{"id":164801,"date":"2025-08-21T21:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/164801\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T21:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:34:15","slug":"warmest-weather-in-months-coming-after-record-breaking-nsw-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/164801\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Warmest weather in months&#8217; coming after record-breaking NSW rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">After weeks of persistent rain, parts of the NSW coast have now recorded their wettest August in 126 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">In what is historically a relatively dry and sunny time of year, Sydney has enjoyed only five days without rain since July 30.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The unseasonably rainy August has triggered multiple flood events, and continues to be one of the wettest years on record for the state&#8217;s central and northern coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">And while heavy showers will linger along the coast on Friday, weather modelling offers hope of relief next week with brighter and warmer weather forecast.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RAIN\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/7e5a3fc31464a5596bf9371cddcb9455\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The heaviest rain will shift offshore today, but some showers will still clip the coast into the weekend. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p>Deluge breaks long-term rain records<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">With August being one of the driest months of the year on the NSW coast, this week&#8217;s major rain event has broken records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">In the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday, Port Macquarie was drenched by 148 millimetres \u2014 this is the city&#8217;s heaviest August rain on record with data back to 1871.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Observatory Hill, Sydney&#8217;s official weather station, received 82mm in 24 hours, the highest in 18 years for August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">As rain continued to tumble down through Thursday, Sydney&#8217;s monthly total climbed above 350mm against an average of 80mm<strong>, <\/strong>the fourth highest for August in 167 years of data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Sydney&#8217;s wet spell actually started in late July and over the past 24 days, rainfall has been measured in the city on 79 per cent of days, compared to a long-term average of rain on 33 per cent of days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Following well-above average falls in five previous months this year, Sydney&#8217;s total rain in 2025 has now reached around 1350mm, more than 100mm above the annual average, and more than 400mm above normal to this point in the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Several other notable totals around the state this month include (to 6pm Thursday):<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"Blockquote_blockquote__YVWQm ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowAuto__c1_IL\" data-component=\"Blockquote\">\n<ul class=\"ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowVisible__N2zKU\">\n<li>Norah Head 397mm \u2014 wettest August on record (data to 1969)<\/li>\n<li>Point Perpendicular 416mm \u2014 wettest August since 1998<\/li>\n<li>Port Macquarie 354mm \u2014 wettest August since 1899<\/li>\n<li>Yamba 306mm \u2014 wettest August since 1889<\/li>\n<li>Nobbys Head 268mm \u2014 wettest August since 1952<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The above figures will climb even higher during the coming days, with potentially heavy showers still brushing the coast on Friday and a few lighter showers also lingering through the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Why has a typically dry August been so wet?<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">This month&#8217;s rain has been extraordinary, not only for its persistence, but also the intensity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Typically, in late winter there is a westerly flow across south-east Australia, which favours rain on the inland side of the Great Dividing Range while impeding rainfall in the east.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">However, this August an easterly flow has blown on most days, a direction far more commonly seen during the warmer months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">With Tasman Sea humidity blowing onto the NSW coast into a wintertime environment of polar air, the result has been August rainfall up to five times the average.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">But why has the wind blown from the east in August? The answer lies in the pressure pattern in the Tasman Sea.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"August pressure\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4d80e75c0d421b5782d07af71e3760c9\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The pressure in the southern Tasman Sea has been up to 13 hectopascals above average this month, an anomaly responsible for a shift from dry westerlies to moist easterlies along the NSW coast. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">So far this month, the surface pressure between Tasmania and New Zealand has been as much as 13 hectopascals above average \u2014 that&#8217;s a huge deviation from normal and since winds blow anticlockwise around high-pressure systems in the Southern Hemisphere, the abnormal pattern has not just slowed down winter westerlies, but completely reversed them.<\/p>\n<p>Late winter warmth to replace rain<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The infamous August westerlies are about to return, opening a window for the sodden NSW coastline to dry out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The change back to typical late winter weather will arrive as a series of powerful cold fronts approach from the west early next week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">These fronts will work together to push a stubborn Tasman Sea high away from Australia, creating a path for westerly winds from Monday, which should become the established flow right through next week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The arrival of a westerly airstream will not only bring clearer skies to the NSW coast, but also lift maximum temperatures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">By Tuesday, Sydney&#8217;s suburbs are forecast to reach 23 to 24 degrees Celsius, the warmest weather in three months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After weeks of persistent rain, parts of the NSW coast have now recorded their wettest August in 126&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94981,94982,4740,94978,15056,50,94980,6773,46654,13048,94979,94977,94976,24177,71176],"class_list":{"0":"post-164801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-august-rain","9":"tag-august-wet-weather","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-heavy-showers","12":"tag-new-south-wales","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nsw-forecast","15":"tag-rain","16":"tag-rainstorm","17":"tag-sydney","18":"tag-sydney-forecast","19":"tag-sydney-rain","20":"tag-sydney-suburbs-weather","21":"tag-tasman-sea","22":"tag-wet-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115068906133445098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}