GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

It looks like eastern Australia is in for some rain:

A National Climate Centre report says the drought-producing El Nino event is weakening.

It says a switch to average or wetter-than-average rainfall patterns is likely in late summer or autumn.

Sydneysiders are doomed:

A report commissioned by the New South Wales Government predicts large temperature rises and a decrease in rainfall of up to 40 per cent over the next 70 years.

The study forecasts the city's average temperature will rise by up to 1.6 degrees by 2030 and 4.8 degrees by 2070.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has not held back in stressing the significance of the findings.

"[It is] alarming - it's a doomsday prediction but it's something that cannot be ignored," he said.

The report's author, Ben Preston, says it is probably too late to prevent temperature rises in the coming decades.

Quick, the government needs more power to... do something.