Aussie city of millions on cusp of historic weather moment

For millions of Australians, it might feel like the rain will never end. Unfortunately, there’s plenty more in store this weekend. Sydney has notched double digits in consecutive days of rainfall, closing in on a historic record while others along the east coast are again being warned of potential flash flooding.

“In the past few days we’ve had continuous rainfall because of a series of slow moving high pressure systems ... directing a moist easterly air stream,” Jiwon Park, from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Sydney office told Yahoo News Australia. “This weekend weather will be even more moist, especially on Saturday.”

The southern and central part of the NSW coast, namely the Illawarra region and the south coast, will likely have the biggest soaking in store today. A combination of weather systems and a deepening coastal trough could see "widespread" totals of more than 100mms of rainfall from Saturday into Sunday. "It's possible we'll see isolated totals of over 200mm which may increase the potential of flash flooding," Park said.

"The soil is quite saturated to any moderate rain has the potential to cause flash flooding."

That sentiment was echoed by Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino on Friday who warned "another round of widespread rain will drench Australia's southeast mainland over the next three days, dumping more water into already saturated catchments".

"It has rained in Sydney every day so far this month, allowing the city to receive its entire May average in just six days," he noted online.

Sydney's Warragamba dam, already at 99 per cent capacity, is forecast to spill. The water reservoir last spilled after heavy rain in April, causing catastrophic damage to some homes near the catchment area.

Sydney 'very close' to rain record

In Sydney, the downpour on Saturday is expected to be lighter than on the southern coast and in the range of 20 to 50mms, Park said.

The city of five million has seen 11 straight days of rain. As ABC meteorologist Thomas Saunders pointed out, it is closing in on a record for most consecutive days with more than 1mm of rainfall recorded.

"Sydney's wet spell has now reached 10 days," he wrote online on Thursday. "The all-time record is 16 days (data to 1859). We can probably bank another three days, and with onshore winds continuing next week a new record is in the realm of possibility."

With rain expecting to ease for Sydneysiders from Monday, "at this moment our anticipation is that it may not break the record," Park told Yahoo.

The wet weather is tipped to potentially push into Monday but that "may be the last day of this wet spell," he said.

"Sydney may not make the 16 ... But very close."

According to Weatherzone, Sydney is far from alone after some long wet weeks. In fact, Earth had its "most moisture-laden" April on record as air and ocean temperatures caused atmospheric moisture content to surge across the planet. With global temperatures on the rise, Domensino noted the atmosphere can hold about 7 per cent more moisture for every 1°C of warming.

Wet weather is also forecast this weekend for neighbouring parts of Queensland and Victoria.

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