Given our recent rocky weather, it is wise to become familiar with weather forecasts in order to be prepared. Forecasting has come a long way from the hit and miss days of the ‘weather man’ standing in front of a map of Australia on the evening news. There are now many forecasting tools available to the every day person in their own home at a click of a mouse button.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM http://www.bom.gov.au/) provides a range of tools in addition to traditional forecasting. Radar and satellite images keep you up to date with what weather systems are around in your area and across the nation. Seasonal trends are illustrated in graphs and the impact of El Niño/La Niña climate patterns are explained.

For those salty sea dogs, you will find a suite of useful marine information including sea temperatures, sea surface winds, tides, wave heights and moonrise times. If you want to become a meteorological expert in your own home, there are many graphs, statistics and forecasting models available and explained on the BoM website.

For those people in more regional areas seeking localised information, Elders Weather (http://www.eldersweather.com.au/) provides forecasts and historical weather data for regional areas including Moranbah, Clermont and Emerald. The Central Highlands 28 day rainfall forecast is a useful tool to indicate the long term chance of rain for the region.

Although not localised to the Mackay region, Weather Zone (http://www.weatherzone.com.au/) provide a Pollen Index which predicts the volume of pollen in the air, useful for those who suffer allergies.