SYDNEY - Australia is experiencing an unusually wet period during a strong El Niño event, with widespread storms, heavy rainfall and flash flooding forecast to affect large parts of the country over the coming days, meteorologists and climate scientists say.

The nation is on track to record its wettest El Niño year on record. Winter 2026 was the wettest for an El Niño year in 35 years, and national winter-spring rainfall is running above the long-term average — a pattern that has not occurred in any of the 27 previous El Niño years since 1900.

More than half the country is expected to see showers and thunderstorms in the next seven days. Parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales could receive more than 50 mm of rain. Queensland is the primary focus for intense storms on Saturday, particularly inland areas south of Longreach, where tropical moisture is elevating the risk of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding.

Sydney has already recorded more than 100 mm of rain this week. Queensland has experienced significant flash flooding, while destructive winds have affected Alice Springs. Showers and storms are forecast to continue across Queensland and parts of New South Wales on Sunday, with the unsettled weather pattern expected to persist into next week.

The wet conditions stand in contrast to the typical impacts of a strong El Niño combined with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, climate patterns that historically bring drier-than-average conditions across much........

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