Sydney weather: 'Bomb cyclone' set to strike: What you need to know
Millions of Australians are being warned to brace for heavy rain, damaging winds, and dangerous surf conditions as a bomb cyclone threatens the country's east coast.
A powerful low-pressure system is forecast to intensify rapidly within 24 hours as it develops off the coast of NSW on Monday.
Starting Tuesday, up to 200mm of rain is expected to lash areas between Newcastle, Sydney, and the Illawarra over just 48 hours.
The growing system is being referred to as a potential 'bomb cyclone,' known for its explosive development from calm to chaos in a short time.
'We could see the equivalent of a category one, possibly category two [cyclone], with these wind gusts,' Today show weather presenter Gary Youngberry said.
'It will be a very nasty weather system... the worst of it from early Tuesday morning, right into Thursday and it'll impact the entire NSW coast.'
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Anges Hines explained that the powerful weather system would drench and batter parts of NSW and Victoria from Monday, with up to 200mm of rain expected.
'On Monday, we'll see the wind picking up and probably a few showers through the evening. But Tuesday's the day when it is really going to deteriorate, and it's going to be very wet and very windy, so the rain will likely last through much of the day.
'We will see the winds absolutely howling up that NSW coast.
'We could certainly see those gusts upwards of 80, 90, even 100 kilometres per hour around parts of the Sydney Metro area on Tuesday – that's definitely enough to cause a bit of damage, bring down some trees. We could be talking about power outages as well.'
He explained that the affected area stretches from the far south of the Mid North Coast, through the Eastern Hunter, Sydney, the Illawarra, and the South Coast, continuing all the way into Gippsland.
'Then on about Thursday, between Thursday and Friday, it pulls out of the Tasman, getting quite far away from the country and also weakening at the same time.
'100 to 200mm of rain possible through these areas over 48 hours, and I expect some locations will pick up even more than that.'
Mr Hines said the heavy rainfall would bring the risk of riverine flooding, flash flooding, and dangerous driving conditions throughout the state.
He told Daily Mail Australia that the wet change would replace a fairly stubborn high-pressure system, which had brought a stretch of clear weather to the state.
'(The low-pressure system) will develop near the coast in the north of (NSW), somewhere near the Northern Rivers, but it really intensifies in the southwest, so closer to the Hunter, closer to Sydney where it becomes a powerful weather system on Tuesday,' he said.
'Then on about Thursday, between Thursday and Friday, it pulls out of the Tasman, getting quite far away from the country and also weakening at the same time.
'For anyone near the water there's going to be powerful waves and potential coastal erosion, it's a fairly notable outbreak of weather,' Mr Hines said.
'It could be over 100mm of rain particularly over the eastern parts of Sydney ... but basically wherever you are wet day Tuesday, wet day Wednesday.'
The SES has warned residents along the east coast to prepare for the system.
'People should prepare now by tying down any loose items around their homes so they don't become projectiles and damage property in the forecast wind,' SES Acting Assistant Commissioner Allison Flaxman said.
Sydney
Monday: Shower or two developing. Max 18
Tuesday: Rain. Up to 90mm of rain. Winds up to 40km/h. Min 11C. Max 16C.
Wednesday: Rain. Up to 35mm of rain. Winds up to 40km/h. Min 11C. Max 17C.
Canberra
Monday: Morning frost. Partly cloudy. Max 13C.
Tuesday: Early frost. Shower or two. Up to 5mm of rain. Winds up to 30km/h. Min -2C. Max 13C.
Wednesday: Rain. Up to 25mm of rain. Winds up to 30km/h. Min 2C. Max 12C.
Melbourne
Monday: Partly cloudy. Max 14C.
Tuesday: Possible shower. Min 4C. Max 14C.
Wednesday: Showers. Up to 5mm of rain.Winds up to 30km/h. Min 6C. Max 13C.
Adelaide
Monday: Mostly sunny. Max 15C.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy. Patches of frost in the morning. Min 4C. Max 15C.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy. Min 4C. Max 15C.
Perth
Monday: Showers developing. Up to 6mm of rain. Max 23C.
Tuesday: Shower or two. Min 12C. Max 22C.
Wednesday: Showers. Up to 15mm of rain. Chance of a thunderstorm. Min 12C. Max 21C.
Darwin
Monday: Sunny. Winds up to 30km/h. Max 31C.
Tuesday: Sunny. Min 19C. Max 30C.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Min 19C. Max 30C.
Brisbane
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