Tag Archives: oceania

Sydney records coldest day in 37 years

Sydney has officially shivered its way through its coldest day in 37 years.

Metropolitan Sydney reached a maximum of just 10.3 degrees today, making it the coldest day overall since 1984.

Elsewhere in NSW blizzards dumped more than half a metre of snow over parts of NSW over the last 48 hours as towns and cities shiver through record-breaking temperatures.

READ MORE: Victorian town urged to evacuate as wild storms ravage state

https://twitter.com/weatherzone/status/1402858140748681218

While city dwellers might be struggling through today's icy weather, the conditions are barely comparable to temperatures in regional areas today with Cooma on track to record its coldest day in 17 years with a maximum of just 1.2C.

Mudgee is also on track to record its coldest day in nearly three decades with a top of 4.4C.

The last time temperatures dropped that low was in 1992, when the town recorded a minimum of 5.2C.

https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1402799109724061700

In the Central Tablelands, Orange has received its heaviest dump of snow since 2015 with a whopping 16cm falling today alone.

Fresh flakes hit the slopes throughout yesterday, with 15cm to 30cm of snow at some resorts by last night, including Thredbo.

Perisher Valley has already received around half a metre of snow over the last two days with more on the way today.

READ MORE: Towns across NSW record coldest day in two decades as snow falls

https://twitter.com/savannahmeacham/status/1402794761321279490

Snow is also falling across the upper Blue Mountains this morning with Katoomba, Blackheath and Mount Victoria receiving their first sprinkle of snow for the season this morning.

Frost risk is high to severe in most areas across the region with drivers warned of black ice and dangerous driving conditions.

Snow is expected to continue to fall above an elevation of about 900 metres in southern NSW this afternoon, with another 10 centimetres likely in the Alps, according to Weatherzone.

Locations at lower elevations including the lower Blue Mountains and Greater Sydney are forecast to receive showers today with temperatures in the city unlikely to get above 11C.

Drivers across NSW have been warned to postpone travel plans as the severe weather creates treacherous driving conditions in the lead up to the long weekend.

The conditions come after severe wintry weather slammed much of Australia's south-east, with damaging winds, heavy rain, thunderstorms, flooding, widespread snow, and hail overnight.

Several roads in the state's Central West have been closed due to snow and ice.

The Mitchell Highway is closed between Northern Distributor Road in Orange and Millthorpe Road in Shadforth.

The Escort Way is closed between Northern Distributor Road in Orange and Peabody Road in Boree.

Chifley Road is closed between Bells Line of Road in Bell and Hartley Valley Road in Lithgow and Ilford Sofala Road is closed about 5km west of the Castlereagh Highway in Ilford.

In the central west of NSW, regional cities such as Orange saw snow start to fall from yesterday morning (June 9).

A number of local roads in these areas are also closed.

Further south, a low is generating damaging winds, heavy showers, and small hail in Victoria and Tasmania.

Damaging winds which reached 100km/h carved a path of destruction across Melbourne overnight, with thousands of calls for help to the State Emergency Service.

Weather June 10

In the past 24 hours, there were more than 2000 reports of trees down, about 500 reports of trees down, about 500 reports of building damage, and about 150 calls for help in areas where there is severe flooding.

A severe weather warning is spanning across Victoria all the way from Sale to Ballarat.

South to south-easterly winds with gusts of up to 90km/h will continue across Melbourne this morning, decreasing to 25 to 40km/h in the afternoon and 15 to 20km/h in the late evening.

Another low is causing showers and storms in western parts of Western Australia with a severe weather warning in place today.

https://twitter.com/weatherzone/status/1402512616337993742

Strong to gale force northerly winds are occurring along the west coast prior to the passage of the low.

Damaging winds with gusts up to 100km/h, abnormally high tides and damaging surf for Lower West and South West.

Localised wind gusts up to 90km/h are possible between Mandurah and Lancelin this morning with Cape Naturaliste recording wind speeds of 96km/h overnight.

A high is keeping elsewhere mostly dry and settled.

Beijing slams US 'Cold War mentality' over anti-China bill

A news outlet run by the Chinese government has slammed the US Senate's bipartisan passing of an anti-Beijing bill.

The sweeping legislation – called the US Innovation and Competition Act – aims to confront China's influence on multiple fronts and "will supercharge American innovation and preserve our competitive edge for generations to come," Senate Majority Leader Schumer said.

The bill included investments in a new tech directorate in the National Science Foundation to spur US technology innovation, and was rolled up with bipartisan legislation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called the Strategic Competition Act.

READ MORE: China furious over US senators' visit to disputed island

The package the Senate advanced also includes US$54 billion ($69.8 billion) in spending to spur the US semiconductor industry, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, in order to challenge China's increasing superiority in manufacturing and global supply chains.

There are additional investments in cybersecurity and biotechnology, according to a Senate Democratic summary.

Other components of the bill include investing US$10 billion ($12.9 billion) over five years to the Department of Commerce to create regional tech hub programs, a third of which would have to be located in rural areas.

READ MORE: 'They need us': Why China needs Australia's export lifeline

The legislation also requires that the iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials used in federally funded infrastructure projects is produced in the United States.

The English-language Global Times news outlet, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, said the legislation was full of "Cold War mentality" and was "doomed to fail".

"China urges the US to correct its attitude, view China's development and China-US relations rationally, stop advancing relevant bills, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs, in order to avoid damage to the overall China-US relations and cooperation in important areas," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin was quoted as saying.

The bill will now have to pass the House in the US before landing on President Joe Biden's desk.

You can find out more details about how to book your vaccine through the Federal Government health site here.