusa oldhamii and sank it down into a hollow trench too, on advice from an old grower who told me they can be 50% taller in hollows.

[Tyrone]

On 11/23/2025 at 8:29 AM, Bennz said:

I still plant palms in hollows, bangalows etc thrive with that treatment, maybe differnt on very slow draining soils. Just planted a row of Bambusa oldhamii and sank it down into a hollow trench too, on advice from an old grower who told me they can be 50% taller in hollows.

I think if your soil naturally drains well then yes, plant in hollows. However if it doesn’t and you live in high rainfall areas then don’t. I lost some Bambusa oldhamii for being planted too deep in a hollow. I planted replacements a bit higher and they were fine. 

[Tyrone]

Been cool still here with rain again. However the conditions are easing. We’ve had double the November avg rainfall. On Monday they’re forecasting 32C but windy.com is saying 35C which may mean a 37C,. Then 25C the day after and back to low twenties. 

[Phil Petersen]

We were up to 31.5deg yesterday, so a bit atypical. Hitting high twenties today. Things are generally starting to warm up now.

We are still getting some rain luckily as the warmer conditions and lots of wind are rapidly causing lower soil moisture content in between rain days. Growing conditions have been pretty good.  

[Jonathan]

23 hours ago, Phil Petersen said:

We were up to 31.5deg yesterday, so a bit atypical. Hitting high twenties today. Things are generally starting to warm up now.

We are still getting some rain luckily as the warmer conditions and lots of wind are rapidly causing lower soil moisture content in between rain days. Growing conditions have been pretty good.  

We're struggling to get into the upper teens at the moment. I can't ever remember a November this cold...definitely being punished for starting this thread early!

[Tyrone]

8 hours ago, Jonathan said:

We're struggling to get into the upper teens at the moment. I can't ever remember a November this cold...definitely being punished for starting this thread early!

That’s where we were at the start of November. 
The BOM is saying 35C for Monday. The weather so far has been good Lepidorrachis, Hedyscepe, Rhopalostylis weather. Monday won’t be though. Then back to LHR weather after that. 

[PalmCode]

We hit just over 26c here yesterday, little cooler today but sill humid as for November. Palms are growing good. My young Chambeyronia hookeri got through its first winter in the ground all good.  Expecting some sun burning during summer but hopefully that wont bother it.

[Bennz]

12 hours ago, Jonathan said:

We're struggling to get into the upper teens at the moment. I can't ever remember a November this cold...definitely being punished for starting this thread early!

Hi Jonathan, it does seem our usual opposite weather patterns East coast TAS vs East Coast NI NZ are continuing. It was 31C here today (after a 23C low overnight), and the next 5 days the predicted highs are in the 24-29C range. If you do get warm I will get cold, not sure I want that. A bit more rain would be nice, we're on only 3/4 of our average YTD rainfall.

[Than]

On 9/5/2025 at 1:27 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

It gets pretty chilly in many of the towns in Gippsland. A cunninghamiana is marginal in places like Korumburra and Leongatha. They do exist but don’t look great and there’s not many. Without having had a good look around or studied the climate, I’d imagine based on geography that places like Moe, Morwell and Traralgon would get even colder. There is a palm collector in Traralgon who has a decent collection last I checked, but more thing like Parajubaea, Jubaea etc rather than anything too subtropical. 

Just checked the weather stats for Korumburra and apparently it rarely goes below freezing there. What is it that troubles the Archontophoenix? The cold winters or are the summers not warm enough?

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, Than said:

Just checked the weather stats for Korumburra and apparently it rarely goes below freezing there. What is it that troubles the Archontophoenix? The cold winters or are the summers not warm enough?

If you’re relying on AI and not actual records - wise to avoid. Here’s why 🤣

I only venture out that way infrequently but it’s nearly always significantly colder than metropolitan Melbourne on cold clear nights in winter, and the vast majority of metro Melbourne gets below freezing most years. 

[Than]

54 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

If you’re relying on AI and not actual records - wise to avoid. Here’s why 🤣

I only venture out that way infrequently but it’s nearly always significantly colder than metropolitan Melbourne on cold clear nights in winter, and the vast majority of metro Melbourne gets below freezing most years. 

Good to know. My climate is not too different and I am also trying Archies for the first time this winter. Fingers crossed 

[cbmnz]

On 11/28/2025 at 9:24 AM, Jonathan said:

We're struggling to get into the upper teens at the moment. I can't ever remember a November this cold...definitely being punished for starting this thread early!

It does seem that your longitude has been taking it for the team with respect to the cold from Antarctica needing to spill out somewhere. There is plenty of the landless Indian and Pacific ocean it could do so instead! By contrast locally this November blows away any I can recall for warmth. It's felt like the middle of summer from the get go. A few cool nights but that can happen in summer too, and not so noticeable with early sunrises meaning it back into the mid teens by 8-8:30 am.

[Tyrone]

Watering the garden for the first time this season tonight. The latest I’ve ever resumed watering. But with 26-28C tomorrow then 35-37 on Monday I thought it would be a good time to juice things up a bit for the growing season ahead. 

[Jonathan]

On 11/28/2025 at 8:21 PM, Bennz said:

Hi Jonathan, it does seem our usual opposite weather patterns East coast TAS vs East Coast NI NZ are continuing. It was 31C here today (after a 23C low overnight), and the next 5 days the predicted highs are in the 24-29C range. If you do get warm I will get cold, not sure I want that. A bit more rain would be nice, we're on only 3/4 of our average YTD rainfall.

As Ben points out, and we've been consistently noticing this for probably 10 years or more. When eastern Tas is warm eastern NI NZ is cold and vice versa...a pretty interesting pattern.

Therefore I've got my fingers crossed that you Kiwis will be freezing your arses off soon!

[Phil Petersen]

On 11/28/2025 at 9:24 AM, Jonathan said:

We're struggling to get into the upper teens at the moment. I can't ever remember a November this cold...definitely being punished for starting this thread early!

We look pretty similar here this week, possibly a bit warmer. I'm grateful for any rain we are getting as it saves me a lot of time watering.  Have planted lots of natives early spring so happy for it to rain as long as we get some warmth. Summer is forecast to be warmer than normal but we will see.

[Jonathan]

Finally heading in the right direction...

[tropicbreeze]

November which whilst part of the wet season, is historically a low rainfall month. However, this year it decided to be an exception. Total rainfall for the month was 606.6mm, 438.8% of average. Average minimum temperature 24.8, average maximum 34.6, the higher rainfall keeping temperatures down.

Not common, but not unheard of, for one of the high rainfall months (December, January, February) to fall well below average. Time will tell. A disadvantage of good early rain with poor late rain is the faster dropping of the water table and drying of the soil early in the dry season. Some people are happy with that.  I'm firmly in the camp of those who like a longer wet season with good late rains. Nevertheless someone always ends up disappointed.