ZCZC
BFF-24
AUSTRALIA-WEATHER-ENVIRONMENT
Australia’s spring brings fires, snow, wild winds and dust storms
SYDNEY, Nov 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Dust storms, raging bushfires, gale-force
winds, heatwaves, thunder and snow, flash flooding and driving rain —
Australia is enduring a bout of wild weather that’s hit all parts of the vast
continent in recent days.
Varied weather is not uncommon during spring in the southern hemisphere
nation as summer beckons.
But rare and dramatic scenes of red dust storms shrouding towns and
thundersnow — lightning strikes in thunderstorms that produce snow — in the
alpine regions have left some scratching their heads.
The culprit is a slow-moving low pressure system that is deeper and
stronger than usual, Bureau of Meteorology expert Dean Narramore told AFP.
“Ahead of the low, it’s warm, it’s hot, it’s windy, and then behind the
low, it’s cold, it’s wet, it’s windy,” the meteorologist said.
“And then the longer the air spends over the land, it dries out and goes
back into the low — there’s a lot happening.”
The wild weather has seen flights delayed by strong winds in the country’s
busiest airport in Sydney on the southeastern coast, and a major storm
leaving tens of thousands of homes in South Australia state without power.
Meanwhile, in the northeast, Queenslanders are sweltering through a days-
long heatwave, with the popular tourist town of Cairns set to reach
temperatures of up to 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
In the high country of New South Wales and Victoria states, a cold snap is
bringing freezing temperatures and snowfall just a week before the summer
season officially starts in December.
“It’s a particularly strong system. We do get a couple of these a year,
but normally in winter or early autumn. It’s a little bit more unusual, but
it does happen from time to time in Australia,” Narramore said.
Narramore said he did not see long-term weather trends such as climate
change behind the current phenomena.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1232 hrs