Had to come sooner or later given are about two weeks away from the Winter soltisce. Last year didn't go below 0 until Jun 18 which was a record, but had a close call on May 22nd reaching 0.2. This year so far have not been below 1.9. So even if 0 comes a week eailier, this year is almost more notable for summer crops surviving so late even in exposed rural areas.

Wasn't that a great Autumn! Has been super calm, mild and sunny down here. Expecting it to cool down, and get wild sooner or later (normally thats spring here). Hoping we get some more rain for growth as it was been very dry (9.6mm in last month). Ive been planting out a big new area of the garden which took all of the summer to build in the little spare time I have. Now have an Archie. purpurea in the ground out of a 25l growbag. Has been outside all year round for maybe 3 years and is trunking so seems to go fine here. No crown colour yet. They trunk young compared to rhopies thats for sure.

Have also planted another 6-7 kermadec nikau, with room for the rest when I get around to it. Will post photos once it looks less like a work in progress.

7 hours ago, Phil Petersen said:

Have also planted another 6-7 kermadec nikau, with room for the rest when I get around to it. Will post photos once it looks less like a work in progress.

If I was forced to pick one, R. Baueri might be my favourite palm. Looks so tropical but my surprise has so far been just as hardy as my other Nikau.

The wet season is well and truelly gone. May produced 3.2mm rain, which despite being the dry season was below average (18.5mm). From now until September it's going to be dry with cool mornings. Although this morning min. was 21.5, it's been colder the past few weeks, and will get colder again before we move into the transition back to the wet season. Currently UV index gets to 8, the lowest we get.

May:

Av. Min. 21.0

Av. Max. 33.8

Still feels like Autumn here in Melbourne. Only one night below 5C so far, and June average so far is more like the long term May averages for high and lows. Considering the Winter solstice is approaching, and our June average is around 6-7C min and 13-14C max, the next week’s forecast is pretty nice. Currently 20C and sunny!

Has been super mild here as well, lowest minimum so far is 5 degrees.

Looking like cooling off from Sunday onwards, or at least back down to around average for this time of year.

Had -0.9C on Thursday morning, just two hours below 0. Bananas just have slightest bronzing along leaf midrib on some leaves. A.Alexandrae left completely unprotected for first time looks slightly mottled on some leaves. It really does not like sub-zeros at all, despite getting knocked every winter it now is about 20cm at base of trunk (planted as a tiny grade in 2020)

Been an exceptionally warm June in Sydney with record breaking anomalies for both min and max temps.
I'm down in Camden. NSW ( 70klm sw of Sydney ) from Darwin, NT 4000klm to the north and it certainly doesn't feel like/resemble the winters from my childhood.
I'm still getting around in shorts and thongs on the feet and a light jacket in the mornings...
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Next 7 day forecast:
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Nearly 3pm in the afternoon here and it’s nudging 21C. Nearly unheard of in the second half of June around the shortest days of the year, as are 15C minimums which we’ve got again tonight. We did get down to 2.4C the other night but that’s the only cold one so far. Looking ahead it looks like on the weekend temps will drop to usual averages around 6-14C min/max.

Yesterday was the 15th consecutive day of +20c max temps in Sydney... in the winter month of June no less !
With records dating back to 1855, it's the longest such run in recorded weather history.
I visited Warragamba Dam, south west of Sydney on Saturday; it was a glorious winters day, about 21c and even me, a Darwin resident in the deep north tropics, was comfortable wearing shorts.....

On 6/22/2026 at 8:42 AM, greysrigging said:

Yesterday was the 15th consecutive day of +20c max temps in Sydney... in the winter month of June no less !
With records dating back to 1855, it's the longest such run in recorded weather history.
I visited Warragamba Dam, south west of Sydney on Saturday; it was a glorious winters day, about 21c and even me, a Darwin resident in the deep north tropics, was comfortable wearing shorts.....

They'll be growing coconuts in Sydney soon if that trend continues!

Meanwhile in Tasmania: Saturday is looking a bit cool!

With all the talk about a super El Niño I was expecting an extra dry and cool dry season. If fact it's been the opposite. Most of the mornings have been mild and nearer the coast some light rain. Generally that's keeping the humidity up, as well as the minimum temperatures. On the other hand maximum temperatures are slightly down with cloud cover. Although this morning minimum was 21.9, definitely not usual for July.

June

Av Min 18.2

Av Max 32.7

Well the climate forecast was for a dry start to winter here but what we got certainly wasn’t dry. June recorded over 150mm of rain which is just above average. Every day felt like it was raining at some point. Everything is saturated and damp. The temp range for June was 0.5C to 22.2C. Once the rain fully kicked in and all the lakes and streams filled up in mid June the mins didn’t go down as far as 0.5C again. July is looking to be a similar month but today is likely to be a rain free day before a cold front hits tomorrow night and keeps the gauge climbing. I’m hoping for a bit of sun because it’s been rare lately and a bit gloomy. I need some vitamin D.

Well it had to come at some point. Our actual minimums tend to be 1-2C lower than forecasted on clear nights so I think a couple of frosts are unavoidable this coming week.

7 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Well it had to come at some point. Our actual minimums tend to be 1-2C lower than forecasted on clear nights so I think a couple of frosts are unavoidable this coming week.

That was my feeling too at the start of this week too, this was always going to come some time. My overnight lows since the start of July.
-1.0, -1.6,-1.1,+1.4
I relented on the no protection this winter intention, gave just the A. Alexandrae a basic overhead cover, a single piece of frost-cloth suspended to create an artificial overhead canopy, reflect the radiation from the ground.
So far damage seems minimal to none, although on Bangalow it can take weeks to show. The time below freezing was only 5 hours for the worst night and even the bananas are not completely fried yet.
What I am seeing though is the spotty/blotchy effect mainly on the Nikaus , which I have seen many times without any permanent damage. I had another look and still can't find any scientific articles on why this occurs, which is weird. It's a real effect, most of us have seen it, but seems no-one has ever bothered to study it.