Veteran-led group helps flooded communities in NSW
The clean up is just beginning after record breaking floods hit northern NSW, with hundreds of homes declared unlivable along a large stretch of coastline.
Locals have praised the State Emergency Service and other forces like the police, who send out warnings, rescue people and animals and guarantee safety.
But locals in areas like Taree, which was one of the hardest hit, have expressed dismay over a lack of support for the massive clean up effort, which will continue for the days, weeks and even years ahead.
A not for profit organisation called Disaster Relief Australia made up of veterans and other volunteers is already helping people with this effort, but its funding beyond the middle of next year is not guaranteed.
ABC NewsRadio's Sarah Morice spoke with Chief executive of Disaster Relief Australia David Smith.
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ABC News
27 minutes ago
- ABC News
A peak in the solar cycle means we're getting spectacular aurora australis sightings — for now
We've been treated to some stunning aurora australis light displays over the past few days, but don't expect the glow to last forever. The Sun's 11-year cycle means we're currently in the midst of an explosion of aurora activity. But that'll simmer down soon. It's a phenomenon when the sky in the Southern Hemisphere is lit up by glowing whirls of colour. You'll also hear it referred to as the southern lights. "Australis" comes from the Latin word for "southern". In the Northern Hemisphere, it's called the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. Geomagnetic storms. It's triggered by something called coronal mass ejections. "A coronal mass ejection is the literal ejection of material from the Sun out into space," Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre (ASWFC) forecaster Andrew Jackling says. This sends charged particles from the Sun towards Earth, causing geomagnetic storms that can disrupt Earth's magnetic field. "Kind of like in a normal thunderstorm, your shutters on your house would get a bit rattled by the wind and the rain," he said. In a geomagnetic storm, the disruption can cause atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to emit bright, colourful light. "There was a large solar storm on the 31st of May," Australian National University astrophysicist Brad Tucker says. "The storm was large enough to trigger a G4 storm on Earth. "The scale is 1-5, like cyclones, with G5 the largest." Here are some of the latest photos, posted to the ABC's Weather Obsessed Facebook group: While auroras are usually limited to the southernmost parts of the country, there were sightings as far north as Tamworth in New South Wales. And a big part of this is because of where we are in the solar cycle, which goes for roughly 11 years. "The current solar cycle began in 2019, since which time solar activity has generally increased as the Sun progresses toward solar maximum, which officially began in October 2024," Mr Jackling says. And that means spectacular auroras. "During solar maxima, which we are at, the Sun produces more storms, and more extreme storms," Dr Tucker says. "The activity is stronger so it is producing more of these." But it's not just the individual storm from the past few days. We've had some fairly spectacular aurora displays over the past year — check out the ABC's collection of photos from January, October, September and last July. However, the most notable aurora displays happened in May 2024, when a G5 storm hit Earth. It was the biggest geomagnetic storm we'd seen in 20 years, NASA says. While it didn't cause any catastrophic damages, the event was so big it was given a name — Gannon storm — and was the subject of a big NASA study. The solar maximum may continue for another year or two, Mr Jackling says. "By 2027, solar activity is likely to have reduced from present levels, making geomagnetic storms and subsequent auroral displays less likely to occur," he says. However, it's hard to tell exactly how long the aurora boom will last. "Every 11-year period of maximum activity varies in strength," Dr Tucker says. "Just like summers vary in how hot they are, or how wet/cold winters are, same, with the Sun, so some periods are better and others are less. "This has been a good period." No, they could still happen. "Significant space weather can occur at other times in the cycle too," Mr Jackling says. However, aurora australis activity during this time might not be visible as far north as we've been enjoying lately. So aurora chasers may have to travel much further south. "There is still an often low level of activity in the quiet years that you can get, but you need to be very near the south or north pole, which is why people make trips to the Arctic circle to see them," Dr Tucker says. Also, it's important to remember that the solar cycle means we'll come back around to another solar maximum — we'll just have to wait about a decade. Yep. "The northern and southern lights are affected equally so they will reduce as well," Dr Tucker says. However, people in the Northern Hemisphere have a better chance of seeing an aurora. "It is generally easier to see the northern lights than the southern lights due to the geographic distribution of land in the northern hemisphere, where there are more populated areas closer to the northern polar region," Mr Jackling says. "This is true at all times of the solar cycle." The ASWFC, which is part of the Bureau of Meteorology, sends out geomagnetic storm alerts via email. If you sign up to the ASWFC alerts via this online portal, you'll get an email when there's an alert.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Five factors that favour drought relief during this winter's weather
