Australia

High pressure dominates NZ’s weather this week but we will have a few drizzle patches and afternoon downpours here and there.

The week is both warmer than average and drier than average for many regions.

A cyclone has formed near Northern Queensland and has been named 'Trevor' by Australian forecasters. The storm is expected to linger all week bringing rainfall totals of over 200mm for some locations already drenched by recent rain events and floods so far this year.

Confidence continues to grow that a tropical cyclone will form in the coming days in the northern Coral Sea / Solomon Sea area and drift towards northern or north eastern Queensland mid next week.

We’re tracking a large belt of high pressure in the New Zealand area and a likely tropical cyclone around the Coral Sea in our latest weather video.

With high pressure around NZ expect light winds and warm days.

We are seeing the tropics wake up with a high chance of a cyclone forming well north of New Zealand and likely affecting Queensland later next week and may be a severe cyclone.

In the New Zealand area we have the 7 day rainfall accumulation map and it’s showing a very dry forecast for a large portion of NZ in the week to come.

A tropical storm is expected to develop this weekend or next week around the Coral & Solomon Seas and could grow into a Severe Tropical Cyclone according to WeatherWatch.co.nz.

While high pressure is dominating New Zealand right now low pressure is forming to our north, west and south over the coming week.

Wednesday sees a cooler sou’west change for the lower South Island but most other parts of New Zealand have warmer than average sub-tropical northerly quarter breezes.

By Thomas Hough, Weatherzone.com.au --- Whilst summer is officially over, the summer like temperatures are not. Low pressure troughs are maintaining heat over the nation's interior this week, with cold fronts brushing the southeast.

Hobart has just broken a 79 year old record with its hottest March day yesterday, Saturday, a record that has stood since 1940.

So summer is over, but how did it compare with previous years?

It was certainly a hot one this year, with the average combined minimum and maximum temperatures coming in at 2.1 degrees above the average. This makes it Sydney's third hottest summer on record, behind only 1991 (+2.6 degrees) and 2017 (+2.8 degrees).