Tom Saunders

Australia is collectively sweating through an unusually muggy start to summer.

Another heatwave is predicted across Australia this week, as the weather bureau confirms the nation just sizzled through its hottest spring on record.

A cloudband extending 4,000 kilometres from the Top End to Tasmania will produce intense downpours during the last days of spring – threatening to bring areas of flash and river flooding to multiple states and territories, with other capital cities in the firing line.

A severe weather warning is in place across eastern NSW until Thursday, with temperatures expected to soar up to 12 degrees Celsius above average.

Parts of the state are on track to swelter through five consecutive days above 35C, with the NSW government receiving reports that the electricity grid could be under pressure.

The thundery finish to spring is not just random weather variability, but a likely indication of the probable weather patterns through December.

Thunderstorms and torrential rain have hit across Australia this week, with forecasts suggesting this weather could continue through this week and to the end of the year.

Much of Australia is baking through the hottest spring weather in years this week as temperatures surge as much as 13 degrees Celsius above average.

The race to the White House this year between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is a classic case where the atmosphere could be the decisive factor, with a band of heavy rain and thunderstorms forming from Texas to Canada, which is predicted to bring a swathe of severe weather during the next 48 hours over multiple states.

According to a handful of new research, the number of low-pressure systems around Australia is decreasing, bringing predictions of a future, dryer climate.

A spell of wild weather is on the cards for everywhere from Queensland to Tasmania, with thunderstorms forecast to sweep across Australia's east over the next 48 hours.

Australia is facing one of the hottest summers on record according to the Bureau of Meteorology's weather modelling which tips well above average temperatures across the country.

The first major outbreak of spring thunderstorms is firing up this week across parts of Queensland and New South Wales, bringing with them threats of the destructive supercell storm.

While September has been the driest month this year, Australia is on track for a fifth straight year of above-average rain, with forecasts predicting a wet end for 2024.

While parts of Australia's east coast are forecast for warm weather, a cold polar air mass is expected to bring rain and temperature declines of up to 20 degrees Celsius across the continent's south-east before the end of the week.

A near-nationwide soaking will drench every Australian state and territory this week, including potential record heavy falls in the north-west tropics.

Temperatures across south-east Australia have plummeted during the past 48 hours, leading to the coldest spring weather in decades.

There are growing signs Australia's most impactful climate driver, La Niña, will develop during the coming months.

Spring's infamous variability will be on full display this weekend, delivering a blast of cold Antarctic air and potentially the coldest September weather in decades.

The extreme weather variability observed across Australia in late August will become even more pronounced through the first days of spring.

Multiple wind warnings have been re-issued for south-east Australia as another powerful cold front approaches from the Southern Ocean. The powerful westerlies could life maximums as much as 12 above average on the east coast – warm enough to threaten winter records from Sydney to Brisbane.

Temperatures across the Kimberley have reached 41.6 degrees Celsius, establishing a new national record for winter temperatures.

Above-average temperatures of up to 17 degrees Celsius were recorded in Australia this week. But with a polar blast on the horizon, the warm weather could be gone as fast as it came.

Above-average temperatures are forecast all across Australia as we reach the tail end of winter. But is the cold weather truly behind us?

The word on the street seems unanimous — it feels like one of the coldest winters in living memory. But what does the data actually say?