Climate in-brief
/After a period of inactivity, the MJO has leapfrogged the eastern Australian longitudes and reappeared NE of Australia in the Western Pacific ocean, and in doing to taking much-needed moisture with it
Very little on the horizon in the way of general rain forecast for most areas after the first week in February, other than random storm events
The Southern Annular Mode has made a resurgence into positive (wet) phase again, which will aid in moisture circulation for storms through eastern areas of NSW and Qld in the coming fortnight
The MJO phase will be critical in the coming fortnight as it passes through Phases 7-8, away from the Australian region, and will require close monitoring to track heat waves and the next general rain event
The chart above shows lower air pressure pretty much a mirror image of the 7-day rainfall chart below, with qld areas remaining dry over the last week.
Australian daily and weekly rainfall observations
Some excellent falls in the southern half of NSW overnight, and kununurra continues its stellar January run of totals. Click on the link for an updated map. http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/flood/?ref=ftr
Weekly rain shows some fantastic falls across the tropics and parts of CQ desperately in need of rain. NSW has been on the skinnier end of falls in the last week.
Australian 7-day rainfall map courtesy http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/maps/rainfall/?variable=rainfall&map=totals&period=week®ion=nat&year=2020&month=12&day=17