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‘Nasty’ storm warning could disrupt Australia Day festivities as major cities BAKE, with heavy squalls of rain hitting the East Coast over the weekend
- Australia Day storms rolling in mid-afternoon
- NSW and QLD braced for heavy rain and electric storms
- Storms could stay all weekend and into next week
Strong storms hitting Australia’s east coast could spoil the second half of Australia Day, followed by more thunderstorms and heavy rain over the weekend.
Australians celebrating Australia Day will swelter in temperatures reaching 37C in parts of Sydney and 30-30C in parts of Queensland.
The Met Office forecasts Australia Day barbecues to be punctuated by mid-afternoon thunderstorms as a low pressure system moves up the east coast from Bass Strait, with showers expected in the Illawarra area around 4 pm
Showers and possible thunderstorms could spoil the second half of the Australia Day celebrations as storms move up the East Coast (Australia Day celebrations pictured)
Sydney is expected to be hit by storms soon after, with the Bureau issuing a warning of “thunderstorm this afternoon and evening, possibly severe with damaging winds, heavy falls and hail on the outer west.”
Inland Queensland is expected to experience scattered showers as another low pressure system makes its way through Broken Hill in New South Wales and into the sunshine state.
More supercells are expected to form in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland on Friday afternoon, bringing heavy rain to areas including Port Macquarie, the Gold Coast and inland Queensland.
Wet weather is expected to persist through the weekend as chances of thunderstorms persist along the East Coast.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected over NSW and Queensland this weekend, with Queensland could see heavier rain next week (pedestrians in Brisbane pictured)
The BOM has acknowledged a “risk of isolated severe thunderstorms over the interior of the southeast [Queensland]’.
Severe weather conditions are expected to increase on Sunday into Monday as most of the Northern Territory, Queensland and northern New South Wales will experience heavy rain and possible thunderstorms.
Queensland can expect heavier rain late next week as more low pressure systems dump rain across the state.
Sydney recently experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms on Tuesday night (pictured) as Camden Airport recorded over 20,000 lightning strikes and 20mm of rain in 10 minutes
Greater Sydney experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with thousands of lightning strikes across areas of Sydney as heavy rain caused flash flooding.
Camden Airport, on the southwestern tip of Sydney, experienced more than 20,000 lightning strikes within a radius of just 20 kilometers and recorded 20 millimeters of rain in just 10 minutes.