Australia

Autumn has been delayed across much of Australia this year, with NSW experiencing unseasonably hot weather during the first half of April.

A pool of exceptionally hot air for this late in the season was drawn across parts of central, southern and eastern Australia in recent weeks.

An unseasonably hot air mass is breaking April records across parts of southern and eastern Australia this week.

A pool of heat that brought Australia's latest 45 degree days on record in the Pilbara two weeks ago has spread south and is now causing unprecedented April warmth in Adelaide, Sydney and many places in between.

Checking the weather forecast is part of most people's daily routine. It helps us decide what to wear, what to do and quite often, what we talk about.

So, how do meteorologists actually forecast the weather and how good are they really at predicting the future?

Sydney broke another April heat record on Thursday as temperatures soared across NSW.

An unseasonable pool of heat broke numerous April records as it swept across the country during the last week.

On Thursday, the hot air mass drifted across NSW as cooler southwesterly winds brought relief to Australia's southern states.

The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Iris may bring a burst of rain to northern Queensland this weekend.

Iris was first named as a tropical cyclone by the Fiji Meteorological Service almost three weeks ago. 

It's an unusually warm April weekend in Adelaide. An extended break in the monsoon over northern WA has allowed hot air to build in the Pilbara during recent weeks. This heat is now being drawn south by a broad trough of low pressure and is about to cause an unseasonably warm weekend in South Australia. 

Sydneysiders are likely to smell smoke in the air on Friday. A weak southerly change sweeping over the harbour city is expected to carry smoke across the Sydney Basin.

A westerly airflow across New Zealand today will encourage more late summer-like temperatures in the east of both islands, mainly the North Island.

Two tropical cyclones are to the north of New Zealand, 1 a number storm directly north of us called Josie and the other is Iris in the Coral Sea which Australians renamed over the weekend.

We're in the peak of the Southern Hemisphere cyclone season with three active tropical cyclones affecting the Australian area alone this week and more on the way for the zone north of New Zealand.