Weekly Tropical Climate Note
Issued on Tuesday 17 December 2013
[h=2]Active monsoon trough next week, but will it move over Australia? It is becoming increasingly likely that parts of northern Australia will see another burst of monsoon activity before the end of the year. Enhanced cloudiness associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is currently located over the eastern Indian Ocean and most climate models forecast the MJO to progress eastward into Australian longitudes over the coming week. The North Australian Monsoon often becomes more active when influenced by the MJO. Weather models support this outcome; a monsoon trough is forecast to develop over northern Australian waters next week. However, there is currently uncertainty as to whether the trough will move southwards over the Australian continent, or linger offshore to the north. In either case, next week is likely to see active tropical weather over southern Indonesia, East Timor and along Australia's North Coast. Showers or storms may push inland, over northern Australia, depending upon the movement and location of the trough. This also increases the risk of tropical cyclone development within the Australian Region over the next fortnight.
See the Bureau's
MJO Monitoring for more information on location and tracking of the MJO.
[h=2]Two tropical cyclones in the southern Indian Ocean This past week has seen two tropical cyclones form over the southern Indian Ocean. The first, tropical cyclone
Amara, formed near 15° S and 70° E and is tracking west. The other tropical low is located southeast of Sumatra, near Cocos Island, is forecast to reach tropical cyclone strength later this week.
[h=2]ENSO state: neutral El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) remains in the neutral state. The latest NINO3.4 sea surface temperature anomaly is +0.1 °C. The 30-day Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) value to 15 December is +8.0.
See the Bureau's
ENSO Wrap-Up which includes a compilation of computer model predictions of ENSO indices.
Next update expected by 24 December 2013| Product Code IDCKGEWOOO