http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/heatwave/ I do not see unusual daily max temperatures in the Darwin region this month. The 1st and 2nd topped 35 so just snuck into the BoM heatwave range. From the 3rd to 10th have all been under 35 so fail the test. http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colour=colour&time=history%2Fnat%2F2022120220221202&step=8&map=maxanom&period=daily&area=nat The GreenLeft SMH has an article critical of BoM this year. Under the weather: the Bureau of Meteorology’s terrible, horrible, very bad, no good year - Nick O'Malley and Nigel Gladstone 11Dec22 disallowed/environment/weather/under-the-weather-the-bureau-of-meteorology-s-terrible-horrible-very-bad-no-good-year-20221208-p5c4q0.html The Bureau of Meteorology is battling stormy weather inside and out. Farmers, former employees and the union representing its staff say the agency’s decision-making, culture and communications are as clear as the mud that swamped communities along the east coast this year.----- sorry paywalled for me
Both BoM Acorn adjusted mean temperatures series and the NASA lower troposphere satellites as compiled at University of Alabama @ Huntsville agree that Australia continues to cool after the warmth of 2019. Earlier this year the Tonga volcano added ash/SO2 to the the global atmospheric load. https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/List_of_large_historical_volcanic_eruptions Dozens of volcanoes are listed by the Smithsonian as "current eruptions" incl many nearby in Indonesia. https://volcano.si.edu/gvp_currenteruptions.cfm The SOI is still way positive indicating LaNina conditions favouring rain this month. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a020.shtml
The net effect of my comment is to suggest - do not be surprised if Ozzie summer 2022-23 carries on cooler than normal.
