Posted by: @stargazer

But after a day or two more of cooler weather, it gets hot again, with Easter possibly reaching 80F/27C.

We had to turn on our AC yesterday. It DID get that hot here and we were inside baking up a storm!

We "only" got to 77F/25C for Easter, but with the baking and cooking the house did get rather warm.

A record high is expected today (the old record is 80F). It will be followed by thunderstorms.

(Last Easter, which came later in the spring, had about 8 inches of snow).

Tomorrow is the first day this spring we're expecting  some severe storms. No tornadoes, but hail and high winds and lots of rain. Nothing like a proper spring thunderstorm, and we need the rain! 

Enjoy those storms, fantasia!  

Yes, stargazer, I seem to recall 2020's Easter was quite cool. I forget if we had snow or not.

Today is the first day we have our first real warm-up: 20C / 68F. Tomorrow is similar, then dropping slightly to mid-teens Celsius with a fair bit of rain on Friday through the weekend. Nighttimes will be very comfy in the single digits Celsius / mid-40s F. Crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils are all coming up, with crocuses in bright bloom already.

We set a record high yesterday (Monday) of 84F/29C; by evening we had some spectacular thunderstorm activity to watch.

The next few days are expected to be rainy, which will bring much-needed moisture. The lawns are suddenly quite green and the trees won't be far behind. (The big maple tree in the yard dropped thousands of those brown flowers in the storm last night, so the seeds ("helicopters") and the allergies can't be far behind.

It's 63F outside, so my kids decided today was a great day to bust out swimsuits and have a water balloon fight in the backyard.  

Posted by: @fantasia

It's 63F outside, so my kids decided today was a great day to bust out swimsuits and have a water balloon fight in the backyard.  

63F? Still under 20C,  and your family want to gad about in swimsuits? Yikes!  And it is technically warmer here, more like 64F or 65F. A very nippy wind as if snow is on the Alps down Canberra way, and it feels like Winter approaches! 

@ johobbit: Are you still having showers, wagga? Do the leaves there turn quite colourful in the Autumn?

No, we still have been having showers, especially overnight, & there are two cyclones off Western Australia which could affect us but not right now. One has somehow damaged Indonesia's East Flores island, already.

Native Australian trees don't change colour in the Autumn. Eucalypts, in particular, shed bark, instead, creating much undergrowth which needs to be cleared away, or dug in, every so often, before the summer temperatures allow the ground to dry out & make it more likely that the trees will ignite. You might say for our trees that their bark is worse than their bite. The Aboriginal tribes made good use of tree bark to make canoes & other artifacts which they could use as containers, dishes etc. 

Northern Hemisphere trees which are imported here, do change colour in autumn, if they can adapt to a different place, maybe not till about May or June. We have been having only very brief winters, usually over by mid August, in past years, though last year the weather was cooler overall than in previous years, if I remember. I'd love to grow Lavender or Rosemary plants for Anzac Day, but though I don't want to water them too much after the recent rain, they are all look a bit seedy now, though there is still plenty of sunshine.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

We have been having only very brief winters, usually over by mid August, in past years, though last year the weather was cooler overall than in previous years, if I remember.

You could always move to Melbourne... we still have "real" winters, definitely. Last time I was there in winter was August 2019, coming from a genuinely hot British summer (no, really... it got over 30°C, which IS hot when you're no longer used to it) — it was my first Melbourne winter in 8 years and I soon realised I'd forgotten just how cold and wet and grey and miserable it gets.  

Meanwhile, here in the south-eastern UK, the weather is definitely improving — the days are lighter for longer (it helps that we've put the clocks forward) and there's been much less rain. Still cold at times, but quite often sunny, including today. I have the day off and now that we're out of lockdown, I'm planning a trip to Sheffield Park, a National Trust garden some distance away from here, one that I haven't been able to visit since last autumn. Entry is now by timed tickets only and I couldn't get one till 2.30, but that gives me two hours before the garden closes, and it's a lovely big open space to wander around in. The restaurant is still closed, but there's a little tea shed that will be serving takeaways, so that's my thing to look forward to today.  

Posted by: @courtenay

You could always move to Melbourne... we still have "real" winters, definitely. Last time I was there in winter was August 2019, coming from a genuinely hot British summer (no, really... it got over 30°C, which IS hot when you're no longer used to it) — it was my first Melbourne winter in 8 years and I soon realised I'd forgotten just how cold and wet and grey and miserable it gets.  

