Much of western NSW remained dry, while parts of north east and central NSW received higher rainfall totals. Minimum temperatures during the winter months were below average over much of southeastern Australia during winter while mean maximum temperatures were above or well above average over most of Australia. The New South Wales State Emergency Service received more than 1000 calls for help and the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services received more than 1500 calls for help. The annual 2020 sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly for the Australian region was the equal-fourth-highest on record; 0.59 °C above the 1961–1990 average based on data from the NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature dataset, ERSST v5. A coastal low during mid-December produced prolonged heavy rainfall, flooding, and significant coastal erosion in parts of northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland. Visibility was severely reduced with many locations reporting less than 200 m. A very hot air mass brought a period of very high temperatures across southern Australia during the last days of January. At the start of the week, a lingering surface trough along the north-east coast of Queensland produced areas of heavy rainfall between Cairns and Ingham, and moderate falls across the southern Cape York Peninsula and northern interior of Queensland. Waters were warmer than average in parts of the Maritime Continent, and in the north and east of the Indian Ocean during July and August, as the Indian Ocean approached, but did not sustain, a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) like state. Drought continued across most of NSW in January 2020. Many records were set in Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania; mostly on the 31st. In climatology a baseline, or long-term average, is required against which to compare changes in climate over time. The official climate outlook is neutral and indicates a near equal chance of receiving above or below median rainfall for the next … The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) was positive for much of May and June. Field and on-ground responses were mixed, and the need for consistent follow-up rainfall for drought recovery remains. In the southern Basin, the total water storage was 41.2% at the beginning of 2020. Second-warmest year on record for Western Australia. Tropical cyclone Esther made landfall close to the Northern Territory and Queensland border on 24 February. Storages in the northern Basin remained below 25% capacity at the end of December. Direct link to the Bureau Climate update 1. This further declined to 36.8% in March. This was in addition to the existing multi-year rainfall deficiencies in the region for the period commencing in early 2018. Heavy rain fell over coastal New South Wales and much of Gippsland, resulting in localised flooding in several areas, including Newcastle, the Lower Hunter, and the South Coast District. While water storages in the southern Murray–Darling Basin saw significant increases during 2020, storage levels in the northern Basin despite showing some increases, remained low at the end of the year. Below average rainfall over the southern half of Australia around the middle of the year is a reflection of this pattern. A number of cities, including Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney, were affected. There was widespread heavy rainfall across northern Australia from late January into the first eight days of February, including parts of inland southern Queensland, and over coastal New South Wales and southeast Queensland during the second week of the month. A cold front tracked across southern Australia, generating light falls on parts of the southern coast of Western Australia and South Australia. Rainfall in the past week has had little effect on existing rainfall deficiencies. Another low pressure system developed off the coast of southeast Queensland in late July, with the deepening low moving south along the New South Wales coast from the 26th to 28th. Rainfall accumulation for 2020 has been near or above average across NSW. Local flooding resulted in various parts of Greater Sydney, and there was coastal erosion on multiple beaches. Buoys offshore of southeast Queensland observed waves reaching up to 10 m in height, and an 11 m maximum wave height at the Brisbane Buoy, with waves reaching up to 5 m inshore. For Australia as a whole June rainfall was the third-lowest on record. Two years after aliens land on Earth, survivors from Sydney, Australia, fight in a desperate war as the number of casualties continue to grow. Hail that size is rare in April in central Queensland. For Australia as a whole it was the second-warmest September on record. There is only one other instance of a 40 °C day during August in the observational record; 40.0 °C at Kulumburu Mission on 27 August 1970. Extensive damage was reported to buildings and motor vehicles. Australia’s rainfall is among the most variable rainfall in the world. The drying trend is particularly strong for May–July across southwest Western Australia; this region has seen May–July rainfall decrease by around 20% since 1970. Rainfall accumulation for 2020 has been near or above average for most of NSW, however areas in the far west and south east of the state continue to experience dry conditions and have received well below average rainfall during 2020. Rainfall for the year was below to very much below average for some parts of Australia, including in southeastern Queensland, the west and southwest of Western Australia, and western Tasmania. West Roebuck, just east of Broome, reached 41.2 °C, a national record for August, on the 23rd, a day after Yampi Sound (75 km northeast of Derby) reached 40.7 °C on the 22nd. The cold front tracked over south-east Australia, and brought widespread showers extending into southern New South Wales, followed by a second weaker cold front later that day across western Tasmania and south-west Victoria. It was the coolest May since 2011, and the first month since October 2016 where Australia's national mean temperature was below average for the month. The warmest and second-warmest years on record are 2019 and 2016 (+0.64 °C and +0.63 °C