Millions brace for wet and wild weekend

Millions of Australians are being warned to brace for another wet and wild weekend after Sydney was smashed by almost twice the average June rainfall in just two weeks.

The Harbour City reported a whopping 212mm of rain until Friday – against a June monthly average of 132mm – with more forecast for the forthcoming weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast a high chance of up 15mm to fall on Friday and Saturday before dissipating on Sunday, with blistering winds of up to 25km.

Rains were forecast for thousands more across the southeast over the weekend, with up to 10mm in Adelaide on Friday and up to 5mm in Hobart on Sunday.

It comes after Melbourne was set to shiver through its coldest day in five years, with the city blasted by a cold snap.

While the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a high of just 13C for Friday, it will be the city’s coldest day since 2019 if the temperature fails to rise to 10C by 9am – something Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe was very likely.

He attributed the frosty temperatures to a “north west cloud band that’s crossing the country that’s linked with a cut off low”.

“It’s gone up and across South Australia and the cloud associated with the two systems has led to a gloomy day in Melbourne,” Mr Sharpe told NewsWire.

“A bit extra drizzle and all that cloud cover kept a lid on those temperatures yesterday, which mean Melbourne really struggled to warm up.”

Despite the lows, Mr Sharpe noted that Thursday may not have felt that cold, thanks to low wind.

“The wind was nice and calm, and the air was reasonably humid – both things which meant the apparent temperature wasn’t as cold on days when the air is windy and a little dry,” he said.

The mercury was also stubbornly low in other areas of the state on Thursday.

Further west, Ballarat also had its coldest day on Thursday, reaching a high of just 8C.

However it was Griffith – a regional city in NSW’s Riverina that had not only its coldest day this year, but also its coldest day since June 2016.

Temperatures on Thursday fell to a low of -0.8C, and only rose to a maximum of 9.2C.

Late showers are forecast for the city on Friday, however temperatures could rise to a maximum of 13C.

Looking to the weekend, Melburnians can expect a cloudy, albeit a slightly warmer weekend. Temperatures of Saturday are forecast to reach a low of 7C and a high of 15C. A range of 5C to 14C is predicted for Sunday, with a slight chance of a shower in the northwest suburbs.

A high chance of rain between 5 to 15mm is expected for Sydney from the afternoon and into the evening, with highs of 17C on Friday.

Morning showers are also forecast for Saturday, especially on Sydney’s coast, with a temperature range between 11C to 17, however the showers should ease by Sunday.

The cold front brings decent snowfalls for the Alpine resorts after a less-than favourable climatic opening to ski season, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting 5 to 20 cm.

This week’s powerful cold front follows a week of heavy rainfall in south west Western Australia and south east NSW.

Canberra, meanwhile, is predicted to dip into negative digits on Sunday morning with a frosty forecast of -1C, rising to just 13C over the weekend.

Those conditions were expected to continue into next week when the nation’s capital is forecast to see minimums as low as -3C until Tuesday.

Largely set to escape rain and frost, Brisbane was forecast to reach a high of 23C over the weekend with sunny conditions and light winds.

Elsewhere, Hobart was forecast to dip as low as 6C over the weekend with a high chance of up to 7mm, specifically on Sunday afternoon.

Adelaide was also forecast for a drenching with an 100 per cent chance of up to 8mm on Friday, before dipping to 2mm on Saturday.

Not escaping the rain, Perth was warned to brace for a very high chance of rain on Saturday with as much as 7mm on Sunday.

Weekly rainfall totals exceeded 100mm and there were isolated totals of more than 200mm in NSW’s Illawarra district, while parts of the Central West and Gascoyne districts in Western Australia recorded weekly totals of more than 100mm.

Rough start to snow season continues

The weather comes after a rocky start for the country’s snow resorts in NSW and Victoria following the commencement of the ski season last week.

BOM predicted only a dusting of snow no lower than 1100m across the NSW Snowy Mountains throughout the weekend, with possible showers.

Across the border, a “medium chance of snow flurries” was forecast for Mount Hotham resort area on Saturday; possible snow shower Sunday.

While Perisher reported a fresh dusting of snow on Thursday, most resorts were pushing their snow making ahead of the weekend.

Hotham Alpine Resort wrote on Thursday afternoon: “shout out to our snow-making team, firing guns around the clock. Keep it going”.