Here comes summer - burn and freeze
Jonathan Dart
September 17, 2008 - 1:12PM
After the coldest winter in a decade, weather experts are warning Sydney to expect an erratic summer.
Veteran weatherman and director of Weatherwatch Don White said people should expect the mercury to soar and sink this year, with temperatures in the Pacific Ocean indicating that the region is in a flux between El Nino and La Nina events.
"We should be looking for the above average temperatures [throughout spring and summer] but that might include some quite hot spells and some quite cold spells," he said.
Sydney is expecting a warmer than usual spring, with temperatures again expecting to break 30 degrees by the weekend.
Bureau of Meteorology climate officer Mike de Salis said the mercury plunged most in August.
The average maximum temperature was 17.3 degrees, more than half a degree lower than the average and the coldest monthly average since 1989.
The average maximum temperature throughout the three winter months was the lowest since 1998.
"That was due to a blocking system. [It was] a low pressure operating in the Tasman Sea for half the month [of August], dragging a whole lot of cold southerly air over NSW," Mr de Salis said. "It kept the temperatures down, day time and night time."
But the bureau's three-month temperature outlook is predicting a warmer than usual spring, due to warmer sea temperatures in the Indian and Pacific oceans.
After temperatures cracked 30.6 degrees on Saturday, the bureau has forecast a high of 31 degrees this Saturday before another drop of about eight degrees on Sunday.
"Winter's behind us, that's for sure," Mr de Salis said
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/its-been-cold-now-its-going-to-get-more-odd/2008/09/17/1221330901292.html
