Heavy rainfall over most of the eastern states
Some areas of central Queensland and northeastern NSW expected to see up to 150mm in just 24 hours, beginning around Thursday April 4, 2024.
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00:00 Persistent heavy rain is going to affect the eastern states over the end of the week and
00:04 into the weekend.
00:05 Primarily New South Wales, also parts of southern Queensland and eastern Victoria.
00:10 So let's dive right into it.
00:11 The wet weather has actually already begun.
00:14 Last night we have seen significant thunderstorm activity through this channel here, covering
00:18 central and southern parts of Queensland and some northeastern parts of New South Wales.
00:22 Heavy falls up and over 150mm in some places, leading to significant surface flooding.
00:29 And that is just a taste of what's to come over around the next three days.
00:33 So let's switch away from the radar and into the forecast for how things may look through
00:38 the remainder of Thursday.
00:39 And we're still looking at this channel here, central parts of Queensland, down across the
00:43 southeast.
00:44 Potentially not quite as much rainfall in this area where some of the most significant
00:48 falls fell overnight, but the focus is really going to shift into New South Wales from this
00:53 evening.
00:54 Heavy falls around the northern coast and inland on Thursday night.
00:57 And as we play through Friday, we will really start to see that rain focus in on the New
01:02 South Wales coast and about the mountains too, getting pushed onshore by a strong easterly
01:07 flow.
01:08 See this dashed blue line, that's a coastal trough which is just amplifying the rainfall,
01:12 leading to some really significant totals.
01:15 And throughout the day on Friday, all of these highly populated coastal centres are going
01:19 to have a very wet day, including Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, all the way up towards
01:24 Port Macquarie and even up towards the Queensland border.
01:27 We're not done on Friday either, we'll push forward into Saturday, see further heavy rain,
01:31 this time shifting southwards now, starting to target the south coast area of New South
01:36 Wales through the morning.
01:37 Also note eastern Victoria around Gippsland getting some heavy rain by Saturday.
01:42 Other spots we'll start to see that weather clear up through the day, the heavy rainfall
01:45 moves south and eastwards, a few further showers and maybe the odd thunderstorm could persist
01:51 into Sunday and the end of the weekend.
01:54 We have just issued a severe weather warning for parts of New South Wales for this big
01:58 yellow area here, heavy to locally intense rainfall.
02:03 The region starts just south of Newcastle and goes all the way down to Marimbula, of
02:07 course that includes Sydney, that includes Illawarra, that includes much of the south
02:11 coast area as well as many inland spots up towards the likes of Bathurst and Cooma.
02:16 The primary threat here is heavy to locally intense rainfall with thunderstorms but don't
02:21 rule out the chance of some damaging wind and also if you happen to be near the coastline,
02:26 hazardous surf is a possibility too with big waves and very rough seas all the way down
02:31 that New South Wales coast over the next couple of days.
02:35 Let's look ahead now and see the flood watches.
02:37 This is what could happen during and after the rainfall.
02:40 These are the areas that we may well see significant rises in river levels.
02:45 Starting in the north across this area where rain is expected today and into tomorrow in
02:48 Queensland, a broad flood watch but there's a lot of action in line with that severe weather
02:53 warning further south, in fact we can zoom in for a bit more detail.
02:57 Note the red here, that is the Hawkesbury and the Peon River inland and north of Sydney
03:02 with a major flood watch in place suggesting we could see major flooding across that river
03:07 before the week is done.
03:08 A number of other rivers have also got flood watches active as this rain is on the way
03:13 so if you are near any waterways and low lying areas through eastern New South Wales, stay
03:18 up to date with the forecast and the warnings and of course do listen to your local emergency
03:22 services.
03:23 Finally, just a quick look at some of the rainfall numbers that we're looking at over
03:26 the next few days.
03:27 We are well and truly into the 200mm plus range when we see these purple areas, inland
03:32 Sydney, inland Illawarra, inland parts of the South Coast District, could see even up
03:37 to 300mm in areas.
03:39 More broadly speaking, widespread rainfall of 30-80mm across a lot of New South Wales
03:45 and southern Queensland.
03:46 It is very, very wet, flash flooding and riverine flooding both possible.
03:50 This is going to be a dynamic and serious situation so do stay up to date with the warnings
03:54 and weather information at the Bureau app and website.
03:56 Thanks very much for listening.
03:57 (upbeat music)