The Indian Ocean sea temperatures are expected to bring on a flood of wetter weather over the winter, spring, and summer seasons, with the Australian east coast expected to get additional rainfall.
The weather phenomenon is the Indian Ocean’s response to the La Nina and El Nino systems in the Pacific Ocean and has a significant impact on whether Australia experiences wet or dry conditions.
The Indian Ocean Dipole [IOD] shows how the Arabian Sea in the west and the eastern pole south of Indonesia have different sea surface temperatures.
Rainfall in the nations that surround the Indian Ocean Basin, including sections of Africa, Asia, and Australia, is impacted by the positive or negative IOD temperatures.
The region will continue to experience above-average precipitation, even into the summer, according to Sky News Chief Meteorologist Thomas Saunders, as NSW and Queensland recover from last week’s unusually heavy precipitation.
Negative IOD episodes typically linger until November or December, according to Mr. Saunders.
They “pump cloud and rain across Australia and are the Indian Ocean equivalent of La Nina.”
The most recent reading of the Indian Ocean Dipole is the lowest since September 2016. 2022 will probably be a [bad] IOD year, we can definitely say that now, Mr. Saunders wrote on social media on Monday.
“For it to be official, the figure needs to stay below -0.4 for eight weeks.”
Currently at -1.14C, the IOD index is expected to drop to -1.4C in August.
Except for Perth, Mr. Saunders continued, the excess precipitation will affect the entire nation.
A negative IOD can raise the probability of above-average winter-to-spring precipitation across the entire nation.
Northern Australia will also experience warmer days and nights as a result.
It also prevents rain from falling in East African regions that are prone to flooding.
In contrast, a positive IOD decreases the likelihood of rain in Australia while increasing the likelihood of rain in East Africa.
The announcement comes after a week of relentless rain, devastating winds, and flooding that devastated the NSW and Queensland coasts.
As it moved down from the tropics and covered the east coast, a large cloudband brought rain and whipped up surf along the coastline.
Two brief days of sunshine in NSW were followed by heavy rain on Sunday, and forecasters are predicting additional downpours, freezing temperatures, and snow.