There are multiple signs a boost in rainfall this winter and spring will alleviate the record drought currently crippling southern Australia. This optimistic outlook is due to the oceans and atmosphere around Australia transitioning into a state more conducive to precipitation. There are five factors that point towards a significantly wetter winter and spring compared to last year across drought-affected regions — and only one influence that would favour the drought continuing at its current severity. An extended spell of cold and showery weather will impact south-east states from Friday to Tuesday thanks to two cold fronts and low, the exact weather pattern that has been notably scarce over the past 18 months. A typical winter front only brings a day or two of showers; however, a feature of the upcoming system is its longevity, which will allow rain totals to accumulate above 20 millimetres across most of southern and mountain Victoria, agricultural regions of South Australia and the NSW southern slopes. For coastal regions of SA and Victoria, along with many parts of Tasmania, the winter storms should generate more than 50mm. This upcoming soaking follows an initial first round of drought relief in late May when the best rain in months arrived across southern SA, south-west Victoria, and the NSW Riverina. Remaining inland areas missed out on last week's rain, and while the next system will bring light falls, less than 10mm is likely across the northern Wimmera, Mallee, Murraylands, Riverlands and the western Riverina. Along with farmers, a second group that will welcome the storm is ski resorts, which could gain 50 centimetres of fresh snow through the opening long weekend. The general model consensus is that follow-up rain should arrive mid- to late next week as another cold front sweeps east across southern Australia. The front is currently predicted to reach WA next Tuesday and then spread to south-east states by about Thursday, although being more than a week ahead, its strength and precipitation are uncertain. By 10 days out, standard daily forecasts become unreliable — however, despite the limitations, medium-range forecasts do offer a guide to whether a certain week is likely to be wetter or drier than normal. Current forecasts for the middle weeks of June show no strong swing favouring wetter or drier than normal conditions near our southern coastline — which at this time of year implies at a minimum some further rain is likely. The exceptionally dry autumn in southern states this year was partly due to an almost total failure of Northwest Cloudbands (NWCBs). Australia averages 36 NWCB days per year, and they are responsible for the vast majority of cool-season rainfall in many inland regions. The first NWCB in 2025 did not arrive until late May, and while it delivered record falls to parts of the NT and Kimberley, unfortunately its path was well north of SA and Victoria. The absence of NWCBs can be partly traced back to the waters off the WA coast — essentially, they are too warm to provide the required temperature variation between the tropics and mid-latitudes. And while the marine heatwave off the west coast is showing little sign of waning, waters have recently also warmed south of Indonesia, which is increasing the thermal gradient off Australia's north-west coast — a pattern more encouraging for the development of NWCBs. Another reason NWCBs may become more frequent through the remainder of the year is the possibility of a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). A negative IOD is the Indian Ocean's version of La Niña and has a similar influence on rainfall by shifting cloud formation towards Australia. The last three negative IOD years, 2016, 2021 and 2022, all produced very wet winters and springs across many parts of the country — and the majority of global models are forecasting a negative IOD will develop during the coming months. While seasonal outlooks can be notoriously unreliable in early winter, there are already signs the transition to a negative IOD may have commenced. The key monitoring zones for the phase of the IOD are shown below in the black boxes, and during the past week sea temperatures have fallen off the Horn of Africa and warmed off the coast of Java. If this trend were to continue for another few weeks, negative IOD thresholds may be reached this winter. The final reason for optimism is seasonal forecasts for the upcoming months range from either near normal to above average rain for southern Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology's