NSW faces a dangerous bushfire season, with hot, dry spring weather and abundant fuel predicted to result in a higher than average risk of major fires breaking out across the state, scientists have warned.

MOTHER Nature will shower Newcastle with a Christmas present of her own with meteorologists predicting a stormy holiday weekend.

METEOROLOGISTS may be said to be dull but if Stewart Swords is anything to go by, their careers are not.

AS THE first anniversary of the June long weekend floods and storms approaches, meteorologists have predicted there will not be a repeat in the Hunter this winter.

ONE of the world's foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don't understand how the atmosphere works".