The weather pattern settles for the long weekend after many areas saw beneficial rainfall courtesy of a low pressure system that swept from west to east over the past seven days.
The rainfall tending above average for pockets of NSW and Victoria as well as some of the ag zones of South Australia. But not everyone was that lucky and so the hunt for more rainfall is needed before we start to feel the influence of El Niño later this year.
Next week, moisture is expected to build up over the eastern inland of the nation as winds tend easterly and a weak upper trough approaches from WA via inland SA.
This may see a number of days with scattered showers and storms, and note the word scattered. It will be a case of uneven distribution of rainfall so best of luck over central, southern inland Queensland and most of inland NSW from Tuesday to Thursday.
Meanwhile out west, a strong cold front is due to arrive from Monday bringing a welcome burst of rainfall to western and southern WA.
This is typically the wettest time of year for the region and so fronts like these are not out of the ordinary, would like to see the frequency step up a bit to ensure we have adequate soil moisture running through the remainder of the year.
Next week the frontal weather is due Tuesday and again on Thursday. Also the risk of moisture being drawn in via the jet stream from Indonesia.
This could improve rainfall chances for eastern WA and SA, through western Victoria this time next week, as a front collects that moisture and some modelling is toying with idea of a rain event over SA and Victoria next weekend. That will be monitored closely throughout the long weekend.
In the meantime, a settled long weekend is expected, frosts to return to the southeast inland this weekend, before we see a large scale warm up across the country next week as the flow tends northwesterly.
I will see you next week with more.
Karl Lijnders is the founder of Weather Matters, which provides short, medium and longer-range weather forecasts, updated daily, with a focus on Australian ag and what the weather and climate means to you.
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