“Unusually” severe weather warning for three Aussie states
Three Aussie states are being warned of an “unusually” long spell of severe weather, as a fierce cold front is forecasted to move across the country’s southeast.
South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania are expected to be hit with dust, thunder, hail, fierce winds and cold temperatures from today.
Forecasters have said the weather will be “terrible” for the weekend, with winds of up to 100km/h already being reported.
The Bureau of Meteorology released a series of severe weather warnings early today for the three states, as they are all in the cold front’s path.
Last night, South Australia was the first to be hit with the severe weather, with wind gusts of 89km/h recorded at Port Lincoln and Strathalbyn.
“A cold front will enter the far west of the state (on Thursday) evening, reaching Nullarbor around midnight. The front will continue to move east over central and eastern districts on Friday,” the bureau said in a statement.
“Well ahead of the front, north- to north-westerly winds averaging 50-65km/h with isolated damaging gusts of 90-100km/h are forecast to develop.”
Although Adelaide will not experience the worst of the cold front, the city will still be hit with strong gusts.
This morning, Victoria also experienced ferocious winds, with gusts reaching 111km/h at Mount William at 2 am and 87km/h at Melbourne Airport at 4:24am.
Yesterday, BOM Victoria senior meteorologist Stephen King said the winds would last the entire day.
“A windy day coming up on Friday,” he said.
“But by the time people wake up there will be winds across most of Victoria with destructive winds in Alpine regions up to 130km/h while elsewhere wind gusts of 90 to 100km/h from first thing and right through most of the day.
“That’s what is unusual about this event. That it will be for a significant amount of time — a good 12 hours — and across a really widespread area.”
The winds are also expected to carry dust through Victoria and possibly into Melbourne.
“We had some raised dust in the Mallee a few weeks ago and there is again the possibility that dust could make its way through to Victoria or into Melbourne,” Mr King said.
“There will be quite miserable weather across all of Victoria on Saturday with widespread shower activity and the possibility of hail and thunder,” he said.
Tasmania is also expected to experience miserable weather this weekend, with the BOM revealing that a vigorous north-westerly wind will develop on Saturday.
There is also a possibility of flooding in the southeast of Tasmania, due to abnormally high tides coinciding with a king tide in the evening.