ClimateWatch: MARCH pattern is looking quite orderly to start with

Storms near Antarctica, Autumn's westerlies building south of Australia & NZ, high pressure again affecting both nations and the tropics has low pressure - those are the layers of weather over the coming weeks which, for the most part, are sticking to their lanes. Of course March is the peak of the tropical cyclone season, so any tropical storm can break a long range outlook, but for the most part we're seeing drier weather in southern Australia and large parts of NZ, while the tropics get more active - especially around Australia. We track the highs and lows on the way, the status of La Nina (continues to weaken and should be gone soon) and the chances of El Nino forming later this year. We also look back over the past month to track soil moisture levels in NZ and Australia, and sea surface temperatures right around Australasia and the south-west Pacific. ClimateWatch videos are a monthly outlook tracking the weather patterns and climate drivers.