A band of rain, some 3500 kilometers long, stretching from the Top End to the south of mainland Australia is set to bring a drenching across large swathes of the country over the coming days.
“Widespread rain will soak multiple Australian states after a northwest cloud band developed earlier this week,” Sky News Weather meteorologist Alison Osborne said.
Up to 30mm of rain could fall on Adelaide over the next 48 hours, where a severe weather warning is in place for damaging winds and abnormally high tides.
Melbourne could see heavy rain on Friday, Brisbane is looking at up to 20mm on Sunday alone, while Canberra is also due to dumping.
Darwin has seen “unusual” rain given it’s the middle of the dry season. Meteorologists have predicted that this winter could see more rain than usual over the Top End, which would filter towards the nation’s southeast.
The cloud band stretches from northwest Western Australia and the Northern Territory, down through inland Queensland and into NSW, heading to Victoria.
The stretch of rain it’s bringing easily covers several thousand kilometers. At the same time, a spiraling low-pressure system in The Bight is heading through South Australia, Victoria, and into NSW. “It will be a very good soaking for our farmers,” Ms. Osborne said.
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The weather drama has already hit South Australia with a gust of 107km/h at Cape Willoughby on Kangaroo Island overnight. “Powerful winds will be whipping up across South Australia, including Adelaide, with the strongest winds gradually easing into the afternoon,” Ms. Osborne said.
“But it will remain windy, and the winds will be strong enough to cause power outages from fallen trees.” Adelaideshould see 6-20mm of rain today and potentially another 10mm on Friday with further showers into the weekend. Temperatures will top out in the mid-teens and fall to around 8C overnight.
Towards the end of this week, that low-pressure system will sweep towards Victoria, bringing some windy conditions, but it won’t be as dangerous as in South Australia.
There will be up to 10mm of rain in Melbourne on Friday and more rain for the weekend. It will only reach 13-14C on Friday and into the weekend, with minimums around 8C.
Tasmania should miss the heaviest falls, with a shower or two on Friday delivering around 3mm of moisture and similar on Saturday. Maximum temperatures will sink to just 11C by Sunday. At dawn, most days, it will peak at 6-7C.
