Farewell Autumn...but don't expect winter just yet

Weather experts say winter could be wetter and warmer than usual

Where did Autumn go? Anneliese Hinchliffe, who was rugged up in Memorial Park, says goodbye to autumn. . Picture: Patrick Woods

TUESDAY:

THOUGH today is the last day of autumn and Gympie got down to a frigid 1.5 degrees yesterday and 5.2 degrees this morning  (10 below average), Andrew Bufalino from the Bureau of Meteorology says we can expect higher than average rain and warmer than average mornings over winter.  

"We're currently on La Nina watch with a 50% chance of that occurring," he said.  

With the La Nina weather patterns comes above average minimum temperatures and more rainfall.  

Which is good news, considering rainfall over the autumn months only totalled 125.4mm, which is less than the May average on its own.  

We should have been getting a total average of 281.5mm over the last three months.  

Mr Bufalino said the weather was difficult to predict at this time in the cycle.  

"This time of the year it's hard to pinpoint what to expect," Mr Bufalino said.  

However he is confident there will be a flip from El Nino to La Nina and Gympie should expect some decent rainfall as a result.  

GYMPIE 7 DAY FORECAST

Tuesday 31 May

Partly cloudy. Light winds becoming easterly 15 to 20 km/h in the late afternoon then becoming light in the evening.

Max: 25

Possible rainfall: 0 mm

Chance of any rain: 5% 

Wednesday 1 June

Partly cloudy. Medium (40%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming easterly 15 to 20 km/h during the afternoon then becoming light during the evening.

Min: 11

Max: 23

Possible rainfall: 0 to 1 mm

Chance of any rain: 40% 

Thursday 2 June

Partly cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming east to southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h during the afternoon then becoming light during the evening.

Min: 11

Max: 23

Possible rainfall: 2 to 8 mm

Chance of any rain: 60% 

Friday 3 June

Cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers. Light winds becoming southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h during the morning.

Min: 12

Max: 24

Possible rainfall: 2 to 8 mm

Chance of any rain: 70% 

Saturday 4 June

Cloudy. High (80%) chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm later in the day. Light winds.

Min: 13

Max: 24

Possible rainfall: 15 to 35 mm

Sunday 5 June

Medium (50%) chance of showers, most likely during the morning. Mostly sunny afternoon. Light winds.

Min: 13

Max: 24

Possible rainfall: 1 to 10 mm

Chance of any rain: 60% 

MONDAY:

IF YOU feel like Autumn has been a no-show then you are probably right. But as Gympie got down to 1.5 degrees this morning the cold weather might have finally showed up.

Due to El Nino and the underlying global warming, so far, 2016 has been a warm one in Gympie and the rest of south-eat Queensland with Autmun as a whole being particularly warm Weatherzone forecaster Max Gonzalez said. 

Nights have been tracking about two degrees above the average with daytime temperatures close to three degrees above the norm in the south-east. But it looks like that's about to change. 

Weather experts are predicting fronts to return to the south-east later this week heralding the start of the winter season. Gympie's forecast doesn't look that cold over the next week but if this morning is anything to go by, better get the blankets out just in case. 

For both Maryborough (3.2 degrees) and Hervey Bay (5.3 degrees) Saturday night was their coldest May night in 10 years, with Gympie getting down to 5 degrees. 

But temperatures this week are not predicted to drop below 8 degrees. A high pressure ridge will bring plenty of sunshine and warmth during the day but nights are likely to be  a bit chilly under clear skies and bring light winds.

Temperatures will stay between 23 and 26 degrees, with Saturday predicted as the hottest day, while temperatures are not expected to drop below 8 degrees.

From Wednesday onwards there will be a chance of showers, with the likelihood increasing by the weekend, with an 80 % chance of rain on Saturday.

Weather experts are predicting fronts to return to the south-east later this week heralding the start of the winter season, but Gympie's forecast isn't quite there yet. But better get the blankets out just in case because it will be a shock when it does arrive.