respectively), and eight of the last ten years have been amongst the ten warmest on record. All tropical cyclones existing between 1 July and 30 June the following year count towards the season total. In November trade winds in the Pacific Ocean weakened, temporarily weakening the La Niña; the SAM also weakened; and the Madden‐Julian Oscillation was active over the Atlantic and Indian Oceans rather than near Australia—all three factors which reduced the push towards above average rainfall over Australia. A period of minimum 30 years is required to form a robust climatological average, accounting for decadal variability. Maximum temperatures for the year were also well above average across most of Australia, but close to average for much of the inland southeast away from the east coast. For the globe as a whole, the average annual sea surface temperature for 2020 was 0.60 °C above the 1961–1990 average, the third-warmest on record in the ERSST v5 dataset which commences in 1854. With most of Australia's major climate drivers neutral during late summer and autumn, it is likely that a north–south temperature gradient in the Indian Ocean, with surface waters in the tropics much warmer than average, contributed to the higher number of northwest cloudbands that affected Australia. The chart below shows an analysis of the historical rainfall records from 1889 2016 that reveals 9 sequences of wet and dry … A large number of fires had started across eastern Australia during spring, and in the absence of widespread rainfall, the fires continued to burn across a large area of southeast Queensland, eastern New South Wales, and northeastern Victoria and Gippsland. Across northern Damaging winds were observed through parts of the Illawarra, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands and Sydney Metropolitan areas in New South Wales. As the Pacific Ocean began to lean towards La Niña in late winter conditions again turned wetter, with above average rainfall over large areas during August, September, and October. However, rainfall for the northern wet season was lower than average in both 2018–19 and 2019–20. Regression fields for low annual Australian rainfall show a widespread negative rainfall anomaly extending into the east Indian Ocean or IND region and a positive anomaly in the western Pacific PAC region. Negative IOD events in winter and spring favour above average rainfall across much of eastern and southern Australia, and it is likely sea surface temperature patterns in the Indian Ocean contributed to above average rainfall over Australia between August and October. Peak wave heights in excess of 8 m were reported in the southwest, with significant beach erosion and coastal inundation at multiple locations including the Perth Metro area, Mandurah, Albany, Dunsborough, Port Geographe, Kalbarri, Geraldton, and Carnarvon. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation was neutral during the first half of 2020. Fifth-warmest year on record for the Northern Territory. In the east of the country, generally wetter conditions from January to April saw many water storages start to recover. Australia's warmest year on record was 2019 at 1.52 °C above average, well above the second warmest: 1.33 °C above average in 2013. Warmth was widespread and persistent throughout 2020—January, February, April, June, August, September, and November were all amongst the ten warmest on record for Australian mean temperature for their respective months. For eastern South Australia, western Victoria, and southwestern New South Wales annual mean temperatures were close to average. Severe hailstorms during 20 January brought hail 4 to 6 cm in diameter across the southern half of Belconnen and Canberra's inner southern suburbs. A tropical low tracked west across the Kimberley in Western Australia during the first week of February, before developing into tropical cyclone Damien on the 6th while northwest of Broome. Science underpinning the AGCD gridded analyses: Evans et al, 2020. There was wind damage from Redcliffe to Kingston with gusts over 100 km/h observed around Moreton Bay. It was the second-warmest year on record for Western Australia as a whole, the fifth-warmest for the Northern Territory and Queensland. Maximum and minimum temperatures close to average for most months of the year, but the mean temperature for spring was the warmest on record for the State. 2020 was Australia's fourth-warmest year on record, with the annual national mean temperature 1.15 °C above average. Subsequent quality control and the availability of additional data may result in minor changes to final values. For the northern tropics region every month during 2020 except December was amongst the five warmest on record, and each month from January to April was the second-warmest on record for their respective month. A significant heatwave affected eastern New South Wales early in the year. Widespread thunderstorms affected central and southeast Queensland during the last week of October, bringing heavy rainfall to some locations, flash flooding, and strong wind gusts. A large number of fires were active in southeast Queensland, eastern New South Wales, and northeastern Victoria and Gippsland at the start of the year. Some areas also experienced coastal erosion. From 2020 area-averaged rainfall values and mapped analyses use the new AGCD dataset. Fires in eastern Australia, which significantly increased in activity over the New Year period, produced widespread thick smoke with poor air quality affecting large areas for a number of days, particularly during the first half of the month. In Sydney the runoff from this event was enough to almost double the amount of accessible water in Sydney's urban supply system storages. The Pacific Ocean began cooling over autumn, with early indicators of a developing La Niña emerging from around June. It was amongst the five warmest years on record for Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. January rainfall was above average for much of Western Australia away from the northeast and west coast, owing to tropical systems, including tropical cyclones Blake and Claudia. Nights were especially warm in Sydney, Darwin, Hobart, Canberra, and Brisbane. 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