In good news for all except hay-fever sufferers, Victoria's weather is finally starting to shed its winter coat for spring.

Heavy snowfalls over the central ranges all the way up to New England caused traffic chaos on NSW roads on Friday, a day when even Queenslanders woke to a blanket of white.

The past five years have been the hottest on record.

For the first time this year the mercury has dipped below zero in Canberra.

You can hold off putting that extra doona on your bed for another week, Canberra.

Googong dam has begun to spill again, as Wednesday's wet weather pushed it to capacity, while sporting grounds across the territory were shut and chaos reigned on Canberra's roads.

A strong cold front will sweep over much of Australia over the weekend, bringing potentially the largest outbreak of frigid conditions in 15 years, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Queanbeyan and southern Canberra have been battered with a severe hail storm.

At least 10 people have died in northern Japan after a powerful typhoon pounded the region.

Canberra's temperatures varied by more than 35 degrees during a warmer, drier summer than average, meteorologists say.

Canberra is in for some above-average warmth as the weekend nears but the odd shower and a touch of cloud will rain on an otherwise sunny parade.

A much-anticipated cool change took its time making it to Sydney, dragging out another unseasonably hot day.

Many of Sydney's commuters are in for a sweltering journey to and from work today as temperatures soar towards the high 30s ahead a late afternoon cool change.

Last month was within 0.01 degrees of being the equal warmest April in records going back to 1891, Japan Meteorological Agency says.

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

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.

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.

Large swaths of India were baking again Wednesday under intense heat that has killed more than 1,300 people and left the government scrambling to warn an often unheeding population about the dangers of stepping outside in the blazing midday sun.

Air pollution was higher in Sydney's north-western suburb of Prospect on Friday morning than it was in Beijing at the same time. 

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.

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. 

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.

It was the perfect winter weekend to stay indoors with the Perth metropolitan area drenched in rain and battered by strong winds and hail stones.

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

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