Australia

Heat reached its peak in Western Australia's Kimberley and Pilbara on Friday, exceeding 46 degrees in parts, the hottest it has been in decades for some.

Temperatures were soaring in parts of southern Australia yesterday, with many places in SA and Victoria experiencing their hottest day in 10-11 months. So, when will it cool down?

Friday's heat is being carried south from the nation's interior by a stream of northwesterly winds, which have developed ahead of an approaching low pressure trough.

For those of you who are tracking the cricket weather in Australia here's the latest detailed forecast for India vs Australia in Adelaide.

Overall conditions look mainly dry with perhaps today having the highest risk for rain at 30% chance.

There's a 20% chance on Saturday, again showing a dry to mainly dry day.

Cyclone Owen has formed in the Coral Sea and will linger there for several days as a lower end Tropical Cyclone or tropical depression. While sea temperatures are ideal for storm growth, high pressure near the tropical storm should limit how deep the low becomes and therefore how intense the cyclone will be.

With a hot and dry day over much of New South Wales and Queensland, the thunderstorms and strong winds that are still crossing parts of Victoria and bringing cooler conditions in their wake stand in marked contrast.

This year is on course to become the fourth warmest year on record based on global mean surface temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

A tropical depression is today deepening near the Solomon Islands and by Sunday may be a Tropical Cyclone as it moves away from the Solomon Sea and out over the Coral Sea, free from land.

Sea surface temperatures in the area are already over 30 degrees C which will allow the storm to deepen.

Our third large low in just a week or two is moving in and will bring rain, heavy downpours and help create inland afternoon thunderstorms over the days ahead.

Damaging winds lashed parts of southeastern Australia on Friday, fanning bushfires and felling trees.

A deepening low pressure system located to the east of Bass Strait caused strong and blustery winds over a large area of southeastern Australia.

Parts of New South Wales are being hit by a dramatic dust storm today with parts of Sydney now affected by dust. The storm stretches 500kms and light dust is now falling in Sydney with forecasters saying the skies could turn red this afternoon.