‘Large hail’ and severe thunderstorms forecasted as heat persists
A storm outbreak is approaching Australia’s south-east, already sweltering under sweltering heatwave conditions, with a small risk of cyclones emerging in NSW.
“We’re already seeing a lot of storms brewing,” meteorologist Tamsin Green said on Sky News Weather.
“We could actually see locally destructive winds and the risk of tornadoes in the south-western region of NSW, although there is a very small risk,” he said.
Ms Green said there was a risk of large hail exceeding two centimeters in diameter, high rainfall and damaging winds in NSW and Victoria.
But according to BOM, severe heatwave conditions continue in eastern Australia, even with a significant increase in wet weather.
BOM Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How says the south-east of South Australia, the whole of Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania will see wet weather, including rain, storms and cooler winds.
“Thunderstorms are likely to occur in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney later in the day,” How said.
Mr How said the broad band of rain and thunderstorms would begin in South Australia and Western Victoria this morning and move first to “large parts” of New South Wales, then to the rest of Victoria, parts of Tasmania and even southern Queensland.
Heavy and intense rains can cause flash floods and destructive winds to damage power lines and property.
But “another hot day is on the way” with heatwave warnings for NSW, QLD and WA as storms prepare to hit the east coast.
In Sydney, the mercury will peak at 34 degrees, while temperatures in western Sydney will drop below 40 degrees.
Brisbane will reach highs of 33 degrees today, with temperatures reaching the low 40s in the west.
Along with hot weather, extreme fire danger is expected for eastern Australia.
In NSW, fire alerts have been issued in the Greater Hunter, Central Ranges, North Western, Upper Central West Plains and Lower Central West Plains.
Extreme fire danger is expected for Victoria’s Mallee region.
An Extreme Fire Danger is also expected in Southern Australia, across the Mid-North and Riverland fire weather regions.
