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ABC News
5 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Queensland braces for cooler temperatures as cold front arrives
A frosty start to the morning is expected in southern Queensland as temperatures plummet to near 0 degrees Celsius. The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) Daniel Hayes said cooler, wintry temperatures were expected in the state's south from today onwards. "We're looking at a high pressure system that's moving across New South Wales and Victoria at the moment, and that's rigging up over Queensland," he said. "It's pulling up some quite cold air from the south through those states and into southern and central Queensland [on Thursday]." The Darling Downs, including Toowoomba and Warwick, the Maranoa and Warrego, and even north to Carnarvon Range and the Central Highlands could see temperatures dip down into single figures. Brisbane's minimum is expected to drop below 10 degrees over the next two days, with maximum temperatures reaching the low 20s. As the frost forms, places such as Roma, Stanthorpe and Dalby in south-western Queensland could also experience cold minimums. Mr Hayes said the minimum temperatures were forecast to drop 1 or 2 degrees below the June average as the cooler air from the south moved through. "Some of those minimums might push down to the coldest for the year over the next couple of days," he said. "In some places we may get to the coolest for the year to date, but probably nowhere near any of our long-term records." With minimum temperatures forecast to be as low as 2 or 3 degrees today, Mr Hayes said frost was expected around southern parts of the state. Lifeline Darling Downs and South West Queensland chief executive Rachelle Patterson is riding a bicycle thousands of kilometres on a fundraising journey for mental health support and departs St George this morning on the next leg of her journey. Ms Patterson said the colder mornings were tough, but riders were prepared despite temperatures that felt like -3 degrees. "It has been so chilly, not just with the actual temperature, but the wind chill factor has been incredibly cold," she said. "You can wear all the right clothing, wind-protecting anything, and it just cuts straight through. "It's like icy knives." Along the south-east coast, the BOM has issued a strong wind warning for Thursday. "We will see gale warnings coming onto the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast with some fairly large waves and swells building in the offshore area down there, but apart from that mostly warning-free across Queensland," Mr Hayes said. Dry conditions are expected for the rest of Queensland on Thursday, but showers could form on Friday as moisture is pushed north. Cool overnight temperatures are forecast for the central-west and north-west parts of Queensland, including Cairns, which could reach a minimum of 17 degrees in the coming days.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Man in western Wisconsin dies from injuries after being hit by car while crossing street
ELLSWORTH, Wis. (WFRV) – A 74-year-old Wisconsin man died from injuries suffered after being hit by a car while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk. The Ellsworth Police Department reported that officers responded to a vehicle versus pedestrian crash around 3:14 p.m. on Thursday near the intersection of Highway 10, Main Street and Beulah Street in Ellsworth. Man hit by stray bullet while traveling in Wisconsin, deputies investigating Initial investigation details state that a 2009 Toyota Camry was heading westbound when the driver, 78-year-old Daniel Hayes of Ellsworth, hit a person crossing the street. The 74-year-old pedestrian was identified as Kenneth Wilson of Ellsworth. Wilson was reportedly crossing through a marked crosswalk at the time of the crash. He was taken to a Minnesota hospital with life-threatening injuries, where he later died. Wisconsin driver with 3 unrestrained children under age of 5 arrested for OWI after crash The crash is still under investigation. No additional details were provided. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ABC News
15-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
More rain forecast for parts of Queensland but weather to clear this weekend
Heavy rain is expected to drench parts of Queensland today, but residents are warned a cold snap is on the way. A trough that was supposed to deliver showers and thunderstorms yesterday arrived 24 hours late and is forecast to dump up to 30 millimetres of rain along the coast. A pulse of easterly swell has brought days of large waves to the south-east. Surfers have been enjoying the conditions, and the swell has helped to replenish the sand banks and beaches carved away by Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Scattered showers are expected further inland too, with rainfall totals of up to 20mm across the Maranoa, Warrego, Darling Downs, Central Highlands, Coal Fields, Wide Bay and Capricornia regions. Storm activity across the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay islands on Thursday morning saw isolated falls of between 50 and 100mm. While more storms could be on the cards today, Daniel Hayes from the Bureau of Meteorology said the weather should clear up on the weekend. "It is expected to be pushing off the coast by Saturday, and by the afternoon that should be clearing away," he said. "We have had a fairly wet start to the month of May." Community sport has been feeling the effects of an unseasonally wet autumn. Weather has forced the closure of almost every council-owned field on the Gold Coast, meaning training and even some games were cancelled for football clubs this week. In the state's north, residents are enjoying the sunshine after record-breaking rains earlier this year. Mr Hayes said he was celebrating his second day of blue skies in Cairns. "Generally speaking, there has been lot less rain and a lot more blue and that's the pattern we're expecting to be seeing in the coming days," he said. Meanwhile, southern Queensland has been told to prepare for a cold snap as a band of dry, cool air moves north next week. "Parts of the central and southern inland may see temperatures getting well down into the single figures and maybe even a few places under 5 degrees [Celsius]," Mr Hayes said. The rain has thrown a spanner in the works for event organisers who were hoping for dry conditions. More than 50,000 music fans are expected to descend on the Gold Coast for the annual Blues on Broadbeach festival over the next three days. Festival director Mark Duckworth said dealing with the elements was part and parcel of outdoor events, but he hoped the rain would not keep people away. "We try to be really careful in the green spaces," he said. "It's part of the gig — bring your poncho if it's raining and come and have a great time." American singer-songwriter Eli "Paperboy" Reed is performing at the festival and said he admired fans who turned out in the rain. "Those are the kind of people that you want to play music for. They're willing to get their hands dirty to enjoy themselves," Reed said.
