@johobbit: Are those temperatures unusual for late Spring in your area of Australia, wagga? That is hot, ugh!

Sort of every now and then, but, unfortunately, not unusual. As the (Australian) poet did say about us:

"I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains.

Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains"

El Niño has landed, confirmed by BOM {(Australian) Bureau of Meteorology}. So, hot, dry conditions are predicted for Australia, & maybe Indonesia as well, to the north of us. This is due to world-wide ocean currents, & how they circumnavigate Earth. How deadly it is, rather depends not only on El Niño, itself, when it draws more rain onto Peru & Chile in South America, due to the Southern Oscillation Index, (SOI) centred in Fiji, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  But also, the Indian Ocean Dipole, whether positive or negative, & how it affects the coast of Western Australia has to be taken into account, when this Indian Ocean phenomenon, affects the East Coast of Africa as well. There is also the Darwin monsoon around Christmas, a yearly event, some years more pronounced than others. That is only a partial explanation, when though I know about the Gulf Stream which moderates UK's climate, I don't know the equivalent mechanisms in the Atlantic Ocean, & how they interact between North America & Europe. 

And it also depends on the duration, whether drought conditions persist or not, when for three years in a row, between early 2020 to the beginning of 2023, we were in La Niña conditions, with severe flooding in early 2022, in Lismore, just south of the Queensland border, right "down Mexico way" . 

@coracle: Two more of these warm, windy days in my city, before a few days of rain which I'll welcome. 

Better enjoy the rain whilst you get it. We are already contemplating water rationing, here. When I opened my computer, I saw on the news that the South Island has had a 6.2 earthquake to the west of Christchurch, in that long mountain range in the middle of that island. Are you OK? All the best.  

@waggawerewolf27 yes, all fine thanks. I was having a day at home with a sinus headache, so it was a mild distraction! 

The equinox has come and gone, but this weekend has brought rain -lots of rain, just what we need in this extreme drought. Some areas have had roads flooded or washed out. I don't remember the last time we had several days of rain - sometimes soft, sometimes hard. It's too late to save this summer's crops but hopefully this will help recharge ground and surface waters before winter sets in.  We were about 8 inches (200mm) short on precipitation just this summer, and this should help.

I've noticed trees changing colors, especially red on the maple trees and some yellow and gold on others. This neighborhood also has numerous dead or dying ash trees, due to the invasive emerald ash borer pest.

This week we are having sensible spring weather, after last week's very warm and windy days (Fohn wind). A bit of rain, some sun, and temperatures that reflect how recent winter was. With help in my garden, I have an increasingly nice view of spring growth. 

@stargazer: The equinox has come and gone, but this weekend has brought rain -lots of rain, just what we need in this extreme drought. Some areas have had roads flooded or washed out. I don't remember the last time we had several days of rain - sometimes soft, sometimes hard. It's too late to save this summer's crops but hopefully this will help recharge ground and surface waters before winter sets in.  We were about 8 inches (200mm) short on precipitation just this summer, and this should help.

You might find the weather changing somewhat, now that the ocean currents down our way have changed to El Niño. What you are saying sounds similar to how the weather was in early 2020, when, after an extended drought, we started to get flooding rains, due to what turned out to be a triple La Niña effect. But now it is swinging back to the opposite here.  Already, here, places like Lismore, on the far north coast, near the Queensland border, that were heavily affected by flooding in the last two years, are now in drought. Even the plants growing differently is a clue. 

I am sure glad your area finally has had good amounts of rain, stargazer. But really sorry to hear about flooding, as well as some crops that might have been lost. That's hard on the farmers.

Here, after a week of comfortable temperatures (along with some high single digits, Celsius, at night), and not expecting anything different going into October—in fact, anticipating beautiful cool Autumn temps—a shock is resonating across Ontario, as we are in for a heat wave ... at the beginning of October! No way. The forecasters say we will have a few days that break previous records for heat. Talk about disappointing! However, and thankfully, come a day or so prior to our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, everything cools down much nicer, so YAY! We will be away in the beautiful Laurentians (Québec) for a week over the long holiday weekend, and it will be even cooler there. The colours of the trees on the mountains should be gorgeous!

Now, I just have to stay brave until after Wednesday, when I can finally relax again with much fresher air moving in.

Enjoy your trip, Jo! It looks beautiful up there.

We are also enjoying (?) record heat this weekend, with heat and humidity more fitting for mid-July. It's like a sauna outside already (before noon local daylight time). Tomorrow's record is 87F/31C, which dates back 125 years. It's likely to be tied or broken, and since the Twin Cities Marathon is tomorrow, lots of attention is being paid to both the runners' and spectators' comfort.

We had spectacular thunderstorms with small hail overnight, including a brief power outage. We're making a serious dent in the drought; though it's too late for this year it will help recharge the water supply for the future.

