Heavy showers and thunderstorms have flared up across parched bush fire zones in southeastern Australia, and in some cases, these storms are delivering the most rain these areas have seen in months. Due to a shift away from hot, dry conditions across southeastern Australia and toward more typical summer thunderstorm activity, storms have formed during the past two days from Victoria northward into Queensland. (StormVistaWxModels)There are larger factors at play that favor wetter, comparatively cooler weather in Australia in the months to come. These include an atmospheric “overturning” circulation in the Indian Ocean, known as the Indian Ocean Dipole, which had favored sinking and drying air over southeastern Australia through the first part of the summer. This, too, increased the odds of hotter and drier weather in southeastern Australia.

Source: Washington Post January 16, 2020 16:31 UTC