Just been on BBC news about the bush fires in New South Wales are ragging out of control and the record heat.

If a tropical cyclone impacts on the North of Australia that could be the game changer and signal the end of the summer heatwaves and we could enter a more usual mid to late summer pattern. The problem at the moment is that the monsoon trough is too far North over Indonesia, in fact it is the furthest North it has been for 13 years at this time of year. The restlt of the monsoon being so far North is that Australia is so much more cloud free than usual at this time of year so there is nothing at all to put a brake on the heat building. Until the monsoon sinks South the heat will keep on building and we will keep on getting a repeat heatwave pattern over SE Australia and W Australia.

A tropical cyclone impacting a very isolated area could be a good thing as it could introduce anough moisture to trigger the proper monsoon and bring it South thus flattening the high pressure systems that move across Australia and which won't allow serious heat build up.

The second half of summer should be wetter and less hot over all of Australia.

It could get even more interesting next week, not that the last few months have not been interesting.

Cyclone Narelle looks like it wants to say hello to Perth in close proximity.

My goodness - that will give the synoptic pattern one heck of a shake up at this time of year.

Looks impressive but the latest GFS isn't all that exciting, has the cyclone dropping south and declining rapidly / never making landfall. Hard one to forecast though, will lose strength quickly the further sout it moves though.

Of more note is the monsoon trough finally getting organised in the later stages of the run. This will introduce cloud cover, moisture and signal the end of the summer heatwaves. If this actually happens is another matter.

Turn this thing around! Incredible wall of sand whipped up by cyclone hits  remote stretch of Western Australia coast

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260560/Wall-sand-whipped-Tropical-Cyclone-Narelle-hits-Onslow-Western-Australia.html#ixzz2HfERLlHo

Good Lord!

That is amazing - those pictures are wonderful.

Amazing pictures. This made big news here in Perth, obviously with what else is going on regarding the heatwave, and the bizarre weather that has been occurring.

 Hurricane/cyclone Narelle is beautiful on the latest satellite images. I will say no more, the image does that, it is currently hovering around category 4, many of the Pilbarra mine sites have been evacuated and are in lockdown. Fortunately it has remained out at sea.

NB Unfortunately cannot attach the latest satellite image.

Finally the monsoon trought shows signs of amping up over the Northern Territory. This should increase cloud cover and humidity levels over a wide area and knock back the heat.

Already sings of some significant rain for NSW possibly this weekend.

Will still be some very hot days but prolonged heatwaves could be over for this summer.

Well, its firmly Summer here in Perth now. We are on course for the hottest Summer on record despite the unusual weather in December. Here is a pic of a rather arid looking SW Australia.

Some severe weather going on over the East coast at the moment. Would be good to get some updates as to what is going on over there. I noticed Sydney has had 21mm since 9am this morning,  its 3.44pm with them at the moment, with the main band of rain yet to hit accompanied by some very strong winds.

Another heatwave setting up here in Perth. We are well on course for our hottest Summer since records began in the 1880's i believe, though do not quote me on that for certain when records began. The next 3 days are meant to hit 41c, which is about 106f i believe, with Wednesday dropping back down to 40c, before a cool change comes in on Thursday and we see a high of just 30c. Thunderstorm potential with this intense heat as well, and that always provides some amazing cloud formations. Its the height of bushfire season here in the West now and that is of concern as its has not rained here for a number of weeks now. So hopefully you Poms will be showing some snow pics over the coming days to look at while we suffer the heat.

a high of just 30c enjoy your storms and the cloud formations and i hope the bushfires are not too severe for you guys.

I'll have to give the family a call in Darlington... It'll be the Hot Cold tub with ice blocks thrown in again then!

Bloody hell, wouldn't want to have a mouthful of that

Tell us what temps you get to.