Southern Hemisphere Growing Season 2025/26

[Jonathan]

22 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Got another cold front here today. I hope it gets to Victoria and Tassie. We don’t need the rain anymore. 

Well we got 4mm yesterday...hardly a deluge!

14mm total for August, 32mm so far this month, fingers crossed for October, which is statistically our wettest month.

[Tyrone]

1 hour ago, Jonathan said:

Well we got 4mm yesterday...hardly a deluge!

14mm total for August, 32mm so far this month, fingers crossed for October, which is statistically our wettest month.

I can’t even imagine such little rain in August and September. I think that’s roughly what we got in January and February but admittedly with a 42.7C day thrown in to vaporise any moisture around. I don’t think of Tassie being so dry. Is there any green around? I think going on the law of averages you must be going to get a wet summer. With the IOD in negative territory and La Niña forming I wouldn’t be surprised if you get your rain soon. 
 

At the moment my bore spear is just oozing water to the surface without the pump running. That didn’t happen last year, but probably happened about 3 times before in wet years. Other places around the property I’ve just got water rising to the surface in weird places with water trickling downhill. 27C and 29C forecast for next Tuesday and Wednesday. That should wake things up. 

[Jonathan]

11 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I can’t even imagine such little rain in August and September. I think that’s roughly what we got in January and February but admittedly with a 42.7C day thrown in to vaporise any moisture around. I don’t think of Tassie being so dry. Is there any green around? I think going on the law of averages you must be going to get a wet summer. With the IOD in negative territory and La Niña forming I wouldn’t be surprised if you get your rain soon. 
 

At the moment my bore spear is just oozing water to the surface without the pump running. That didn’t happen last year, but probably happened about 3 times before in wet years. Other places around the property I’ve just got water rising to the surface in weird places with water trickling downhill. 27C and 29C forecast for next Tuesday and Wednesday. That should wake things up. 

Yeah, I think it does sound odd to most mainlanders but Hobart is actually the second driest state capital after Adelaide. There's a massive rainfall gradient from west to east in Tassie, with 2.5m of rain in parts of the west down to about 400mm (in a good year) where we live at the mouth of the Derwent River.

I was up visiting my father on the NW coast last weekend...it was emerald green and lush, which along with the 4m deep red basalt soils always leaves me questioning my life choices as I drive home!

[tim_brissy_13]

Only 8mm rain so far for September here after 38mm for August. I usually don’t water anything in ground until October but we’ve been having days above 20C coupled with wind gusts above 80km/h which dries things out quickly. Hand watering things like Lepidorrhachis and Ceroxylon and will soon turn on the automatic irrigation once the cold nights are over and the risk of rot has passed for the more sensitive tropical species. 20.3C max today after a minimum of 4.7C. 

[Tyrone]

You guys are blowing me away with your rainfall stats. Alarm bells would be ringing loud if we only had 8mm of rain in September by the 19th, especially if August was dry too. The farmers would be seriously anxious if that happened. I can’t even imagine turning my retic on yet. Here’s hoping that La Niña and the negative Indian Ocean Dipole work hand in hand to give you guys in Victoria and Tassie a warm and wet spring summer growing season. I think here in SW WA neither of those things affect us. Ocean temps are still high but they’re forecasting  average rainfall for the next 3 months and above average max and mins. This morning the min was 12C and my place is sort of in the clouds with light drizzle running off the leaves. You can’t really see the rain just hear it running off the leaves in heavier droplets. The rainforest effect I suppose. I can’t wait for sunny weather in the high 20s next week. 

[Tyrone]

It’s raining again. Going for a top of 20C. Wasn’t expecting this mornings rain. Was hoping the lawn would dry out a bit so I could slash it later. Look how invaded with clover it is. The rain may delay my attempt at mowing it. 

[cbmnz]

Had 0C forecast on Saturday but I could tell it was not tracking to get that low, and only got to 2.5 with no ice. The grapes have just budded out and avocado in flower so don't want any more frosts now.   The North Island ski fields now have average to good snow cover, when they had next to nothing as late as the third week in August, it's all fallen since then. Had a good day on the slopes on Saturday.  This is the first winter have completely not protected anything apart from throwing some frost-cloth over the most sensitive thing have which is the A. Alexandrae. Minor damage on the most exposed of my three  A. Cunninghama, everything else showing no damage at all. 