ABC News
01-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Rain forecast for parts of Queensland on election day and across long weekend
Falls of up to 100 millimetres could hit parts of Queensland over the Labour Day long weekend, after days of picture-perfect autumn weather. The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) Daniel Hayes said the state's tropical north would experience the most shower activity, which could begin as early as Friday. "But particularly from around Saturday and into Sunday, we do expect to see some heavier showers developing initially in the Cassowary Coast area and then potentially pushing up through Cairns," he said. Stay updated: Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on A stunning sunrise captured over Cairns on Tuesday. ( Supplied: Anu Kanthanathan ) "We could start to see some falls … up to around 60mm … there could even be some isolated falls that go higher than that, up into the 100mm range." "Around the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast areas … you might push up to double figure falls, 10-15mm or so." The BOM predicts showers could extend into the central west around Saturday, and potentially through to the north-western or western parts of the state by Sunday. "[These areas are] probably more likely to have just cloudy conditions — there is a little bit of a cloud band through some of those inland areas at the moment," Mr Hayes said. Clear skies this week have allowed for spectacular sunsets over the Toowoomba region. ( ABC Southern Qld: Dan McCray ) It is the third consecutive long weekend for Queenslanders, who have experienced a mixed bag of weather conditions in that time. Heavy rain forced the cancellation of some The Flash flooding at the RSL in Nambour was captured in the early hours of Anzac Day morning. ( Facebook: Benji Lang ) Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 'Nuisance' rain for election day Queenslanders were faced with a similar weather scenario on the day of the federal election on May 21, 2022. There was even speculation it could sway the result, with some experts suggesting But Mr Hayes said the showers this weekend would be "more of a nuisance than anything". A couple enjoy a "democracy sausage" in the rain at Nundah on the day of the 2022 federal election. ( ABC News: Baz Ruddick ) "Showers themselves will move fairly quickly with the quite fresh winds that we'll have around the place, but they'll probably linger through the course of the day," he said. "There is some slight chance that there could be the odd heavier shower here or there … that might have a bit more of an impact, given that all the catchments through large parts of Queensland are pretty wet — but it's not considered a high chance." Marine warnings for strong winds remain in place for the Queensland coast, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Gold Coast, and extending into New South Wales. Surfers enjoyed the waves at Fingal Beach, three hours north of Sydney, this week. ( Supplied: Paul Buchanan ) A high pressure system has been generating stable conditions for much of this week, as the state begins to shift towards its dry season. "Certainly the pattern is that things will be easing on Monday," Mr Hayes said. " By Tuesday it should be pretty good again — for the return to work. " Loading Having trouble seeing this form? Try
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new Midtown OKC HQ for Palomar faces budget issues. Here's how MAPS 4 will tackle it.
