• 41 mins ago

The most extensive heatwave of the summer is building over inland Australia, setting up Sydney and much of the state for record-tilting heat over the coming weekend.

A gigantic, powerhouse winter storm is charging through the North Atlantic and threatens to flood the high Arctic with abnormally mild air.

A man has been struck by a lightning and killed while battling grassfires in central western NSW, as a series of severe thunderstorms swept across the state and delivered a day of wild weather.

A house collapsed, major roads slowed to a crawl, lightning strikes closed the airport and even the Salvation Army needed emergency help as a series of intense thunderstorms drenched many parts of Sydney.

Climate change has long been the target of fake news and its researchers can offer lessons for the wider society in how to handle deliberate misinformation, a leading US scientist said.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for heavy rainfall and damaging winds across the Sydney metropolitan, Hunter, Illawarra and Central Tablelands districts.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for heavy rainfall and damaging winds in the Sydney metropolitan and parts of the Illawarra forecast districts on Tuesday morning in what is expected to be the city's wettest day since late last year.

Sydneysiders to get a couple of days of relief from the abnormal warmth before another tide of heat arrives, all but assuring this summer will be the city's hottest on record.

Sydneysiders who tossed and turned their way through yet another stifling night can rest assured: relief is on its way on Monday afternoon.

Sydneysiders are sweltering through a hot and sticky Sunday, with temperatures passing the 30-degree mark since 9.30am.

Climate science at the CSIRO is bouncing back one year after executives modelled its demise, securing new revenue streams in the Pacific and China and looking to hire new staff.

It's 5.40am in Moree, northern NSW, as Ben Adams wakes up and prepares for work.

Canberrans who sweltered through a hot and humid Sunday should brace themselves for an uncomfortably warm night. 

Sydney prepares for a hot February weekend ahead of what is likely to be another month of sweltering temperatures.

Early colonists thought weather systems moved from east to west.

"We are all very worried here," Rahmstorf, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, says.

"Clean coal" plants that the Turnbull government has flagged could get clean energy subsidies are more expensive than solar, wind and gas-fired power and would lead to higher electricity price rises, analysts have warned.

As the temperature reaches new heights, so does the sale of air conditioners as Sydneysiders seek out cool relief in their homes. 

We should invest in the future, not sink more public money into last century's technologies.

Australia's top business groups have cautioned the government against making any more changes to the renewable energy target.

Once thought to be aberrant behaviour, cannibalism is common in the natural world - and for many species, not necessarily a bad thing.

Sydney's latest summer heatwave has peaked and temperatures are plummeting - but the relief won't last long as another hot spell will arrive within days.

Sydneysiders struggling back to work and school this week are likely to get little early relief - particularly overnight - from the city's record-breaking heat.

NSW students returning to school this week face extreme heat on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures reaching into the 40s for much of the state. 

The Andrews government will pledge to cut Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions by up to a fifth by 2020, putting it at odds with Canberra on tackling climate change.