In 1887 Queensland’s chief weatherman Clement Wragge began naming tropical cyclones, using names from the Greek alphabet, fabulous beasts and politicians who annoyed him.
Dirty water from Queensland’s historic flooding, triggered by weeks of exceptional monsoon rains earlier in the year.
NASA Worldview/EPA
Australia is facing an increase in extreme heat, fire danger weather, floods and marine heatwaves, according to the latest biennial snapshot from the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.
Meteorologists use their own experience, which helps them to decide whether the computer’s prediction is likely to be right.
AAP Image/Chris Pavlich
Twice every day the Bureau of Meteorology sends out the official weather forecasts for towns and cities across Australia. Here’s how we work out what to say in them.
Queenslanders have taken to the water in the face of record-breaking heat.
GLENN HUNT/AAP
After the warmest month on record, it looks like Australia will have an El Niño event – which means the drought is likely to continue.
Sometimes air goes up past the condensation level then falls back below the condensation level, then up, then below, again and again. This creates clouds that are stripy, often with lines between the clouds.
Robert Lawry/Author provided
Clouds formed by rising warm air currents are called ‘convection clouds’. Because of all the rising air coming up, these clouds can be bumpy on top, sometimes looking like cotton wool or cauliflower.
It’s unlikely NSW will get the sustained rain needed to break the drought.
Alex Ellinghausen/AAP
A government proposal for weather radars to share frequencies with telecommunications providers has prompted fears for the accuracy of the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather radar.
Winter is here, and many farmers are still waiting on their ‘autumn break’ of heavy rain. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be a dry, warm winter – although the snow season will likely be good.
The complex low weather system currently swirling over south-eastern Australia.
Bureau of Meteorology
Last year saw plenty of warm weather around the country, but other notable events included dry months in the southeast, some very cold winter nights, and record-warm dry season days in the north.
Thredbo, scene of the latest attack on the Bureau of Meteorology’s methods.
AAP Image/Alison Godfrey
Three years ago The Australian newspaper launched a broadside at the Bureau of Meteorology. But when it did it again this week, it seemed to get less traction from the top echelons of government.