Heavy rainfall and damaging wind forecast for large parts of Australia

Australian Community Media

A severe weather warning has been issued for east and southeast parts of the country. Footage: BOM (May 30, 2024)

Transcript

00:00 Hello, Sarah from the Bureau with an update on the rain band and the damaging winds across

00:04 southeastern parts of the country.

00:07 So there are currently severe weather warnings across multiple states, but focusing on the

00:12 mainland, damaging wind gusts are possible through elevated parts of Victoria, southeast

00:18 New South Wales and also the Otways down in the south there.

00:21 Now this is for damaging wind gusts in excess of 100 kilometres per hour that have the potential

00:26 to bring down trees and power lines, creating really hazardous driving conditions, so if

00:30 you do need to drive within these areas, please take care.

00:34 Now we're also forecasting heavy rainfall to develop later tonight about northeastern

00:39 parts of Victoria and continue into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

00:43 With six hourly rainfall totals of 60 to 80 millimetres, and with rainfall rates that

00:48 high, flash flooding is a concern.

00:52 Now shifting the focus down to Tasmania however, the entire state is under a severe weather

00:57 warning for damaging wind gusts to develop early tomorrow morning, including for Hobart,

01:03 with damaging winds forecast to develop during the late morning, continuing into the early

01:07 afternoon.

01:09 So what's driving this severe weather?

01:11 We have a northwest cloud band that's extending almost 4,000 kilometres across the mainland

01:17 into Tasmania, and it's tapped into some tropical moisture over in the Indian Ocean and being

01:23 pushed eastward by a strong cold front.

01:27 Now it's already brought widespread steady rainfall between 10 to 20 millimetres, with

01:33 the heaviest rainfall through central parts of the country in the 24 hours to 9am, with

01:37 44 millimetres recorded at Mount Lloyd near Alice Springs, and also the Kimberley coast

01:42 had 71 millimetres.

01:45 Now this rain band has brought some really welcomed rainfall to the southern agricultural

01:49 districts that have been experiencing severe rainfall deficiencies, and we're forecasting

01:54 it to continue to track eastwards into Victoria, reaching Melbourne later this afternoon or

01:59 this evening, Tasmania, western New South Wales and southwest Queensland as well.

02:05 Looking at this low pressure system though, the isobars, you can see they're being really

02:08 squeezed together, and that's what's generating the really strong winds.

02:12 We've had 122 kilometre per hour gusts out in the Grampians earlier this morning, and

02:17 90 kilometre per hour gusts over Port Phillip Bay in the last couple of hours as well.

02:23 And as we move into tomorrow, that rain band will continue its eastward progression, moving

02:28 into the north-east quadrant of New South Wales during the afternoon into the evening,

02:34 with some rain in southern parts of Queensland as well.

02:38 Just noticing in through here, it's still going to remain quite cloudy and dreary with

02:42 drizzle and showers through southeastern parts of South Australia and inland parts of Victoria.

02:48 Now on Saturday, the rain band moves further east, contracting further into north-east

02:53 of New South Wales with some storms potentially developing through southeastern Queensland.

02:59 But there's also a potential coastal trough developing off the east coast, with the onshore

03:05 winds wrapping in there and enhancing shower activity, and out in the west, another rain-bearing

03:11 system starts to push in, and if we move into Sunday, you can see it moves eastward with

03:16 the potential for heavy rainfall through western districts south of Geraldton, while that trough

03:23 off the east coast, we're keeping a really close eye on, because there's a fair bit of

03:27 uncertainty with its exact path and its proximity to the mainland.

03:33 So how much rainfall are we expecting?

03:35 So this is from now all the way through until Saturday evening, with the heaviest rainfall

03:40 totals about the north-east ranges of Victoria, with some purple areas there, so 100mm possible,

03:46 but leaning back through that where that rain band has been, there's the potential for between

03:50 50-75mm, where those darker orange bits are shown.

03:57 So if you, or anyone you know, lives within particularly southeastern parts of the country

04:02 where we have those severe weather warnings current, it's really important that you stay

04:05 up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau website, app and social media,

04:10 and as always, listen to the advice from your local emergency services.

04:13 Bye for now.

04:14 (upbeat music)

04:17 (upbeat music)

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