A STAGNANT weather pattern more typical of summer or early autumn has turned up late in autumn but there are signs of "movement" which will bring an end to the lengthy dry and warm spell.
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The weather pattern becomes stagnant this late in the season roughly once every 20 years.
With the help of the polar jet stream being a long way south of Australia we have had a "blocking" high pressure system develop over the Tasman Sea which in turn deflects cold fronts south of the country.
One difference between this current event and the last few is the amount of warming that has been allowed to develop.
For nearly all of NSW and the ACT, the current late season warmth exceeds that of 1994 and 1975 and is more comparable to a 1958 event.
For some areas of western, central and southern NSW and the ACT the warm spell even beats 1958.
Many centres have been a few degrees warmer than average for a number of days than has been experienced in a lifetime.
Since May 10 Narrandera and Broken Hill have both been more than five degrees warmer than average.
The run of warmer-than-normal days has led to rainfall deficiencies becoming severe again in some areas with help from higher-than-normal evaporation.
Like the temperatures the current evaporation levels are more typical of April rather than May.
It has been almost two weeks since we have seen a rain-bearing system affect NSW and even then it was rather patchy.
The good news is the weather pattern is starting to move.
This Friday some inland areas will get rain but apart from the South West Slopes will do virtually nothing to bring relief.
More significant rain should arrive mid-next week when a stronger low pressure trough and front looks to bring more widespread rain and return temperatures to near normal.
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