Heatwave conditions for much of mainland Australia

Bureau of Meteorology's Miriam Bradbury updates the weather outlook for the week beginning December 4, 2023.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, Miriam at the Bureau here to take you through your first full week of summer.

00:04 And it's certainly going to feel very summery this week, with intense heat sitting across

00:08 the continent, many parts reaching at least 40 degrees today, if not pushing towards the 45 degree

00:15 mark. It is a bit of a milder story about the coasts today, with the likes of Melbourne,

00:20 Canberra and Sydney really only expecting to reach the mid to high 20s or low 30s.

00:25 Going into tomorrow, we're going to see that heat starting to push eastwards,

00:29 moving into inland New South Wales and Queensland. It'll remain milder about the coasts though,

00:35 even as the temperatures soar towards the high 40s inland. That heat will peak around midweek,

00:42 with widespread areas reaching at least 45 degrees, if not pushing into the 46 to 48 degree range.

00:49 These temperatures are 10, 12, even 14 degrees above the average, and are triggering heatwave

00:55 conditions across large parts of the country. It's important to stay cool, stay hydrated,

01:00 and stay indoors if you possibly can. Towards the end of the week, the heat's really going to take

01:05 hold across inland New South Wales and Queensland, with many areas such as Mildura and Dubbo pushing

01:11 up above 40 degrees. But Friday is going to be the warmest day of the week for the likes of Canberra

01:17 and Sydney, pushing into the low 30s. The end is in sight by Friday as well, we've got this cool

01:23 change moving in from the west, bringing some milder conditions to the southern WA coast. That

01:29 cool change will move into the southeast states over the weekend, but it will really struggle to

01:33 flush the heat out from inland parts of the country. It won't be until early next week that

01:39 we start to see a gradual easing in those very hot conditions. So what's our weather doing across the

01:44 country this week? Well looking at our weather map for today, we can see broadly clear skies

01:49 across the Australian continent for today, which is really good news for our southeastern states,

01:54 which are still seeing a bit of flooding after last week's rainfall. There is a little bit of

01:59 shower activity up the east coast, but with very low rainfall totals expected, as well as some

02:04 shower and storm activity across the tropical north that is likely to continue throughout the

02:09 week in the southeasterly trade flow. Going into tomorrow, we see a little bit more rain starting

02:14 to develop across Tasmania late in the day, but remaining clear inland, a story that will continue

02:20 towards the middle of the week as well. Even by Thursday, we see very little change to this story

02:26 as this low pressure trough sitting across the continent continues to keep things fairly settled

02:31 and stable. But at the end of the week, this cold front crossing the Bight will start to bring a bit

02:37 of wetter weather along with that cooler change to southern parts of the country. Now the eagle-eyed

02:43 amongst you will spot a developing tropical cyclone over the Coral Sea. This system is not

02:48 expected to have any direct impacts for the Queensland coast within the next seven days,

02:53 but as we go into next weekend and early next week, this system will become a key area of focus.

03:00 There is still some uncertainty as to how the system will develop and where it will track,

03:04 but we'll be issuing regular forecast and warning updates. You can find all of those via the

03:09 Bureau's website and social media, as well as the detailed forecast for your area.

03:14 Have a good week and we'll see you next time.