{"id":68018,"date":"2026-08-09T03:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T03:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68018\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T03:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T03:01:14","slug":"nsws-unusually-warm-winter-brings-early-blooms-swooping-magpies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/68018\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW’s unusually warm winter brings early blooms, swooping magpies"},"content":{"rendered":"

From magpies swooping weeks earlier than usual and an underwhelming snow season, to canola crops blooming a month ahead of schedule, the signs of an unusually mild winter are appearing across New South Wales.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology said this winter has been particularly warm, with above-average minimum and maximum temperatures, particularly in June.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got about 30 different stations across NSW that recorded temperatures into record-breaking levels,” said senior climatologist Hugh McDowell.<\/p>\n

“These are some of the warmest winters we’ve seen in recent times, but in 50 years these are going to be some of the coolest temperatures we see this century.”<\/p>\n

The statewide average temperature in June was also the second highest recorded since 1991.<\/p>\n

Meteorologist and Climate Councillor Andrew Watkins said a combination of climate change and El Ni\u00f1o have stacked the odds in favour of a warmer, drier winter.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Climate Councillor Andrew Watkins says shorter snow seasons are becoming more common.\u00a0 (ABC News: Ben Knight)<\/p>\n

“Some people are calling it ‘sprinter’ now \u2014 a combination of winter and spring.”<\/p>\n

An early swooping season<\/p>\n

The temperature shift seems to have influenced magpie behaviours, too.<\/p>\n

Magpie swooping season typically runs from August to November across NSW, with peak aggression in September.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

People in Wagga Wagga have reported magpies swooping as early as July.\u00a0 (Supplied: Shane Miller-GPLama)<\/p>\n

But reports of people being swooped in Wagga Wagga as early as July this year did not surprise Dr Melanie Massaro, an ornithology lecturer at Charles Sturt University.<\/p>\n

“Usually, they can’t breed in the winter because there’s not too many insects around,” Dr Massaro said.<\/p>\n

“But when things get warmer, and insects or animals become available, that’s when they start breeding and therefore start swooping.”<\/p>\n

She said, over time, this could impact their behaviours in the long term.<\/p>\n

“Our climates are getting warmer \u2014 there’s no doubt about that. All sorts of things come with it, like changes in phenology.”<\/p>\n

Winter blooms resembling spring<\/p>\n

Plant ecologist Andy Leigh from the University of Technology said warmer conditions mean people can expect to see their flowers blooming this winter.<\/p>\n

“I’m already seeing things start to flower in early August and throughout July \u2014 earlier than I would expect,” said Ms Leigh.<\/p>\n

A tourism company for the scenic Canola Trail in the Riverina, Hello Yellow, also reported this year’s canola season had kicked off early due to warmer winter conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Canola season has kicked off early in NSW.\u00a0 (ABC Riverina: Olivia Calver)<\/p>\n

Ms Leigh said early flowering could bring benefits but also risks, depending on where you live.<\/p>\n

“In Sydney, that’s not much of an issue. But if you’re in Canberra, if things bloom too early and then suddenly there’s snap frost, then you lose all your fruit.”<\/p>\n

She said longer flowering seasons also increase the demand for water and extra upkeep.<\/p>\n

“You can have a longer flowering season, but you need to make sure you keep nutrients up to them because every time they flower, they’re using lots of energy.”<\/p>\n

A trend towards warmer winters<\/p>\n

The warmer conditions have also affected the state’s alpine regions, with a disappointing start to the snow season impacting tourism.<\/p>\n

“We’ve probably seen our worst season since 2020, and before that maybe,” Mr Watkins said.<\/p>\n

By July 22, snow depths at Spencers Creek in NSW’s Snowy Mountains measured just 68 centimetres, about half of the height at the same time last year.<\/p>\n

\"Bare<\/p>\n

Thredbo, with patches of man-made snow a few days into July, has experienced a challenging start to the snow season. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Watkins said shrinking snow seasons could become more common.<\/p>\n

“In terms of snow, it really is a case in the future of short snow seasons and a reduction in the depth of the snow that we’re likely to see.”<\/p>\n

Climate projections indicate snow cover in the Australian Alps could decline by about 30 per cent by 2050.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From magpies swooping weeks earlier than usual and an underwhelming snow season, to canola crops blooming a month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,5408,61094,15415,9205,71802,88542,88540,88541,338,88539],"class_list":["post-68018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bureau-of-meteorology","tag-canola","tag-el-nino","tag-magpies","tag-spring","tag-sprinter","tag-swooping","tag-warm-winter","tag-weather","tag-winter-blooms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}