Maleny Weather

At 1546 hours today, Sunday 21^st, the sun is at its most northerly position for the year. This is the day of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. From Monday onwards the length of daylight, the interval between sunrise and sunset will start getting longer.

Australia is less than a year away from having a national water information system online, following the selection of an information technology partner for the Australian Water Resources Information System project.

The project’s IT component will be supplied by SMS Management and Technology. Following a detailed design process over the past year, the work of building the system will begin immediately. The first stage of the project is valued at approximately $2.5 million.

Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, said building the IT infrastructure was an important step in the Bureau of Meteorology’s development of the system as part of the Australian Government’s Water for the Future strategy.

“Water for the Future has four priorities: taking action on climate change, using water wisely, securing our water supplies and supporting healthy rivers,” Senator Wong said.

“To deliver on these priorities, we need robust, consistent and easily-accessible information – like that to be provided by the Australian Water Resources Information System.

“On completion, this system will provide up-to-date information on water resource availability and use, water trading, and forecasts of water availability months ahead.”

Tropical cyclone Linfa has developed in the South China Sea. It was centred at 0900UTC today around 18.8 N, 117.4 E, and is forecast to move north or north-northeast at about 15 km/h with some intensification for the next 24 hours. Tokyo Typhoon Centre has been closely watching the systems and providing guidance to the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the region.

A series of powerful storms packing heavy rains and frequent lightning strikes grounded dozens of flights, left hundreds of thousands without power and caused widespread damage across portions of Texas (USA). No deaths or injuries were reported from the storms that began whipping the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday night with winds up to 70 mph. By the time the storms cleared the city, some areas of Dallas got more than 8 inches of rain. More than 400 flights were cancelled on Thursday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport before they resumed operating later in the day

Heavy downpours in the Sheffield area of the UK have blocked roads and caused at least two school closures. Flood warnings remain in force for parts of northern England after torrential rain poured into homes and caused gridlock on the roads. The downpours in Sheffield and parts of Derbyshire closed roads and a railway line, causing havoc for commuters and the emergency services. Factory workers were also rescued in Dronfield, north Derbyshire, when floodwaters cut their building off. In the Norwood area of Sheffield 48.6mm of rain fell in the 24 hours from 0500GMT.

Leaders and representatives from some 165 governments are gathering in Geneva this week for a pivotal disaster risk reduction conference. They will be urged to “invest today for a safer tomorrow” or face much harder decisions in the years to come.

The aim is to reach a common understanding on a series of measurable and sustainable disaster risk reduction actions with a focus on four vital areas: increased investment; integration of disaster risk reduction into climate change adaptation and development planning; acceleration of community resilience and livelihood protection; a programme to accelerate disaster-proofing of public buildings—especially schools and hospitals.