After causing devastation in Florida last week, Hurricane Nicole travelled along the east coast of the US and across the Atlantic towards western Europe as an extratropical cyclone. The remnants of Nicole brought heavy rain and strong winds to Ireland, the UK and parts of northern France during Monday night and Tuesday.
Unsettled conditions are set to continue throughout the next few days across western Europe as several areas of low pressure move in from the Atlantic. These lows are expected to affect areas as far east as Norway and as far south as the Bay of Biscay, and will bring the potential of some localised flooding for the worst affected areas.
Parts of Australia are also experiencing turbulent weather. Over the course of this past weekend (12-13 November), an active area of low pressure developed across South Australia and the Great Australian Bight. This system tracked south-eastwards along the coast, and was accompanied by a potent cold front that was responsible for the stormy conditions that developed across southern Australia. This event brought damaging winds, heavy rain, and flooding to parts of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia – where 56mm of rain fell in Port Lincoln, and winds gusted to 106km/h at Adelaide airport.
Although these wet and windy conditions have eased, as late spring approaches, a change in the synoptic setup will bring an unseasonable cold spell to southern and south-eastern Australia throughout the rest of this week. As the aforementioned low-pressure has travelled further east since the weekend, an area of high pressure started to take its place. This configuration has shifted the wind direction to a southerly flow, bringing in some cool Antarctic air, and has already started to allow temperatures to drop well below the seasonal norm across southern parts of the country.
The coolest temperatures will be on Wednesday, with Melbourne and Adelaide experiencing maximum daytime temperatures over 9C below the seasonal norm, while temperatures in the Grampians may fall below zero overnight. Although temperatures are set to slowly rise during the latter part of the week, they will remain considerably below the seasonal average.
