The last day of summer has arrived and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has released its long-range forecast for autumn.
In a statement, the weather bureau said while autumn was often a time for cooler weather to begin, this season was very likely to be warmer than average across Australia and summer heat may persist into early autumn.
The BOM said rainfall was likely to be in the typical range for the season for most of Australia.
“It’s also likely to be drier than usual for most of Queensland except for southern and south-east areas,” it said.
“Tropical cyclones, tropical lows, storms and active monsoon bursts are still possible in the north over the coming months, which can bring particularly heavy rain.”
The full forecast for Queensland is:
- Autumn is likely to be drier than usual for most of Queensland except for southern and south-east areas.
- The southern most quarter of the state is likely to have rainfall in the typical range for autumn.
- Average autumn rainfall in recent decades has been between 200 and 1200 mm along most of the state’s east, while western and central Queensland have between 25 and 200 mm.
- Warmer than usual autumn temperatures are likely across the state.
In its analysis of the past summer, it stated the past three months had been much warmer than usual for most of Australia.
“Every state and territory had above-average daytime and night-time temperatures (and) parts of the west and some central areas had their warmest summer on record.
“Summer has been wetter than usual for parts of the country’s east and north-west.”
It said conditions had been drier than average across parts of the country’s south and central areas and large parts of the Northern Territory.
