Hello, Miriam here with a severe weather update from the Bureau of Meteorology,
looking at the wet and in particular very windy conditions
on the way for south eastern Australia over the next few days.
That's all thanks to a couple of cold fronts.
The first is slipping down to the south today, bringing showers
to large parts of the south east as well as some thunderstorms,
particularly about parts of South Australia.
The second front following in its wake though is much stronger.
It's expected to reach land later on Friday,
then sweep across the south east on Saturday.
Now this is expected to bring some moderate to locally high falls
to parts of Victoria and Western Tasmania, which may lead to some riverine rises.
So keep an eye out for flood watches and possible flood warnings
over the coming days.
That system is going to move offshore through Sunday
with conditions gradually easing back towards the end of the weekend.
Now, much colder and more unstable air moving in behind that front,
which means as well as the showers, we've got small hail on the forecast
as well as more isolated thunderstorms.
Decent snowfalls across the resorts as well, with snow level dropping down
to around 1000 meters, which sounds like good news for the school holidays.
However, it's coupled with very strong winds,
which means we might see
whiteout or blizzard conditions through Saturday and early Sunday.
So if you are planning a snow trip this weekend, just be aware
of the risks that you might be facing.
Speaking of those winds, let's take a closer look now.
This is winds above the surface.
We look above the surface
because it gives us a good indication of what might mix down to the surface.
And anything in that orange, red and pink zone is what we're concerned about.
That reaches the threshold for our severe weather warning.
Winds of that strength could bring down trees or tree
limbs, power lines or cause damage to your property.
Now, these very strong winds are pushing both ahead of and behind the front.
They'll reach land areas through the later part of Friday, becoming extensive
across the south east on Saturday before extending up the New South Wales coast.
We'll see that easing
through the later part of Sunday and going into early next week.
Now the peak period for the winds for Adelaide is going to be Friday night
going into Saturday morning for Melbourne and northern parts of Tasmania.
The risk is going to be developing through the early hours
of Saturday morning and continuing through the day
for the new South Wales coast, including the south coast,
the Illawarra, the Upper Hunter and the Blue Mountains as well.
That risk is going to develop from Saturday morning and continue
all the way through to Sunday morning.
Now we are expecting some widespread severe
weather warnings for damaging winds over the next few days.
But even if you're outside of those wind warning areas,
just be aware that you could see
some very gusty conditions, particularly with showers or thunderstorms.
In addition to that, the wind chill is going to be very high
across the weekend with those cold and windy westerlies.
One of the other hazards associated with this front
is going to be its impact on the seas and swell.
We've got damaging surf possible with wave heights of 5 to 6 meters
impacting the South Australia and Victoria coastlines through Friday and Saturday.
Offshore we could see those wave heights reaching seven or eight metres
in addition to the seas and swell though we are also expecting
abnormally high tides through parts of South Australia and Victoria
and that could impact not just the marine waters but the local waters as well.
So the gulfs through South
Australia, Port Phillip Bay and Lakes entrance through Victoria.
Now those abnormally high tides could cause some local inundation
to low lying paths or properties.
So just another thing to be aware of this weekend.
Many risks or hazards are
to come over the next few days associated with these couple of strong fronts.
So it is essential to keep an eye on the forecasts and in particular
the warnings by the bureau's website or the BOM weather app.
Stay safe and we'll chat to you next time.