Record-Cold Start To Summer For Australia's SE; Mumbai Shivers; Saskatchewan To -30.2C; Arctic Outbreak Signaled For North America; + X Flare And A Giant Sunspot Group

A huge sunspot complex, AR4294–96, has rotated onto the Earth-facing disk — one of the largest groups of the past decade.

Record-Cold Start To Summer For Australia’s Southeast

Snow on the first day of summer, December 1, has swept Australia’s southeast as a deep pulse of polar air drove temperatures as much as 15C below average across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.

Melbourne logged its coldest December 1 since 1996, reaching just 15C (59F) — and feeling closer to 8C once factoring in the wind-chill from strong south-westerlies. Ballarat, Canberra and Hobart also endured their coldest start to summer in decades.

Over the Alps, Mt Hotham managed a daytime high of only -0.6C (30.9F), breaking its previous December 1 record of 0.5C (from 2019), with Thredbo dipping to -0.8C (30.6F), also a new record.

Summer snow began falling, and settling across the likes of Mt Buller, Falls Creek, Mt Baw Baw and Mt Wellington.

This marks at least the sixth snowfall event for the mainland Alps since early November, giving the region one of its snowiest spring-summer transition periods in modern records. Mt Buller reported fresh, wind-packed drifts on exposed ridges.

Dozens of southeastern locations are now registering their coldest start to summer in decades, with feels-like values plunging to mid-single digits in metropolitan areas — and as low as 2.5C (36.5F) at Melbourne Airport.

There’s more to come for the East through Tuesday.

Mumbai Shivers

Mumbai has posted its coldest November morning in more than a decade.