Stormy Cold Front Hits Eastern Australia

Now we've already got Severe Weather Warnings for damaging winds current for three states New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. For New South Wales and Tasmania the warning covers southern parts of the state and that risk is most likely from later today, going into this evening. Across Victoria, though, we may see some damaging wind gusts through the course of today as well. And it's worth noting that our warning area includes parts of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, as well as our exposed coast and elevated areas.

Now let's take a look at how that cold front moves through. So as it approaches the south-east today, showers, thunderstorms and strong winds will continue across the eastern states from southern Queensland all the way down to Tasmania, pushing back into parts of central Australia and northern parts of South Australia as well. The cold front itself should reach south-east South Australia early this evening, reaching Hobart and Melbourne through the later part of this evening. We'll see a change in wind direction at that time, and another burst of showery weather.

As we go into tomorrow the cold front will start to move off the east coast, with wet and stormy weather contracting to north-east New South Wales and south-east Queensland. We're likely to see showers and breezy conditions continuing in the far south as a follow up cold front moves through, but much drier weather will return to much of New South Wales and Queensland. Thunderstorms will really be a huge driving factor in our rainfall over the next couple of days. So let's break down the thunderstorm forecast for today and tomorrow.

Now, for today storms are possible in our green areas, so stretching multiple states through the east, parts of central Australia as well. Now we've got several yellow areas on this map showing us where severe thunderstorms are possible. For the most part, those severe storms are likely through this afternoon. But across these coastal parts of the south-east, those severe storms are more likely later this evening as the cold front moves through.

Now, any severe thunderstorms today are likely to bring us the risk of damaging wind gusts as they move through. We could also see some large hail through parts of south-east inland Queensland and north-east inland New South Wales, as well as across inland parts of the south-east this afternoon.

As we move into tomorrow and our cold front moves offshore, we're going to see the storm risk contracting to north-east New South Wales and south-east Queensland. Now Brisbane may see some storms tomorrow, but the risk of severe storms is more likely across southern inland Queensland, pushing down towards the mid-north coast. Again, damaging wind gusts and large hail will be possible with severe storms tomorrow. But we could also see some locally heavy rain that could lead to flash flooding.

So between the risk of damaging winds and severe thunderstorms, we've got a number of severe weather impacts to be aware of over the coming days. We could see damage to trees and property as the strong winds or hail move through. Dangerous driving conditions are likely across eastern Australia as dangerous crosswinds develop or storm debris moves over the roads. We could also see some disruptions to transport and utilities through our cities, as the strong winds potentially cause some damage.

To finish off with, I want to take a quick look at the temperatures over the next few days to see the cold air moving in behind the front. Now, today, our maximum temperatures are still reasonably mild, particularly through those eastern areas high teens through southern South Australia and Tasmania. But as the cool air sweeps in over the weekend behind the cold front, we'll see those temperatures drop. That cool air will actually push up into southern Queensland and central Australia through the later part of the weekend as well.

Now as the temperature drops, small hail will become a risk with showers in the far south and the snow level will lower as well. By the end of the weekend into early next week, the snow level will likely be as low as 4 or 500 m in Tasmania, around 900 m in the south-east alpine areas.

So with strong winds, severe thunderstorms and then a cold outbreak to come over the next few days, it's essential to stay on top of the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website, the BOM Weather app and via our social media. Stay safe and we'll catch you next time.