[Jonathan]

11 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Had 0C forecast on Saturday but I could tell it was not tracking to get that low, and only got to 2.5 with no ice. The grapes have just budded out and avocado in flower so don't want any more frosts now.   The North Island ski fields now have average to good snow cover, when they had next to nothing as late as the third week in August, it's all fallen since then. Had a good day on the slopes on Saturday.  This is the first winter have completely not protected anything apart from throwing some frost-cloth over the most sensitive thing have which is the A. Alexandrae. Minor damage on the most exposed of my three  A. Cunninghama, everything else showing no damage at all. 

Think I've jinxed us all....winter lingers on in the southern hemisphere.

Temperatures here are fluctuating all over the place with typical spring indecision, however at least we've had a bit of rain in the last week or so to recharge the  catchments. Won't be planting any palms for another month at this rate.

[tropicbreeze]

The season is surely changing. We had a 38.6 earlier in the month, but the average maximum so far is 36.0 with average minimum 21.4. There was some rain, first since May. However, nothing to get excited about. Two days, 4.6mm and 0.8mm. Didn't do much except ramp up relative humidity. Still, it's a start. 

[Jonathan]

On 9/24/2025 at 1:07 PM, tropicbreeze said:

The season is surely changing. We had a 38.6 earlier in the month, but the average maximum so far is 36.0 with average minimum 21.4. There was some rain, first since May. However, nothing to get excited about. Two days, 4.6mm and 0.8mm. Didn't do much except ramp up relative humidity. Still, it's a start. 

Your minimums would be a heatwave down here at the moment, you're welcome to keep those maxima though! What a strange country we live in.

[Tyrone]

The unending rain finished earlier in the week. Had a run of 27C, 29C and 26C during the week which has dried things out a good amount. Was able to mow yesterday and only nearly bogged the mower in one section. Starting to do a tidy up of the place. Got some rain coming tomorrow then back up to 27C by the end of the week. The weather has changed season now. 

[tropicbreeze]

On 9/26/2025 at 6:42 AM, Jonathan said:

Your minimums would be a heatwave down here at the moment, you're welcome to keep those maxima though! What a strange country we live in.

I've only been to Tassie twice, stayed in New Norfolk in August. Was nice sitting around a huge log fire in the pub. And then in November in Hellyer. Full on Roaring  Forties. I'm just not designed for cold. 

1st October is officially start of our wet season. Outlook not  too wet so far.

[Jonathan]

6 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

I'm just not designed for cold. 

Me neither, although I suspect that I'm not designed for extreme heat either. I'd be much happier with our climate if winter was just a bit shorter, ie three months shorter! We visited Tim (Realarch) in Hawaii a couple of months ago, 28 degrees every day, now that's a climate I could deal with.

Haven't quite made it to the NT yet, been to Lawn Hill twice, so pretty close to the border, but keen to get up to the top end. Some friends lived in Nhulunbuy for a few years and absolutely loved it

[Jonathan]

It's a painful time of the year down here, just enough warmth to encourage you but then the good old Roaring Forties smashes us for a few more days and the temps drop by five degrees...the plants seem to care less than I do though, thankfully.

[Tyrone]

On 10/2/2025 at 4:57 AM, Jonathan said:

It's a painful time of the year down here, just enough warmth to encourage you but then the good old Roaring Forties smashes us for a few more days and the temps drop by five degrees...the plants seem to care less than I do though, thankfully.

It looks like you’re getting similar weather to us. September was rubbish and October  temps seem to be rising as slowly as an A380 takes off, slow and not in any hurry to gain altitude. 
 

We had a few mms of rain today and I think it made 19C. The night temps are going to be the first to lift down here, just a bit. We may hit 20C again next week. 

[Jonathan]

On 10/5/2025 at 12:24 AM, Tyrone said:

It looks like you’re getting similar weather to us. September was rubbish and October  temps seem to be rising as slowly as an A380 takes off, slow and not in any hurry to gain altitude. 
 

We had a few mms of rain today and I think it made 19C. The night temps are going to be the first to lift down here, just a bit. We may hit 20C again next week. 