Of course you get "real" winters in Melbourne. Roaring forties screaming across the Indian Ocean & along the Southern Ocean, south of Cape Leeuwin, plus lovely, icy, gales sent up to Southern Australia, courtesy of Antarctic blasts. It took us 6 hours' flying from Sydney to reach Antarctica, sea ice and all, to have a gander at the Midnight Sun, circling on the horizon, on New Years' Eve, 2006, flew along Terra Nova as far as the Italian base there, then back to Sydney by 6.00 am in the morning. At least Melbourne just might be more sheltered than Hobart, or even Adelaide, I think. A relative of mine who moved down from Mackay in Queensland to Launceston, in Tasmania, said she froze there, & fell ill with pneumonia.

When the air temperature, admittedly indoors, was approximately the same in Penrith, in Oz as it was in Kansas, with children skylarking in spring, in my last post, roughly about where Fantasia lives, I think, I could not help marvelling in my last post, at the difference a hemisphere makes in perception. Whilst I was looking out for electric blankets & heavy flannel winter sheets, across the world, others, like fantasia's family, were thinking swimming costumes & summer leisure.

I've been to UK three times, the first during the 3 week TAFE break in 1997 (late June to mid July), during a rather mild winter in 1997. I left my jacket behind when my husband said I wouldn't need it in UK's midsummer. I've never seen such a miserable apology for summer, especially as the only decently warm day was about 3 days before I finally left to get back to Oz & to work.  

The past week has been cloudy and rainy, with seasonal temperatures (highs around 55F/12C). I wonder if a Melbourne winter might be similar (the wiki article indicates it might be, in terms of general trends at least). Temps at night can still fall below freezing, and our latest snowfall has come at the end of May.

I'd say 63F is just about my ideal temperature. Not too hot, not too cold, and it's all the more pleasant if the sun is shining (or the stars at night). Contrary to other 'seniors' I know, my tolerance for heat has declined as I've aged. 75F/24C is uncomfortable, and sleeping very well in that temperature is out of the question.

Posted by: @stargazer

The past week has been cloudy and rainy, with seasonal temperatures (highs around 55F/12C). I wonder if a Melbourne winter might be similar (the wiki article indicates it might be, in terms of general trends at least).

Yes, that sounds like a "cold" winter day for us! We don't get snow in Melbourne, though. I'd never seen it in my life until I moved to the UK.

Sorry; that was ambiguous on my part. I should have put a paragraph break before the comments about freezing temps and snow (which we are expecting, in small amounts, tonight).

What was it like seeing snow for the first time? I can't imagine it, having lived all my life in a place that can get snow over half the year.

Posted by: @stargazer

What was it like seeing snow for the first time? I can't imagine it, having lived all my life in a place that can get snow over half the year.

Something like this!!  

@ Stargazer: Temps at night can still fall below freezing, and our latest snowfall has come at the end of May.

Last night temps here were quite low. Across NSW they were as low as 0C  in places like Dubbo or Canberra, whilst it was -2C down in the NSW snowfields, around Perisher, Jindabyne & Tumut. It is only April 13 so far. Yes, I thought it felt like it was snowing somewhere around there, giving us a refrigerated blast of air up North. In Victoria, at the bottom end of the Australian Alps, in the Snowy Mountains, before it swings around to the west, it does snow, around Mt Hotham, & Falls Creek, where Victoria has its ski resorts.

We can go huge stretches without any snow here. It was nearly two centuries ago when it last snowed in Sydney, itself, just 52 kms away. But up at Blackheath, Mt Victoria & Katoomba, 52 km in the opposite direction, yes we do get maybe one or two snowfalls per year. At Christmas, 2006, in Victoria & Tasmania, it snowed, which for us is the middle of summer.

Meanwhile, according to the news, today, Qantas has been taking people to see the Aurora Australis, flying from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Perth. I expect it would be visible from Hobart. Stargazer, you might enjoy seeing the Aurora Australis. 

at the dogs' first snow, Courtenay. What fun! But you know, I am like that pretty much every time snow falls here.   (I have no idea what this is in bold! )

Posted by: @stargazer

Contrary to other 'seniors' I know, my tolerance for heat has declined as I've aged. 75F/24C is uncomfortable, and sleeping very well in that temperature is out of the question.

Ditto!!!  

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Meanwhile, according to the news, today, Qantas has been taking people to see the Aurora Australis,

This sounds quite amazing, wagga!

We are having lovely spring weather here these days: a good mixture of fresh rain and sunshine is causing everything to burst forth, whether it's in various shades of green or in flowery colours (from spring bulbs). The many tree leaves are only beginning to show their tiny leaves, but will be in full leaf soon enough if this weather continues. Our temps are anywhere from higher single digits to mid-teens (Celsius), with nights often being very near freezing. It's great to see the acres of fields all being turned over as the farmers prepare for planting.