The hyperactive hurricane season in the Pacific has jumped up another gear, spawning a record trio of category 4 strength tropical storms that will give the powerful El Nino event yet another boost.

Search-and-rescue teams have located debris appearing to belong to the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing in the eye of Hurricane Joaquin with 33 mostly American crew members aboard more than three days ago.

Australian customs officials destroyed two irreplaceable plant specimens that were being loaned to scientists by international institutions, prompting one of the institutions to suspend all transfers to Australian scientists.

The restart of Sydney's desalination plant is proceeding faster than expected, helping to slow the drawdown of the city's reservoirs amid the ongoing drought.

Air quality deteriorated to poor and hazardous levels in some parts of Sydney on Thursday morning as controlled burns gave the city the distinctive smell of burning Australian bush. 

MANILA, May 10 AFP - More than 2000 people are fleeing their homes as Typhoon Noul strikes the northern Philippines.

Extreme rainfall events in Sydney are on the increase, particularly during summer, a new report finds, while engineers are set to be given new guidelines to adjust for the flood impacts of climate change.

Another burst of wintry cold is heading Sydney's way - but not before the mildest run of weather so far this month.

You survived Melbourne's hot summer? Expect Autumn to be wet. But first, we have to get through March, which is looking like a scorcher.

There's nothing like a double rainbow to get Sydneysiders to wax lyrical (or resort to multiple exclamation marks!) 

Heavy snowfalls over the central ranges all the way up to New England are causing traffic chaos on NSW roads, with the Hume Motorway closed in both directions as wild weather heads towards Sydney.

Sydney is due one more lashing from the powerful low pressure system hovering off the NSW coast that earlier caused flooding in regions south of the city including the evacuation of hundreds of primary school students.

Canberra is bracing for a hot, dry weekend but a cool change could bring light rain on Christmas Day.

As Sydney's run of abnormally warm and dry conditions rolls into a sixth week, the first signs of break in the weather are showing up in the forecasts.

It's the time of the year when the surf looks its most inviting, but it's also when our anxiety about sharks hits its peak.