A major cold weather system will sweep south-east Australia over the weekend, causing heavy rain, damaging winds and snow.
A major cold weather system, called the “polar wave”, is expected to spread across southern and south-eastern Australia over the weekend, causing heavy rain, damaging winds and snow.
Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders said the polar front would sweep north over the weekend, hitting Western Australia first before moving east.
“That’s a big one,” he said. “It’s a big cold snap that will devastate the southeast of the nation early next week.”
He said the polar wave will result in showers on WA’s south coast and strong southerly winds, which will move eastward through South Australia.
On Monday and Tuesday, the system will rise over almost all of south-east Australia, causing widespread showers. Saunders warned that there could be hail and thunder in parts of Victoria and NSW.
Between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday, the system is expected to bring strong, strong winds to both states and Tasmania.
“We are likely to have severe weather warnings for gusts of wind damaging parts of the coast and intervals during this period,” he said.
“It’s a very wintery weather pattern with strong westerly winds and widespread showers.”
He said more than 50 mm of rain is expected over the next seven days along the coast of South Australia, the Victorian coast and mountain ranges and west Tasmania.
“And it’s not just raining,” Saunders said. “There will be snow and some heavy snow in the Alps and it will drop below 1000m on Tuesday.”
He said that means it will reach the central mountains of NSW and the highlands of Tasmania before it begins to ease on Wednesday.
There is good news for snow sports enthusiasts as up to half a meter of fresh snow is expected to pour in the Alps and as it is so late in the autumn it should be cold enough for the next few weeks to form a decent winter snow base. .
La Niña will last until August and spring
The cold front comes when wet weather is forecast to affect Australia and the southern hemisphere, with another weather system bringing more rain in winter and spring.
Recent research suggests that there is a “high probability” (62%) of La Niña, which began more than 18 months ago, continuing in June and August, with a 55 to 60% chance that the event will last until in Spring.
This means that Australia could continue to be affected by above-average rains, such as those that have caused disastrous flooding in NSW and Queensland.
It would be only the fourth triple La Nina observed since 1900, and the first time the phenomenon had occurred in 22 years.
– with Jessica Wang
Read related topics: Time