Severe thunderstorms, hail and snow to hit southeast Australia in nation’s ‘first real cold snap of the year’
During the so-called “first real cold spell” of the year, a wave of cold, wet and windy weather is expected to spread across south-east Australia, and thunderstorms are expected to bombard two major cities.
Meteorologists expect the mercury to drop as much as 12 degrees below average in some places as a trough and cold front moves through the southeast on Wednesday and Thursday.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Ilana Cherny said Tasmania, Victoria and NSW would be affected by storms and cold weather.
He explained that this could cause thunderstorms and showers in the southeast.
“After that it’s going to be really cool weather, there’s going to be a pretty cold outbreak in the southeast of the country,” Ms Cherny said.
“We are seeing some showers and storms from Wednesday to Thursday, particularly across Tasmania and Victoria.”
The cold climate will continue to affect most of the southern states of the country.
“We are seeing a pretty cold spell,” Ms. Cherny said.
“This is the first real cold period of the year where we will start to feel like autumn is coming with really cool, cold conditions.
“However, we see that temperatures have fallen approximately 8-12C below average for this time of year.
“Under these conditions we could see small hail showers in parts of Tasmania.
“There is also a dusting of snow in the highlands of Tasmania, Victoria and NSW.”
Thunderstorms may occur across much of Victoria, eastern Tasmania, southern South Australia and southern NSW.
Heavy falls, large hail and damaging winds are likely to hit central and eastern Victoria.
“The risk of thunderstorms does indeed extend across much of New South Wales on Thursday,” Ms Cherny said.
“This includes the risk of some storms and possibly even severe storms for Sydney on Thursday.”
There is also a chance of thunderstorms in Melbourne from Wednesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting temperatures in Hobart will drop into the mid-teens from this week, with a high of 16C on Thursday.
Melbourne will drop from 27C on Wednesday to 18C on Thursday.
A similar drop in maximum temperatures is expected in Sydney towards the end of the week; High temperatures will drop from 30C on Thursday to 21C on Friday.