Here we're having some very strong gusty winds, firstly the northwester and now the southwest, which is worse. I'm nervously planning to sleep in the front bedroom instead of the usual back one, as there's a wind corridor between the house and the back fence, about 8 feet across. I've relocated a few things that can't cope, and hope the garden won't look too bad in the morning. Of course, being night now I can't see, only hear the wind gusts and the odd thing bumping along or falling over.
The only damage so far is one scratch, from trying to help disengage my cat's claw from my net curtains, after she was trying to look out of the back window. (she's not allowed up there)

After our mini heat wave near the beginning of the month, we have settled down to much more comfy temperatures, with a good mixture of cloud, sun, rain. The colours were at their vibrant peak in the Laurentian mountains, which was our first treat; then we returned home to our upcoming peak of colour here, which should climax in about a week, I'm thinking.

How I love the scents of beautiful, picturesque Autumn, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the anticipation of more and more colour, the harvesting fields, the longer nights under the starry sky, the smell of bonfires (on farms); campfires in the folks' backyards, the crisp, clean air.

While we have not yet had a frost, we have been close, and Sunday night will be closer yet, at 1°C / 33.8F.  

Posted by: @jo

While we have not yet had a frost, we have been close, and Sunday night will be closer yet, at 1°C / 33.8F.  

^ Wrong! The temperature reached lower than 1C last night ... it dropped to -3C / 26.6F.   I walked in a really picturesque and invigorating frost this morning, quite extensive, although not the heaviest yet. The now-harvested fields and the still green grass were covered with white. Beautiful! The air was very still, so it was marvelous walking weather (for me ). Plus, with the utterly clear night sky (the first in awhile), it was a five-star walk! 

We have some lovely rain coming on the weekend, which will bring down more leaves. Most trees are at their peak now, yet our backyard maples are not even half-turned. We have 15 maple trees on our property, which vary in the Autumn from crimson to orange to yellow. Quite the sights! On a sunny day like today, the inside of our house seems to glow with the reflected ambiance.

Mid-week we will reach warmer temperatures (20C or so / 68F), with a lot of cloud. Then the rain moves in on Saturday, with more seasonal, lower temps. I was telling someone this morning that I feel so alive at this time of year (and in the Winter months) ... very different and most welcome from the heat and humidity of summer, although this past summer wasn't as nasty as it could have been, thankfully, with regular rain and not so blechy-hot as usual in July.

Your pre-dawn walks sound so wonderful, @jo.

After the record heat at the beginning of October, the month has settled down into a rather wet pattern, though we've also had a number of spectacular fall days that often include drives to look at the colors (peaking right now in the Twin Cities, a little later than usual) and ending in some pleasant stargazing or campfires.

More rain is moving in tonight, and by the weekend we may finally have our first frost - along with a chance of some of that white stuff. It's almost November by then, so it's not unexpected.

This autumn has generally been a pleasant one, and right now there are plenty of gorgeous colors to enjoy on the trees.

The weather report last night noted that, since the September equinox (about 6 weeks), we've received over 10 inches (255mm) of rain - truly welcome in this drought, and above average.

Our first frost - and hard freeze - is nearly a lock this weekend, and there is a chance of snow accumulating (the first snow of the season often melts on contact with the still-warm ground). The Dakotas and Montana have received quite a bit of snow, and that storm is headed this way.

This spring, Down Under, we have been having what the newspapers are calling the hottest October ever. That was based on several days in the month so far, which have been 30 degrees Celsius, or over. When none have got near the 40-degree mark, & when there have been just as many days that dipped down to 21 or even less degrees Celsius, every time we get a shower of rain. When I can remember worse Octobers, in 2013, for instance, I beg to differ. Unfortunately, there have been rather too many bushfires, when there is less rain to put them out. 

Meanwhile, this evening we're getting the season's first snowfall, with it accumulating on grassy surfaces (roads are warmer and take longer to accumulate snow).  It's night now but even this amount of snow makes the surroundings much brighter with the city lights reflecting off it.

So we'll have some snow for Halloween but nothing like the infamous Halloween Blizzard of 1991 (I remember it well!)

Posted by: @stargazer

... though we've also had a number of spectacular fall days that often include drives to look at the colors (peaking right now in the Twin Cities, a little later than usual) and ending in some pleasant stargazing or campfires.

... right now there are plenty of gorgeous colors to enjoy on the trees.

Favourite, favourite time of year!

And, oooh, you have had your first snow, stargazer! We are expecting flurries for the Trick or Treaters this evening, but they will be wet, not the nice dry snow of mid-winter. We had a heavier frost last night (compared with last week's), and everything was glistening under the gibbous Moon early this morning, beautiful, so beautiful.

Last week we did have those couple of warmer days, but now things have settled in nicely with mid-single digits Celsius during the day; a bit below freezing at night. And the scent of the air this time of year is one of my favourite smells: wet leaves, bonfires, moist earth, 'sweet bovine warmth' from the local farms, and harvesting.

For us, the next week holds mostly cloud, with some rain showers as temps climb to the higher single digits C in the daytime hours; just above freezing at nights.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

This spring, Down Under, we have been having what the newspapers are calling the hottest October ever.

Ugh, wagga. I hope rain increases, for the general good of nature, but especially for those bushfires!