The news July 4 2024 Southern Ocean Monster

Australia's highest air pressure on record observed as monster high engulfs the nation.

The high's incredible size will allow the system to control the weather this week from Fiji to a few hundred kilometres off the WA west coast — a distance of about 7,000km.

While highs generally bring mostly settled conditions, the precise weather this week around Australia is largely dependent on a location's position relative to the system's centre.

Generally, weather systems move swiftly across Australia.

However, the waves propagating along the jet occasionally became amplified to the point when they "break" like waves in the ocean.

With that conveyor belt broken, this could mean a high-pressure system dominates, stalled in one spot with nothing to help move it along, ultimately causing a traffic jam in weather systems behind it.

Record low temperatures and high pressures were experienced as a result. “Are the records a concern?” Beyond Tipping Point, one of my novels explores possibilities.

References

ABC News - Australian high pressure record challenged as monster high stalls near Tasmania, 4 July 2024

ABC News - How the jet stream has been driving extreme heat and rain around the globe, 30 Sept 2023