Yep, that looks familiar! Although it was a warm weekend down here, 21 on Saturday, 26 yesterday, which was welcome. Cooling off again for a few days now, after a big westerly front came through last night.

[Tyrone]

Now for something different. This is much better weather. Been drab cold and windy with lots of clouds for too long.

[Jonathan]

On 10/9/2025 at 10:13 AM, Tyrone said:

Now for something different. This is much better weather. Been drab cold and windy with lots of clouds for too long.

That looks pretty nice and stable...look at this psychotic mess:

 

[Tyrone]

If that was a roller coaster that would be a scary one. 
 

Here is the updated forecast. 30C on Friday. Here comes the tiger snakes. There’s already been one spotted by the neighbours and I’ve been madly trying to remove the weeds and wild oats which are growing while you watch them, so snakes don’t feel safe just hanging out around the place. 

[Hu Palmeras]

You must burn. Make a fire and burn. That way all those bugs and weeds will go away.

[Jonathan]

7 hours ago, Tyrone said:

If that was a roller coaster that would be a scary one. 

If it was a person you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley!

Yep, the tigers will be abroad down here shortly too, it certainly puts a bit of excitement into weeding. They're pretty chill snakes though generally, you've basically gotta tread on them to get bitten...I'm touching wood as I write this.

Very glad we don't have eastern browns or taipans here, those boys dont play nicely with the other kids!

[SeanK]

Need a .410 in the garden for snake control.

[Tyrone]

Weather is on the improve. We got to 24C here today and we’ve just had some rain come through with a couple of mms of rain with tomorrow forecast to be 28C followed by more showers. Could we get a wet subtropical summer this year????

[tropicbreeze]

Early October brought some patchy rain with one reasonable fall. But over the past few days it's dried out again with hot sunny days. Of course the relative air humidity has stayed fairly high. The coming week looks like it's going to continue dry, but hopefully the following week will see the rain returning.

In its latest Tropical Climate Update the weather bureau reported the following:

For the week ending 13 October, isolated thunderstorms and showers brought light to moderate rainfall to parts of tropical northern Australia. Weekly rainfall totals of 10 to 50 mm, with locally higher totals up to 100 mm, were recorded across parts of the Kimberley, Cape York Peninsula and the north of the Northern Territory. A daily total of 95.2 mm was recorded at Old Delamere in the Northern Territory in the 24 hours to 9 am on 12 October.

Fortnightly forecast

The forecast for the fortnight of 18 to 31 October, issued on 13 October, shows rainfall is likely to be above average for parts of northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Cape York Peninsula (60% to greater than 80% chance), with the chances being strongest in far northern parts.

Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be above average across northern Australia for the fortnight starting 18 October. Days and nights also have an increased chance of being unusually warm across most of northern Australia. 

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

 

Jeez, that's brutal!

I can't imagine ever getting used to 40 degrees every day for weeks...

[tropicbreeze]

On 10/18/2025 at 4:56 PM, Jonathan said:

Jeez, that's brutal!

I can't imagine ever getting used to 40 degrees every day for weeks...

You probably wouldn't have wanted to look at our seven day forecast from this morning. 4 X 39, 2 X 40, 1 X 41, in that order. On the coast it's about a few degrees lower.

Is that Scott and Ari you referred to about Nhulunbuy? They were there for a few years. You'd really like it. Maximums don't ever go above 33 - 34 or so, minimums rarely if ever go below 18 - 19. Absolutely beautiful beaches, some of the locals go surfing, snorkeling/scuba diving. No crowds anywhere. I've only lived there a short time, but like to go back and visit from time to time (hopefully again in a few weeks).

[Jonathan]

42 minutes ago, tropicbreeze said:

You probably wouldn't have wanted to look at our seven day forecast from this morning. 4 X 39, 2 X 40, 1 X 41, in that order. On the coast it's about a few degrees lower.

Is that Scott and Ari you referred to about Nhulunbuy? They were there for a few years. You'd really like it. Maximums don't ever go above 33 - 34 or so, minimums rarely if ever go below 18 - 19. Absolutely beautiful beaches, some of the locals go surfing, snorkeling/scuba diving. No crowds anywhere. I've only lived there a short time, but like to go back and visit from time to time (hopefully again in a few weeks).

Ouch, that's hot!

