Storms Hit Interior, East Stays Clear

Let's fly around the States looking at Friday's details and it's another hot day in Queensland. I feel a bit like a broken record saying that at the moment, the heat is persistent and continuing for the rest of this week. Low 40s out to the west, high 30s around Rockhampton and inland parts of the east. We've got lower 30s for the far east coast, but feeling every one of those degrees with a bit of humidity in the atmosphere. Rain will be at a premium across Queensland on Friday. There's the slight chance of a shower or storm between Rockhampton and Brisbane, but I really do have to emphasise that slight chance with most people not seeing any rainfall at all.

You might wake up to foggy skies across eastern parts of New South Wales on Friday morning. That fog will dissipate pretty quickly once the sun gets up, and then it will be a fairly settled day. Very little wind across the state tomorrow. Temperatures are mild, I would say seasonal for this time of year, and that could be a nice change after some scorching days earlier on in the week. There's not much rain here either. Possibly a shower around the northern rivers, and 1 or 2 showers around the south coast, which could stretch as far north as the Illawarra.

We'll see a little bit of light rain or drizzle across southern Victoria during Friday, so all of these southern districts might just get a spot of wet weather, but it's probably less than 2mm everywhere throughout the state. That will clear up, and it will become mostly dry in the afternoon, nice and calm as well. Temperatures do stay on the cool side of average for most of the state, 17 as the forecast maximum in Melbourne, although it'll be a bit warmer in the far north, with Mildura topping at 25.

We're back to westerly winds for Tasmania on Friday, and what that means is more showers peppering the west coast. Some showers up in the mountains as well. Along the north of the state and for eastern areas including Hobart, don't expect to see any of that wet weather, and it will be a fairly pleasant day, but gusty wind at times - a mixture of sunshine and cloud overhead with slightly cooler temperatures.

To South Australia now - this is where we do start to see a bit of action. For most of the day rain and storms are possible in the Northwest Pastoral District and along the West Coast, and we could actually see some severe thunderstorms in those districts that bring heavy rain, large hail and damaging wind gusts. We will see some of that wet and stormy weather move eastwards during the afternoon or evening across parts of the Eyre Peninsula and out towards Port Augusta as well. However, further east it is looking relatively settled. From Moomba down to Murray Bridge it's a fine day - that includes Adelaide with a high of 22. Mostly sunny, until the cloud arrives later on in the evening. Down in the very far south for Mount Gambier, a possible morning shower actually, dry after that, but a little bit chilly.

For the west, let's start off around Perth, where we expect to see bands of showers move across the South West right throughout the day, bringing spells of wet weather, and there'll be some spells of sunshine in between the wet weather as well. A bit of gusty wind out there will keep temperatures below 20 degrees. There's also this big active band of showers and storms over the far interior, but there's quite a long gap between this rain and this rain down here, so several places through the middle will actually have a mostly sunny day. It's also fairly fine up north, chance of a storm through inland parts, but along the coast it's probably bright and sunny, but those winds could ramp up a little bit. Continues to be very hot across northern Australia.

The heat waves have set in for the rest of this week, the weekend and potentially out to next week as well. We've got hot days and we've also got very hot nights. Look at these minimum temperatures - 25, 26, 28 degrees, some stifling overnight conditions. There's a chance of a shower or storm around parts of the western Top End, the Gregory and the Tanami areas, but the only spot where that wet weather looks a little bit more likely is way down in the south here, with possible showers or even thunderstorms across Uluru, a high of 32 degrees there.

You can stay up to date with the latest weather information on the Bureau's website. And in fact, the Bureau has released a new website so you can check that out at www.bom.gov.au. That is the website right there, go and see what you think. And of course you can stay up to date through the BOM Weather App and social media channels as well.