Jonathon How News Today

Sydney prepares to be one of the first major cities in the world to bring in the New Year; An investigation underway into a mid-air incident between Bali and Melbourne; Some boats still sailing in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

A tracker map shows Cyclone Jasper is set to make landfall north of Cairns, with the town of Port Douglas identified as a potential red zone.

As of Monday morning, Tropical Cyclone Jasper - which has weakened to a category one storm - was about 600km east of Cairns heading west at 20km/hour.

Virtually all of Australia will be lashed with relentless rain this week as the east coast braces for dangerous storms and record-breaking falls.

The Bureau of Meteorology increased the El Nino-Southern Oscillation La Nina outlook from watch to alert on Tuesday afternoon with the third La Nina in a row likely to form in spring.

Australians are obsessing over new puffer slippers from North Face after a polar blast delivered an icy start to winter.

A pool of freezing air swirling over Tasmania, NSW and Victoria will bring below average temperatures, showers and damaging winds all the way to parts of southern Queensland.

Thousands are unable to begin cleaning up and repairing flood-ravaged homes due to short supplies in the building industry, while the threat of more rain lingers.

Thousands are unable to begin cleaning up and repairing flood-ravaged homes due to short supplies in the building industry, while the threat of more rain lingers.

Thousands are unable to begin cleaning up and repairing flood-ravaged homes due to short supplies in the building industry, while the threat of more rain lingers.