Latest weather news articles and updates

As we shiver through the shortest days of the year, spare a thought for those in Canberra. It was -5C this morning, and is likely to be below freezing each and every morning for the rest of the week, across the weekend and into early next week.

The main focus of wet weather for the rest of this week and over the weekend is in the southwest. High pressure is parked over the southeast, ensuring all the weather systems hit the west. That situation changes early next week, when the southeast becomes the focus.

The next cold front is crossing the southeast on Monday, followed by another one immediately behind it, later Monday into Tuesday. This brings a bit of rain for our farmers, and snow for the alps - but not the huge falls of the long weekend system.

The northern Queensland coast, between Cairns and Townsville is likely to see 25 to 50 mm rain over the course of just a day or two, with local falls ranging from 50 to 75 mm. Most of this is likely to fall on Tuesday.

Over the course of the next week we have three areas of focus in our weather: the southeast early in the stretch, the southwest with a few rain systems, and an out of season rain system for eastern Queensland, mainly in the north.