We've had such a great time this morning.

Thanks for all your engaging questions, and of course a big thank you to Monash University's Kim Reid and Michael Barnes for helping us answer them.

To conclude, here's a couple of final comments from them both about the summer of 2023/24

Michael: "This summer’s weather has been interesting and will be the source of much scientific inquiry over the coming years I suspect. A variety of weather systems have influenced Australia this summer in various ways, from Tropical Cyclones in the north-east, cut-off lows with rain in the south and a persistent heat trough over WA bringing extended heat. The scientific community will no doubt be studying this summer and the various influences in order to understand what has influenced the weather summer, by how much and how this fits into our weather and climate story in the coming century."

Kim: "Hopefully, everyone can see just how complex the weather can be and why it’s important to be prepared for all kinds of extremes during summer. If you thought this summer was hot, remember this summer will be average or even considered ‘cool’ compared to summers at the end of the century. That is why it is so important to stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible."

It's been a summer of extremes – and that makes for some great photo opportunities.

Here are a few of our favourites, from the Weather Obsessed Facebook page from the last month.

Hi Mike, 

Kim Reid and Michael Barnes aren't with us anymore. 

But the Bureau of Meteorology does show "past accuracy" of their long-range forecasts on their website (link below).

This gives you a sense of how well they've performed during a certain period in the past. 

This photo shows what the website looks like. 'Past accuracy' is on the tab on the left.

The wetter-than-normal summer has caught many by surprise. 

Here's climate scientist Kim Reid, and meteorologist Michael Barnes' assessment of the long-range outlooks leading up to summer:

Kim: “One of the other big misconception I have seen is that 'BOM got it wrong'. But if you actually look at the forecasts, they weren’t that bad. In early October, the 3 month outlook for summer was for drier than average in the west, but wetter than normal for most of NSW.”

This was the three-month rainfall outlook, published by the Bureau ahead of summer on the 30th November, 2023

Michael: “BoM Seasonal forecasts issued in October for summer (Dec-Feb) showed increased probabilities for drier than average conditions for both the extreme west and north east. However, there was still a 1/3 - 1/4 chance of above normal rainfall in these regions.

"The increased probability also does not mean there will be no rain at all, but less than the average.

"In reality, the north-east of the country was in fact wet. This is largely influenced by the two Tropical Cyclones that impacted far north Queensland. There is also a misconception going around that because it was wet in places this summer, that 'El Niño did not arrive' or that forecasts for the onset of El Niño were incorrect. This is not the case. Sea surface temperatures in the eastern pacific were warm and other indices that are used to detect the phenomenon observed the occurrence of El Niño.”

Here's what climate scientist Kim Reid and meteorologist Michael Barnes say about that:

Michael: "It depends what you define as 'normal' and what you define as 'severe weather'. The tropical monsoon has been relatively normal by all accounts. We have had two landfalling Tropical Cyclones in far north Queensland - high, but not unprecedented. Although, they both resulted in high impact weather in parts of the country (particularly post-landfall). Bushfire conditions have probably been below normal for south-eastern Australia but have ramped up towards late summer (last 2 or 3 weeks of February). Although the west has been hot and dry and probably more prone to fire weather throughout the summer."

Kim: "Yes, in some parts of the country. The number of days above 40°C in Perth this summer (13 days) is equal highest with the 2021-2022 summer. A slow-moving monsoon low brought record breaking rainfall to the Northern Territory in January. Adelaide received 0mm of rain in February, which has happened before (e.g. 2007) but is still abnormal."

Hi Bernard, 

"Average" temperature refers to the mean temperature.

While we're talking about weather definitions, Bernie (a different one) also asked:

"When we talk about temperature and warmth are we talking about wet or dry bulb temperatures"?

Answer: It's the dry bulb temperature, which is the air temperature.

Here's what climate scientist Kim Reid says about how El Niño has played out in Adelaide this year:

"Every El Niño is different and summer rainfall is less influence by El Niño than winter and spring rainfall so I’m not sure there really is a typical El Niño summer. Adelaide’s slightly cooler-than-average summer may have been due to the positive SAM that we have spoken about before. There was [abnormal] high pressure to the south of the bight during summer (possibly due to the positive SAM) which would mean more southerly winds over Adelaide (bringing cooler air)."

This article also unpacks some of the wild variations that Australia has seen in El Niño's of the past:

Townsville has had a couple of big systems go through this year. 

This is meteorologist Michael Barnes' assessment:

"Far North Queensland has been influenced largely by two Tropical Cyclones. The second of which made landfall relatively close to Townsville. An interesting factor in both these weather systems is that they stalled as tropical lows over Queensland and rained out for several days. This is not typical, but it does happen. Stalled monsoon/tropical lows can have large impacts over the region, as we saw this year and in 2019."

Meteorologist Michael Barnes has the answer for you:

"Apparent temperature is an attempt to quantify how a temperature 'feels' to a human, hence it is often called a 'feels-like temperature' on your favourite weather app. Humidity is a part of this - where higher humidities will increase the apparent temperature, but is only one factor in this calculation. The calculation also takes into account wind speed and solar radiation."

It's certainly been muggy this summer, so it's no surprise there's been a few questions about humidity!

Here's what meteorologist Michael Barnes says: 

"Humidity is a function of both moisture and temperature. Therefore, if the temperature increases and the moisture in the atmosphere does not, the humidity is lower. While if the temperature drops and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere does not change, the humidity increases. It really depends where in the country you are and what weather systems are affecting this area as to whether it will be hot and dry (which is more common in the south of the country) or hot and humid (which is more common in the tropics)."

You can also read more about relative humidity vs dew point here: