ABC, By: Jacob Kagi, 12/18/2013

The sweltering conditions experienced by much of the southern Wheatbelt and south-east coast has broken several records, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Newdegate, Lake Grace, Ravensthorpe and Esperance are among the towns to have broken records during the heatwave over recent days, while the Wheatbelt town of Hyden has been one of the worst affected, suffering four straight days of 41 degrees or higher.

Esperance set the most notable record yesterday, breaking its previous mark for the hottest ever December day. It recorded a top of 45.3 degrees at 1.23pm, beating the previous mark of 44.9 degrees set on December 29, 2009. It was an astonishing 24.8 degrees above the town's maximum temperature just five days earlier. Newdegate and Lake Grace both recorded three consecutive December days with maximum temperatures above 40 degrees from Saturday to Monday, for the first time.

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ABC, By: Eric Tlozek, 12/17/2013

The 2011 flood victims planning to sue the State Government and dam operators say justice is more important than compensation. Hundreds of people last night packed into a hotel at Ipswich, west of Brisbane, to hear from law firm Maurice Blackburn about its planned class action.

International litigation funder Bentham-IMF recently committed to financing the suit. Maurice Blackburn principal Damian Scattini says he expects that will make more people join the 5,000 who have already registered for the class action. "I think a lot of people have been waiting, frankly, to have the announcement that the matter is definitely going ahead," he said. Flood victim Kym Kitchener says she has joined because she wants people to be held responsible for the floods.

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ABC, By Chrissy Arthur, 12/12/2013

The weather bureau says it is looking likely that some western Queensland centres will look back on 2013 as being the driest on record. Cameron Hinze from the Mount Isa bureau says with only a few weeks to go until the end of the year, there are areas lagging way behind in rainfall totals for the year. He says Mount Isa city has had only 61 millimetres of rain for the year - 100mm behind 1970. "So I can't really see that happening before the end of the year, so I think we can pretty much say this is the driest year on record for Mount Isa," he said.

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Weatherzone, By: Drew Casper-Richardson, 12/07/2013

Very hot, dry and windy conditions have caused the issue of a Catastrophic Fire Danger for the Eucla in Western Australia. A trough has been lingering over Western Australia in recent days, triggering widespread heavy rain and storms over northern and central parts. On Saturday, the trough will filter a very hot airmass over states southeast and bring fresh to strong northwest winds over the region.

The combination of these conditions are ripe for fires to spread rapidly and be difficult to bring under the control. This has lead to the Catastrophic Fire Danger being issued for the Eucla, the highest Fire Danger rating. In the Eucla, temperatures will reach the mid-to-high thirties with northwest winds gusting to 60-70km/h.

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Weatherzone, By: Ben McBurney, 12/02/2013

Sydney has recorded its warmest spring on record, largely due to a fiery September and October. The combined minimum and maximum for the New South Wales capital of 19.9 degrees for spring comfortably broke the previous record of 19.5 degrees set in 1988. The average maximum of 24.7 degrees smashed the previous record set in 2002 of 24.2 degrees.

Despite November coming in close to average, October and particularly September were largely responsible for the record. The average maximum of 24.4 degrees in September was more than four degrees above the long term average, and more than one degree above the previous record of 23.3 degrees set in 1980.

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