Oklahoma City officials recently approved plans meant to cover rising construction costs for Palomar's upcoming MAPS 4-budgeted Family Justice Center and start the bidding process for the project. As final plans for the new Family Justice Center were being presented to the city council, designers showed that project estimates of the upcoming MAPS 4 facility were at serious risk of going overbudget. But the Allford Hall Monaghan Morris architectural team is proposing that certain design elements can be bid as alternates separately from the base bid estimate of just under $28 million. The new center at 1135 N Hudson Ave. will act as a larger and permanent headquarters for Palomar, a nonprofit devoted to coordinating various agencies and services to help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, human trafficking and childhood trauma. Construction would be scheduled for completion in 2027. The first floor's 31,650 square feet would contain client spaces, medical services, a community hall and a cafe. The 21,800-square-foot second floor would hold office space for Palomar staff and its various partners, law enforcement, legal aid and homeless services. But budgetary constraints would also mean including the 19,434-square-foot third floor and the first-floor cafe space as "white boxes," with exposed concrete floors, shaft walls and temporary lighting. Certain security items, equipment and furniture would also be part of the design alternates, along with potential "fit outs" of the third floor and cafe, for a combined cost of $5.4 million. AHMM Associate Director Daniel Hayes said the spaces for the third floor and the cafe would still be built, but that they wouldn't be capable of being used on Day 1 as originally intended. 'The hope is that, either the project comes back below budget and we can include some of these items in the base bid,' Hayes said. 'Or, we have a contingency currently that sits around $2.3 million, and that's obviously for unforeseen problems during the construction process. If that isn't used — and we hope it's not — potentially we could include some of these items into the base bid.' More: See what OKC's new family justice center for domestic violence survivors could look like MAPS Program Manager David Todd said that the Family Justice Center budget is losing significant money every month to inflation. 'In this time of unprecedented inflation and uncertainty with costs, we've done a lot of things to try and keep the project within budget, but we still struggle for that,' Todd said. He proposed what he described as 'creative ways' to get the project on the street. In 2022, the city council revised the $1 billion MAPS 4 Implementation Plan, increasing revenue estimates by $100 million overall for the program's projects. Palomar decided to provide its portion of additional funding (an estimated $4 million) to the MAPS 4 Investment Trust to help with operations. But in order to meet project estimates for the new Family Justice Center, $2 million from Palomar's portion of the investment fund would be pledged toward the construction budget. In addition, so that Palomar could continue earning interest on their investment to the trust fund, $2 million from the overall MAPS 4 budget would be used until the Family Justice Center completes construction. Once the build is finished, then the $2 million will be pulled out of the investment fund and used toward the project. About that same time, MAPS staff expect to have conversations about what to do with excess collections from the program's sales tax, which Todd said could equate to a projected $32 million. 'This is no guarantee, but at that point, I would propose that we submit an application or a request to city council to reimburse that $2 million out of excess collections,' Todd said. 'The timing is that it works really well.' Related: Meet the woman behind OKC's innovative approach to helping victims of domestic violence The plan was recommended by the MAPS 4 Community Subcommittee and the Citizens Advisory Board, and ultimately approved by the Oklahoma City Council — but not without various members of each body voicing some reluctance. Chelsea Banks, the MAPS 4 advisory board member from Ward 2, expressed concern that the proposed 'white boxes' would only shift the burden of finishing out those spaces to Palomar. Her concerns led her to abstain from recommending approval of the final plan's specifications. 'As it stands, it seems pretty disappointing to me that we have to restrict ourselves from all of these community spaces because of the budget, including the cafe,' Banks said. 'From a pedestrian point of view who is in Midtown regularly and knows how Palomar impacts the community, it seems like a big deal.' Ward 2 Councilperson James Cooper also said the current plan made him "very nervous" due to how it could affect the "healing" intentionality of the project's holistic design. He asked if the city could come back and use more funding from potential excess collections to finish the third floor and the cafe "white box" later down the line. 'I'm glad that we're, I guess, preserving the space for (the cafe) — I just would like to see it as originally intended to be done,' Cooper said. 'This is a very important project to me, and I just worry about having just this vacant space that people are walking by and not activated, especially people who are visiting loved ones or just working in this building, to have this moment to go down and enjoy a cup of coffee with their neighbors.' City Manager Craig Freeman said Cooper's suggestion would have to be evaluated when the time comes. As the MAPS 4 sales tax winds down in 2028, city staff would not only have to determine where funds from excess collections should go, but also determine how to value-engineer other projects that might be running overbudget. "That's why I don't want to make these decisions one-off on this case with potential excess funds," Freeman said. "When we get to that point, there'll be several projects, and that way we're not taking any one of them individually in a vacuum. The hope would be that we would have funding that we could then put back to projects. This (Family Justice Center) would be built out in a way that everything would be ready to go, if there weren't other solutions that we identified prior to that time where that could be built out." Ward 7 MAPS adviser Monique Bruner, otherwise supportive of the Family Justice Center, said that the proposed funding plan could set a difficult precedent. 'I see, on other projects that would be overbudget as well, how is it going to work?' Bruner asked. 'If we set this this way, it's possible that other projects would want the same type of plan as well, and I think that starts us down a slippery slope that I'm very uncomfortable with.' Shay Morris, vice chair of the MAPS advisory board and chair of its community subcommittee, acknowledged that 'it was not an easy vote to advance' the final Family Justice Center plans out of committee. But she felt that it was the right decision in the long term. 'We wished we could have a nice, easy resolution right there in the subcommittee,' Morris said. 'But it just felt like there was way more risk in waiting, due to the uncertainty of inflation and maybe even tariffs. Personally I don't think construction materials are going to get any cheaper.' Ward 4 Councilman Todd Stone shared similar thoughts, thanking the MAPS office staff for figuring out a way to keep the project moving. 'I've heard of other projects that supposedly have tripled in value or cost, and ours haven't tripled, but they are tight,' Stone said. 'And this is one project that I personally just feel like is very important that we get it done, and get it done in the correct way.' This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Final Family Justice Center plans approved despite budget constraints
