Winter chill set to bring frosty temperatures to much of the country while heavy rainfalls target the southwest region delivering heavy soaking

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Millions of Australians are expected to feel a swift drop in temperature as winter brings frosty conditions to much of the country, but the west coast will experience an additional heavy rainfall to accompany the cold front.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for parts of the South West, South Coastal and Great Southern districts from Tuesday afternoon as the conditions rolled into overnight hours.
Senior BOM meteorologist Angus Hines confirmed heavy thunderstorms will persist from Wednesday morning and into the afternoon particularly across the south-west coast from Geraldton down to Albany, as well as Perth.
A few possible showers have also been forecast for inland parts including the east all the way from Eucla to Karratha.
The Bureau of Meteorology urged residents to stay inside and away from windows as the wet conditions are likely to produce large hailstones over the region.
Sky News Metrologist Marina Neuman attributed the heavy rainfalls to a cloud band which formed earlier on Monday and continued to move across the interior regions.
She further added the conditions are not expected to ease until Thursday.
"That trough will just linger and allow that rainfall to really unfortunately just target that coastline and allow for very heavy rainfall," Neuman said.
"This will last until at least Thursday before rainfall moves out completely."
Neuman said the southern coastline from Perth to Bunbury can expect to see at least 100 millimetres of rainfall from the weather system, while Geraldton to Albany may soak in 50 millimetres of rain.
Residents across Perth can also expect temperatures to drop to 13 degrees as the state soaks through the heavy downpours.
While the east coast of the nation has been spared heavy rainfall, a band of cold air is being dragged across the eastern states bringing temperatures down to chilly conditions.
On Tuesday a cold front moved across Victoria producing light snow in the high mountains in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria, and causing temperatures to drop.
The conditions are expected to plummet from Wednesday night to reach -5 to -7 degrees in the Victoria and NSW Alpines, meanwhile Roma, Queensland is forecast to drop to 1C overnight.
Sky News meteorologist Rob Sharpe said by Wednesday "it will be colder for NSW and southern Queensland as well, with Sydney experiencing a top of 16C and Canberra reaching a chilly 12C', as colder weather sweeps through the south-east.
'We're likely to see a cold front developing particularly on Thursday and Friday morning, especially in Canberra and the surrounding regions,' he said.
Neuman further advised a dual cold front will be moving in over the weekend, with the first weather system on Saturday expected to bring some initial rainfall, some light snow and "very cold" temperatures.
Isolated thunderstorms and below average temperatures will also target the southern coasts of South Australia.
The second cold front will barge in on Sunday, delivering heavier snowfall and the coldest temperatures so far.