Big dry on the way … Amber Colquhoun and Jenna Watt enjoy the water at Bondi. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: The Daily Telegraph

A dramatic shift in ocean temperatures through the Pacific and Indian oceans is about to cause the dramatic shift in our weather, according to Tom Saunders, Senior Meteorologist at The Weather Channel.

Australia is now rapidly drying out, he said this morning.

“In July weather patterns started to shift, evident only a month later when the nation recorded its fifth driest August in 113 years of records,” Mr Saunders said.

“The nation’s dry August was not just random variability, it was due to changes in water temperatures across the Pacific and Indian oceans.

“A positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has now firmly developed off Australia’s west coast. A positive IOD refers to a pattern of colder waters off the west coast of Indonesia and warmer waters off the east coast of Africa. This reduces the amount of evaporation and moisture carried from the tropical oceans into the atmosphere over Australia, and this reduction in moisture eventually reduces rainfall through the country,” says Saunders.

The effects of the abnormal ocean temperatures are already being felt.

“Coolangatta has recorded its longest dry spell on record with 48 consecutive days without rain. Alice Springs is less than a week away from recording its longest dry spell on record while Brisbane has recorded only 0.2mm of rain over the past 54 days,” Mr Saunders said

“When you combine the positive IOD with an emerging El Niño we are very confident rain will be below average over most of the country through the remainder of 2012, particularly through south-eastern states.”

“Even though we are expecting below average rain there will still be short periods of relief. In the short term the dry spell for some parts of Australia including south-east Queensland will break, with a spell of storms and showers likely next week.’’

Yesterday saw the first rain in Sydney for more than three weeks. Despite warnings of a big dry Sydney is forecast to see showers for most of next week after a mostly sunny weekend.