Peter Hannam

And those sea-surface temperatures in the Coral Sea were at record high in February alone:

One other chart for summer… Coral Sea surface temperatures hit a record high for the summer just past…
(Via BoM)

Actually this is the maximums chart:

For mean temperatures, here’s how last summer stacked up… again where it was wet, temperatures were on the cool side…but on the whole, it was a warm especially in the south:

And here’s how the minimum temperatures compared with previous years…mostly well-above average:

And here’s how that summer rain stacked up… with the north particularly wet:

And as for summer, all the rain over central and northern regions helped moderate maximum temperatures:

And so were Australia’s February mean temperatures, particularly in parts of the east:

The February minimum temperatures were well-above average;

And here is the February rainfall chart…and how the month ranked:

So let’s take a look at Australian weather in February and across the summer…with some BoM charts.
Here’s how February stacked up for maximum temperatures…with the blue region coinciding with the unusually heavy rains)…

And Australia posted a relatively dry summer for parts of the south and east (pretty wet for many inland regions)…

Via BoM

A very wet February for much of inland Australia…

Breaking: Washington Post gutting its climate team Clean energy dies in darkness. Courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

The Washington Post was consistently doing some of the best climate reporting out there in recent years. This is a huge loss (h/t @sammyroth.bsky.social) open.substack.com/pub/climatec...

Just to close the loop here. A cozy club of just the very worst people.

With rainfall over the Murray Darling Basin also well below the January average: (all charts via BoM)

Rainfall for January was well below the January average, especially in the southeast of the country:

And the minimums for January

And mean temperatures for January:

Here’s how maximum temperatures for January stacked up:

January was another above-average month in Australia…not a big surprise but the size of the area with average maximums for the month of 39C or higher is notable:

South Australia’s Port Augusta hits 50C… and how it stacks up historically (via BoM)

(Tables need updating)

NSW just hit its third-hottest day….behind two readings in 1939.
Via BoM

Ok…now equal-7th hottest day for NSW (so far)

Another scorching day in southeastern Australia… with NSW setting its equal-8th hottest day as 48.6C reached (so far). Via BoM

Sydney in mid-summer…

42.7C a few minutes ago for Melbourne so might be a late peak

Melbourne temp may have peaked at just below 42C… hope that is the case…

49.1C in NSW at Fowler’s Gap is that state’s all-time third-hottest day.