modelling in particular shows a strong swing favouring above-median rainfall during the next few months across the inland region — displaying up to an 80 per cent probability for northern parts of SA. Even if rainfall is above average for several months, the significant deficits of 100 to 500mm that have accumulated in southern Australia through the past 18 months are unlikely to be removed until multiple seasons of above-average rain are recorded. It's also worth considering the potential that rainfall remains well below average, an outcome plausible if a negative IOD and NWCBs do not materialise. Another factor that reduces the prospects of rainfall this year is climate change — there has been a declining number of fronts observed over our latitudes in recent decades due to an expansion of tropical circulations into the mid-latitudes. Although the long-term trend indicates droughts in southern Australia will therefore become more frequent and severe, in the shorter term, the balance of probabilities still suggests drought relief is ahead.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Winter grain production to dip as dry conditions lead farmers to plant smaller area
Australia's winter crop production is expected to be 8 per cent lower this year, with drought and dry conditions affecting grain growers in South Australia, Victoria and southern New South Wales. The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resources Economics and Sciences' (ABARES) June crop report estimates national winter grain production at 55.6 million tonnes. If realised, grain production would still be 13 per cent above the annual average production for the last 10 years. Dry conditions and a lack of summer rainfall across SA, western Victoria, southern New South Wales and Western Australia's northern wheatbelt meant farmers planted a smaller area than last year. "Much of the 2025–26 winter crop has been dry sown and will require adequate and timely rainfall during June to allow for crop germination and establishment. Dry autumn conditions are expected to have discouraged some growers from committing to their full planting intentions," the report said. The latest Bureau of Meterology (BOM) forecast said there was a 60 — 80 per cent chance that winter rainfall in drought-affected states could be above average. In South Australia's mid north, dry conditions and uncertainty over winter rains led grain grower Jono Mudge to reduce the area he sowed this year. "It's as bad as it gets, and it is as bad as it has has ever gotten," he said. Having received just 10mm of rain over the last five months, he isn't putting much faith in the BOM's winter forecast. "Our average annual rainfall is 325mm, if we can get 150mm from here until October I'll be stoked, but I can't see that happening the way it is at the moment." ABARES says if winter rainfall totals are above average, South Australian grain production would increase by 42 per cent to 7.5 million tonnes. Southern New South Wales farmer Ryan Dennis got halfway through his sowing program before the risk of not getting enough rain convinced him to pause. "It was desperate. You're putting money into the ground and hoping [for rain]," he said. Mr Dennis's farm in Downside, near Wagga Wagga, receives an average of 525mm of rain annually. With 150mm of rain so far, he said while crops have been slower to emerge this year, wheat and barley crops still have time. "Normal main season canola would hopefully be up around your ankles by now, but we're just finding [the very first leaves]," he said. "Everything's definitely delayed, but the wheat and the barley is not too far out of its [emergence] window." Many Western Australian grain growers completed sowing their crops into dry soils, but a slow moving low pressure system is expected to bring rain to most of the state this week. "Through all the farming districts, we're looking at most locations getting between 10-30mm [on Tuesday] as this system moves across WA," BOM senior meteorologist Joey Rawson said. "We've got three days of quite heavy rainfall across the farming regions." York farmer, and chair of GrainGrowers Rhys Turton said it's been a nervous wait for a season break. "I think most people plugged through their program without too many changes from what I'm hearing. "So I think as every day went by and there was more dust blowing behind the machines, everyone was looking to the sky and looking to phones for the latest weather forecast." Unlike the eastern states, ABARES said WA growers planted a larger area of winter grain crops this year. Above average rain in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales has helped farmers sow their winter crops with confidence. "Average to above average soil moisture levels at planting, combined with a positive rainfall outlook for winter, are expected to support above average yield prospects," ABARES said. "The weather was very kind to us during summer, which has allowed us to do this winter crop planting," grain grower Stuart McIntyre said. And with basically everything full at the moment, that'll allow us for a nice large summer crop."
