Dr Blair Trewin, who is a Senior Climatologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, says it's just the beginning of a very hot summer across Australia, but says we can expect less rain than the last few years.
Southeast Australia has begun to suffer heatwave conditions with temperatures in Victoria climbing to 44 degrees. The high temperatures are predicted to hit across New South Wales in the coming days.
Dr Trewin says the heatwave is caused by a pool of very hot air that has built up over central Australia.
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“As high pressure has developed over the Tasman and a trough is approaching the west, we have had northerly winds develop over south-eastern Australia and that has pulled that very hot air down from Central Australia into the south-east of the continent.”
The last two summers were marked by cool and wet conditions under the weather system known as La Nina. But this year, the temperatures will be under the El Nino system, which typically brings dry conditions.
Dr Trewin says this heat is just the beginning, with this summer predicted to be particularly hot for southern Australia.
“The outlook is leaning towards a hot summer in southern Australia, so particularly Victoria and South Australia are looking at about a 70 percent chance of above-normal maximum temperatures throughout summer.”
But he says, it won't be completely dry, with rainfall predicted for southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.
“This year, the Pacific Ocean is close to normal (temperature), the Indian Ocean is still warm and that's why the outlook is leaning towards the wet side in states like southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. But we are not seeing the forecasts of very widespread rain which we've seen over the last few summers."
