Summer Outlook

The Weather Bureau’s summer outlook predicts a hotter than normal summer for eastern Australia, including the border.

The Bureau remains on El Nino alert, meaning hotter conditions for eastern Australia.

The Bureau’s manager of long range forecasting, Dr Andrew Watkins, says the outlook shows that most of the country has an 80% chance of exceeding normal temperatures over the next 3 months.

In terms of rainfall, the outlook shows it will be drier than normal in W.A., Queensland and the Northern Territory, but there’s no strong indication of the east coast being either wetter or drier than normal.

However, Dr Watkins says localized heavy rainfall episodes are still possible, no matter what the outlook is showing.

The Bureau’s spring summaries will be released on Monday, but preliminary figures show it’s likely to be one of the ten warmest springs on record for the country as a whole.