Weather and climate drivers

The general circulation of the atmosphere, caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface, is the driving force behind our weather and climate.

Energy from the sun causes evaporation from tropical oceans and uneven heating of land and sea surfaces.

Figure 1. The major weather and climate drivers across Australia

Regional drivers

While we describe the major drivers state by state, individual drivers do not respect state boundaries. So if you are in southern Queensland, for example, you might want to also check out the drivers for northern New South Wales.

The Bureau of Meteorology is currently identifying the weather and climate drivers for the states/territories not listed below. We will publish them here as soon as they are available.