As is often the case, southeastern Europe has managed to retain its summer heat well into the Autumn months, and shared some of that heat with the Balkans for a time. Temperatures were unusually high at the start of the month due to warm, southerly, sirocco winds. These are warm winds which originate from north Africa (often extending out of the Sahara Desert).
Belgrade in Serbia began November with values around the low 20’s Celsius. That’s 12 degrees above average. By the start of this week they had a complete change of fortune. Monday 8 November was cold and wet with a best temperature of just 5 Celsius in the cloud and rain. On Tuesday, 55mm of rain was recorded bringing the total since Sunday evening to 61mm, exactly matching the November average.
On the other side of the world, parts of eastern Australia have also had some rather wet weather to deal with recently. Taree in New South Wales recorded 136mm of rain in 24 hours. To some extent this rainfall was welcome in that much of the state is still experiencing a prolonged drought. However it is of limited use to get so much rain in so little time. The November average is 83mm.
Across the state border, stormy conditions have lashed down across parts of Queensland. Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, 60 miles south of Brisbane has recorded 319mm of rain in the last four days. That total is fast approaching 3 times the monthly average of 119mm. There have been reports of golf ball sized hail in places. Some trees have been brought down in the gusty conditions and many people found themselves without power for a time.
Conditions are now beginning to improve, at least for the next few days.
