The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted a wetter than usual summer for Australia's eastern states but drier than usual conditions for large parts of Western Australia.
Coastal NSW, most of Victoria and large areas of Queensland and northern and eastern Tasmania are likely to see above average rainfall.
This rainfall could potentially lead to further widespread flooding in areas where rivers remain high, dams are full and catchments are wet.
BoM senior climatologist Andrew Watkins said the country as a whole is on track for its second wettest spring on record with several water storages full and spilling.
"Victoria, NSW and the Murray-Darling Basin all had their wettest spring since records began in 1900," Dr Watkins said.
"Very wet soils cannot absorb much more water when it rains, so runoff into dams has been very high."
While most of the mainland had cooler than average daytime temperatures throughout spring, parts of far northern Australia suffered heatwaves, with some areas likely to have their warmest spring on record.
READ MORE:
Upcoming summer days are expected to be warmer than average across most of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, north and central Queensland coastal areas and parts of Tasmania.
In contrast, cooler days are likely for most of NSW, part of southern Queensland and for Victoria.
BoM is still predicting climate drivers contributing to the wet outlook to lessen in the coming months.
The negative Ocean Dipole event is weakening and likely to end by early summer and La Nina may start to ease in early 2023.
Tim Piccione
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. He can be reached at tim.piccione@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Tim is a journalist with the Canberra Times covering the ACT courts via the Daily Advertiser in Wagga. He can be reached at tim.piccione@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
