A strong cold front is set to sweep across south-east Australia today and tomorrow, bringing showers, strong winds and highland snow in several states.
Firefighting aircraft and ground crews from other countries are headed to Greece to help battle wildfires that have intensified as a heatwave baked much of southern Europe in temperatures above 40 degrees.
Severe warnings are in place in four states and territories as a cold front sweeps across southeast Australia, bringing damaging winds, showers, storms and alpine snow.
While much of Australia was blanketed in a cold fog and spitting rain, a world record was being broken with blistering heat descending on North America, North Africa and Asia.
Australia's warm start to winter has seen records tumble, but you wouldn't know it depending on where you are, with a stormy "thundersnow" event also hammering our alpine regions this week.
An El Niño event is looking more probable than ever after the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded its status from "El Niño watch" to "El Niño alert" this afternoon.
Multiple states have been warned of strong winds, cold temperatures and heavy rain as a "powerful" cold front begins to cross the southern parts of the country.
It's been a record-breaking start to winter for many, but now residents in every state and territory have been warned to brace as storms, powerful winds and possible hail are set to hit southern WA before drifting east.
Australia is facing an unusual winter, with a predicted El Nino and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) triggering warmer and drier weather around the country.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning covering eastern Victoria, southeast NSW including the Central Tablelands and Illawarra and Tasmania.
Aussie skiers and boarders may be in for a disappointing season this year as two major climate drivers collide, potentially resulting in poor or lower-than-average snowfall.
The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is one of the "main mechanisms influencing Australia's climate" and meteorologists say it's just reached one of its strongest positive levels on record.
With La Niña officially over, an El Niño watch issued ahead of summer - and following this week's unseasonable May cold snap - questions about what winter may hold are swirling.
A tropical cyclone is strengthening in the Bay of Bengal and is on course to hit western Myanmar and Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee camp.
In Oakey, a small town in the Toowoomba locality, the mercury hit a low of -5.6 degrees by 6.30am today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
Parts of Australia's south-east have recorded their coldest May temperatures in years as a "significant" cold front continues to sweep across the country.
Much of Australia will cop heavy rain and storms, but one state in particular will face an inundation, fuelling fears of flash floods and damaging storms.