La Niña: Australians told a wet spring and summer are ‘essentially guaranteed’

Australians have been warned to brace for a wet few months, with the Bureau of Meteorology officially declaring a La Niña is happening.

During a La Niña, cooler ocean temperatures in the equatorial pacific, combined with warming sea temperatures off the north coast of Australia, lead to more moisture lifted in the air than usual.

Sky News chief meteorologist, Tom Saunders, said a wetter than usual spring and summer is “essentially guaranteed”.

“We’ve already seen an increase in rainfall over the last couple of months, as the La Niña has formed,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“It’s essentially guaranteed that many parts of Australia will be wetter than normal through the rest of this year.”

This year’s La Niña is the first in nine years.

The weather pattern is welcome news for bushfire prone areas, but there is an elevated flood risk.

“The severe weather season, October through to April, it’s likely to be both the wettest and coolest in around nine or ten years throughout many parts of the country,” Mr Saunders said.

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