Wild weather to bake or drench Christmas celebrations
While the country’s religious leaders offer a hopeful message, heat waves and thunderstorms threaten to weaken the Christmas spirit for some.
Extreme weather conditions will plague both the east and west coasts on Christmas Day.
Western Australians are expected to get sweltered during holiday lunches, with temperatures expected to reach the low 30s and 40s across much of the state.
The heatwave stretches from Karratha in the Pilbara region to areas south of Perth.
Warm conditions combined with dry, gusty storms have increased fire risk, and extreme fire danger is expected from the midwest coast to the capes.
“It’s pretty worrying conditions for our firefighters,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told ABC TV on Thursday.
On the other side of the country, rain will hit Queensland and the Northern Territory, while those further south will chill as they celebrate.
While severe storms are expected in Queensland’s Wide Bay region near Monto, regions in the state’s northwest and neighboring regions have been warned to be wary of flooding as monsoon rains continue.
Tropical Cyclone Grant will pass by the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a remote Australian territory about 2700 km northwest of Perth, bringing the risk of damaging rain and high winds.
Maximum temperatures in Hobart are expected to reach just 15°C, while in Melbourne the forecast high will be 17°C, making it the city’s coldest Christmas in nearly two decades.
The mercury is expected to reach the mid-20s in Sydney and Adelaide, while it will be a warmer 34C in Brisbane.
The usually enjoyable time of year has already been marred by the massacre of 15 people when gunmen targeted a Jewish celebration on Australia’s most iconic beach.
But Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said light would shine in the darkness following the anti-Semitic terror attack at Bondi Beach.
On December 14, the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, two gunmen inspired by the Islamic State killed 15 people.
“At a time when both Jews and Christians celebrate light and hope, we are faced with a profound evil,” Archbishop Fisher said.
“As many in our city suffer this Christmas, let us boldly declare: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
In the 2025 Christmas message of Charissa Suli, president of the Uniting Church in Australia, it was declared that light will prevail against the fires, floods and conflicts that marked 2025.
In his Christmas message, Pastor Suli declared that the light of Jesus would prevail and therefore “Christmas still matters.”
“That light does not ignore the darkness, it transforms it and calls us to compassion, generosity and justice,” he said.
Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long has called on Australians to step up and help make a difference in the face of pain and suffering.
“Our hearts continue to break every day when we see violence, especially against children, in places like Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar; we cannot passively watch all this suffering before our eyes,” he said.
“My prayer therefore is that each of you will feel the nearness of God and be instruments of peace in the coming New Year.”
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