Look, it's just hard to get work done in the summer. It's bright and sunny on the other side of that window, you've always got a friend or two posting beach pics on Instagram, and unless the A/C is blowing right on you, all you can think about is where your next ice-cold beverage is coming from.

Hello from beautiful, sunny Sydney, where the morning's rainfall managed to drop the equivalent of November's average monthly rainfall in just two hours. The torrential rain has managed to flood roads, bridges and houses, and has shut down much of Sydney's public transport network. Here's what the rain has done to Sydney and its surrounds.

A low pressure system is building in Australia and is set to dump two months' worth of rain on Sydney and surrounds in less than a day. As if this wasn't enough, the area is set to be buffeted by intense and dangerous winds for the second time in as many weeks, and flash flooding is expected in some areas. Here's what you need to know if you live in NSW.

Do you know what the weather is supposed to be like later this week for your kid's soccer game? How about that picnic you have planned for Saturday? Should you start thinking about an indoor venue instead?

Climate change used to seem like something that would confront our grandchildren — a distant concern. Now, though, it’s staring us right in the face when we get up in the morning.

Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall along the US Atlantic coast tonight or tomorrow. While coastal Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina are expected to be the hardest hit, anyone who lives along the US Eastern seaboard should be keeping a close eye on the storm’s progress.

Hurricane Florence is hitting the US East Coast, whipping through Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and you can watch it from several webcams. Above (WARNING: Very loud wind) is the view from Frying Pan Tower, 55km off the coast of Cape Fear, NC, where the wind is shredding the flag. More live cams below.

The National Hurricane Center expects Hurricane Florence to cause “life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding” when it makes landfall in the US later this week, and now there’s a tool that gives us an idea of just how catastrophic that impact will be.

Carrot Weather, the famously mouthy weather app for iOS and Mac, is now in beta on Android. The app reports the weather with sarcastic patter, doing a mediocre impression of the abusive AI from Portal. Thankfully, you can switch to "professional" mode and enjoy a sophisticated, customisable weather app without distractions.

A geomagnetic storm has been forecast to hit Earth this week, due to high speed solar wind streams resulting from a coronal hole. This all sounds very scary, and media coverage of the event has ranged from apocalyptic to promising a planet bathed in beautiful auroras, but the truth is a little less spectacular than that.

Most of us won't actually notice the solar storm's activity at all - but if you're lucky you may get a glimpse of an aurora.

The good news is that Australia is one of the best locations in the world to watch tonight's total lunar eclipse. The bad news is that clouds and rain are threatening to spoil the show.

Here is tonight's weather forecast and estimated cloud cover for each capital city. Sydneysiders may want to bring an umbrella.

Hoo boy, the weather on Christmas Day is a bit of a mixed bag across the country this year. Some of us will be heating up the barbie and jumping in the pool whereas others are likely to be neck deep in Christmas sweaters with a glass of egg nog and an open fire. (I know what I'd prefer.)

Here's the Christmas Day weather forecast across Australia.

Though weather forecasting is a notoriously inexact science, thanks to voice assistants, pop-up notifications and buzzing smartwatches, it's easier than ever to keep tabs on the day's weather (and dress accordingly). Of course, checking the truncated weather forecast on your phone might be convenient, but it could also mean you're losing out on valuable information that could help you deal with the heat, rain, or general mugginess outside. That's where desktop weather apps come in.

Video: Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast on August 25 as a Category 4 hurricane.

If you live near a coast in the US, you've probably been biting your nails as Irma was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane, and the category numbers climbed. But what do the categories mean, exactly?

Hurricane categories range from 1 (119km/h winds) to 5 (252km/h and up). There is no Category 6, not even for record breaking storms such as Irma.

The Earth is getting warmer. That's a fact. And as the Earth gets warmer, we expect to see larger and stronger hurricanes. Also a fact. But there are folks denying these facts, even to the point of blaming the liberal media for the fact that hurricanes are in the news.

iOS: AccuWeather was recently found to be collecting location data belonging to users of its iOS app, whether they had opted into sharing it or not. The weather app has since removed the offending piece of software, but you'll need to update the app if you'd like to stop it from collecting any more data.

Sometimes outside car thermometers are so inaccurate that they feel like random number generators. They're basically the worst feature of the car, next to the car's infotainment systems. That's because they're not actually thermometers, they're thermistors.