Well, the 10th December did manage to reach 41C, falling short of the 43C we were told to expect. But so far summer temperatures have been milder for some reason. Or maybe I'm just too feverish from all this bushfire haze to notice what is hot & what isn't? I've had this weird idea that somehow the bushfire smoke which still lingers, flaring up every other day, & getting closer & closer to Sydney, itself, is actually deflecting some of the heat.

That is all about to stop. A heatwave from Perth is about to reach us this week, threatening temperatures as high as 50C, not felt since the hottest Australian temperature of 50.7C (123.3F) at Oodnadatta, South Australia, 2nd January 1960. Do enjoy your nice cold Northern Hemisphere temperatures, Courtenay & Stargazer.

By the way, that low of -23C is still much colder than the coldest Australian minimum of -8C in July 1976 at Yongala, wherever that is.

We are sitting right on the edge of a massive winter storm that runs all the way from the Rocky Mountains up through the very east coast of Canada. But as is often the case, the chance of snow accumulation has steadily dropped this week, and now they're predicting freezing rain/ice instead. It's supposed to start about 2am here. We'll see if we have anything in the morning.

We keep having predictions of some un-summery storms, but the one expected this afternoon seems to have passed over. In preparation for it, I had picked most of my blackcurrants, and sat in front of a movie picking them over ready for use. Ah well, nice and dry. They can go into the freezer until I want to use them.
It remained warm and dry enough for me to need to water the back garden (veges, fruit and roses at various stages).

We ended up with about 2-3" of snow on Monday and pretty much every kid of this area had the day off of school to play in the snow. My Facebook was overwhelmed with pictures of snowy kiddos. Hahaha!

But now it's warming up again and I suspect by the end of the day today the snow will be gone.

They're calling for almost 60F for Christmas Day. No white Christmas this year!

I think we were on the cold side of that storm, meaning we didn't get much precipitation but got some temperatures that reminded us of where we live. Lows here were around that -23C but it was more like -30F/-34C up north.

We're also getting something of a warmup but not nearly so extreme - maybe around 40F/4C. We have enough snow to ensure a white Christmas, though that might be warm enough to help take care of the crusty ice that's accumulated on streets and driveways.

There will be no snow for us on Christmas, so the predictions say so far.

Yes, mm1991, I saw the reports on how warm it was in your part of the country.

Here in Minnesota, it was also far above average, with a cloudy and foggy period around Christmas as our snow melted. There was enough for a white Christmas, but not by much.

Now a large storm is headed our way, but we will be on the warm side of things. That means up to two inches (50mm) of rain is possible, almost unheard of at this time of year. The Dakotas and northwest Minnesota will win the snow jackpot, with amounts that could reach 20 inches (500mm) or more.

It can be quite cold here this time of year, but even as 2020 begins temps are expected to be warm (just below freezing).

I had to laugh because that large storm Gazer mentioned wasn't supposed to hit us. We were to have rain (which we did, a glorious 1.5"), but no snow. All of a sudden Sunday afternoon the snow arrived! Not much stuck on the ground due to the fact the previous day had been quite warm, but a lot fell.

In New Zealand we're having very odd clouds at the moment, full of smoke from Australia's awful bush fires.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118546900/blood-red-sun-greets-nz-on-new-years-day-as-australian-bushfire-smoke-stains-skies

Thank you, Coracle. That satellite picture clearly shows how the smoke is now being driven in a north-easterly arc, across the Tasman, towards New Zealand. As of New Year's eve, the link below shows how the bushfires have been impacting Sydney, itself, & its surrounds. The bushfire pictures in today's paper, are too heartbreaking to transmit. We are told to hope for rain next Monday for a couple of days. If we are truly lucky, that is.

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/sto ... h-and-act/

Well, it appears that Robin Hood's less well-known friend, Alan-a-Gale, is visiting us tonight. Maybe it's only half a gale, officially, but it sure is blowing hard. Aaaaand the temps are plummeting beautifully.

I guess it was too much to hope that we could keep our 5C temperatures and just ease into spring, so...here we go.

Never mind, aileth! I'm glad to see that it can still get cold in colder climates in winter when it is supposed to be cold.

It is raining at the moment. Thunder, lightning, the lot. Great! It won't stop the drought, maybe, but hopefully it will end the bushfires completely.

It is raining at the moment. Thunder, lightning, the lot. Great! It won't stop the drought, maybe, but hopefully it will end the bushfires completely.

"Send 'er down, Huey!" as my grandma would say!

The rain only lasted the morning but it seems there was a good bit of rain throughout the mid north of the state, including the Gosper's Mountain area, at the back of Kurrajong, Broke & the Putty Road. That is the way to the Wollemi National Park. It was good to see that the firefighters managed to get to those rare Wollemi Pines & fireproof them before the flames got to them.

I've been hearing of a cyclone in UK? Sounds quite chilly. They are all talking about Climate change down here, now.

Yes, I heard about the Wollemi Pines being saved — wonderful! There are lots of them grown in gardens and plant collections around the world now, of course (I've seen some here in the UK!), but the ones in the Wollemi NP are still the only known specimens in the wild. So glad there's been some rain where it's needed — hope you get more soon.

Not sure if it was a cyclone, but we've certainly had gale force winds for the last couple of days. It actually hasn't been very cold, just windy and wet. But in the next few days the temperatures are supposed to drop to zero for I think the first time so far this winter.