Wild weather forecast as the eastern states prepare for the first taste of summer storms

It’s going to be a wild end to the week as potentially severe storms and widespread, heavy rains hit eastern Australia.

According to Miriam Bradbury, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, the main risk of thunderstorms will be on Wednesday and Thursday, ranging from southern Queensland to New South Wales to northern Victoria.

“They can even last until Friday when they contract towards the east coast.”

Even if you avoid the storms, you can still get heavy rain.

“Precipitation, even outside of the storms, could be quite significant for areas like northeast Tasmania where quite a bit of precipitation can be expected towards the end of the week,” said Ms. Bradbury.

“We could see some minor flood warnings in parts of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales towards the end of the week.”

What causes it

A gravure system is slated to cross into South Australia today before moving to Eastern Australia in the middle and later in the week.

The low connects to a trough that extends into northern Australia, where it taps the humid tropical air and pulls it down.

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Because of this tropical air, temperatures cannot be expected to drop like in a winter front system.

The maximum temperatures are expected to be near or above average for the eastern states on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

“We won’t really see any cooler weather until Friday when this system moves out to sea and some of the cooler air finally creeps in,” said Ms. Bradbury.

Welcome to the bad weather season

This system brings more summer storms than the fronts we have been used to in recent months.

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According to Ms. Bradbury, this is a fairly common synoptic arrangement for thunderstorm days in Queensland and New South Wales that can sometimes penetrate as far as Victoria.

“What makes this event remarkable is that it spans multiple states and is expected to last for several days,” she said.

Meanwhile it is steaming in the north.

“The top end has its own fun. You will see fairly humid air returning, which means some pretty humid conditions are returning this week,” Ms. Bradbury said.

Some showers or storms may occur in the Darwin area, but mostly only oppressive tropical heat.

More fronts for the west

While the east is getting summer storms, the west is still in winter mode as a number of fronts crisscross this week.

WA is nearing a low on Wednesday, but Ms. Bradbury said a more substantial front will follow on Friday.

Today in the southwest is unlikely to be too wet, but there is a risk of thunderstorms on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Temperatures ahead of the fronts are expected to be above average, “but if Friday rolls around with this cold front, temperatures will shift back below average.

As usual, stay tuned with the alerts and keep your wits about you as you head out this week.