No, not Scott and Ari, though I remember Ari posting a lot on here years ago, wonder where they ended up? My friends were from down here, both worked as nurses up there and loved it. I think they were in Nhulunbuy for a couple of years from memory, in between stages of the big lap with the kids.

Swimming with the sharks, crocs and stingers...not  for the faint hearted!

[tropicbreeze]

17 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Ouch, that's hot!

No, not Scott and Ari, though I remember Ari posting a lot on here years ago, wonder where they ended up? My friends were from down here, both worked as nurses up there and loved it. I think they were in Nhulunbuy for a couple of years from memory, in between stages of the big lap with the kids.

Swimming with the sharks, crocs and stingers...not  for the faint hearted!

Keep in mind, more people are killed by sharks in southern Australia than by sharks and crocs combined in northern Australia.

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Keep in mind, more people are killed by sharks in southern Australia than by sharks and crocs combined in northern Australia.

Not reassuring!

A 3m great white was cruising our local surf beach last week, so yep, they're out there.

[cbmnz]

A rather awful lack of sun so far this month with the stuck W to NW pattern than never seems to end. The only upside has it has kept the nighttime temperatures well up meaning above average overall. Damaging flooding occurred only 80km or so away last week and that day sure was wet.

Damaging winds today for parts,  the models look even worse for Thursday.  Hope they are overestimating. 

[Phil Petersen]

On 10/21/2025 at 10:38 PM, cbmnz said:

A rather awful lack of sun so far this month with the stuck W to NW pattern than never seems to end. The only upside has it has kept the nighttime temperatures well up meaning above average overall. Damaging flooding occurred only 80km or so away last week and that day sure was wet.

Damaging winds today for parts,  the models look even worse for Thursday.  Hope they are overestimating. 

 

Its been very very windy down here. Lots of warm, very strong NW coming over the Alps. Hoping it calms down soon. 24deg isnt too bad though.

 

[Jonathan]

Topped out at a chilly 11.7 yesterday, which was the coldest day of the month. Despite October feeling cold and windy, the mean max for the month has still been 0.7 degrees above the Oct average of 17.

Hopefully that was the last Antarctic blast for the year, with slightly more stable temps ahead.

[tropicbreeze]

Today we get the sun direct overhead. Won't happen again until February.

Don't like BOM's online new format for the weather forecast. Funnily, it gives a "7 day forecast" only showing 6 days. 

Rain has now crept back into the forecast, hopefully it'll materialize on the ground as well. The last rain was on the 15th of this month and since then it's been hot sunny and dry. But the weeds that the earlier rain brought are still bravely soldiering on. Average maximum for the month so far 37.7, average minimum 24.7.

[cbmnz]

After the wind blew near constant clouds and rain from the Tasman sea for 6 weeks it suddenly flips into a summer like pattern.  24C today by my station and similar looking highs as far as the long range forecast extends out. 

 

[Jonathan]

10 hours ago, cbmnz said:

After the wind blew near constant clouds and rain from the Tasman sea for 6 weeks it suddenly flips into a summer like pattern.  24C today by my station and similar looking highs as far as the long range forecast extends out. 

 

We've had the same...weeks of howling wind and cool temps. But the last few days have been still and warm, 28.8 yesterday and warm again this morning with a big band of rain coming through, perfect! 

[Tyrone]

We’ve just had howling winds from the west, then the east. Both bring clouds and rain, although we haven’t had rain for about 3 days. Expecting thunderstorms tomorrow morning with possible heavy falls and rain into Thursday. No warmth forecast either. Nothing above 23C. We’ve had about 940mm of rain for the year so far. I haven’t needed to irrigate the garden yet and it’s November. I’ve watered the shadehouse possibly 4 times since winter ended. Really mild. 

[tim_brissy_13]

33C on Sunday. Perfect beach weather. Then followed by a Monday which hovered around 12C most of the day with non stop rain. Got 50mm of it, much needed. Such erratic weather, that’s Spring in Melbourne for you. 

[cbmnz]

Amazing flip from last month, off the scale sun so far in November. 

[cbmnz]

Palms look great when dont have to wait for winter cosmetic damage to grow out. 

[Jonathan]

The weather here remains hideous, still fluctuating between high and low teens, very wet and windy, unseasonably cool overall. Feel like I may have jinxed myself by starting this thread, lol.