Widespread heavy rain occurred last week in Australia. The aerial coverage and intensity of the rainfall was likely the wettest in the seasonally wet climate pattern currently occupying the continent. Rainfall amount of 4-6 in. was common in southeast Queensland and (more) spotty in eastern New South Wales.

Fathering storms clouds today in Australia convene along a sharp cold front to produce excessive rainfall in Eastern Australia mid-to-late week followed by unseasonably cool to cold temperatures.

The cool-to-cold season 2021-22 starts off exactly the opposite of last year with a warm October and increasingly colder November. December and January also look colder than last year.

Sharp thermal contrast across the Pacific Ocean was characteristic of the global SSTA analysis for October 2021. Featured is developing La Nina and a lengthy cool phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation which is intensifying. Meanwhile "warm blobs" of SSTA common the past 10 years are prevailing near the Dateline in both hemispheres across the Pacific!