Australia weather: Storm in Darwin, snow in Hobart, cloudy in Sydney, Queensland storms, WA heatwave
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Destructive winds and giant hail pelted south-east Queensland overnight as a heatwave continues to bring wild weather to the region.
The Weather Bureau issued a severe weather warning around 2:45 p.m. Thursday as “very dangerous” thunderstorms threatened north and south of Gympie.
“We had nasty storms yesterday and big hail, even giant hail,” meteorologist Rob Sharpe told Sky News on Friday.
Residents of Sexton, northwest of Gympie, reported hail up to 10cm wide, while residents of Mt Kilcoy recorded 5cm balls of ice falling from the sky.
Giant hailstones hit south-east Queensland on Thursday afternoon (a hailstone at Curra is pictured)
The hail was reported to be 10cm wide in several areas (pictured hail in Kureelpa near Mapleton)
Severe thunderstorms were active on the Sunshine Coast moving towards Noosa and Maroochydore on Thursday afternoon.
A 122 km/h wind gust was reported at Gayndah Airport, north of the Sunshine Coast, at 3:30 p.m.
At least 4,500 people lost power overnight.
The immediate threat of severe thunderstorms has abated for the southeast around 7:30 p.m., but is likely to redevelop in the coming days, the Bureau warned.
Thunderstorms are likely to return in east-central Queensland in Rockhampton and Gladstone.
It comes after Brisbane residents woke up on Thursday to the aftermath of intense thunderstorms.
A 1.5m wide sinkhole opened up on a crucial inland west main road on Thursday morning, delaying morning traffic.
A three-day heat wave has been forecast for several regions (in the image, heat wave forecast for North Queensland)
However, the worst of Brisbane’s rain appears to be over with cloudy but mostly dry weather through Tuesday.
Residents in the northern part of the Sunshine State continue to deal with an intense heat wave.
The Bureau issued an extreme heat wave warning for the Peninsula, Gulf Country, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders and Herbert and Lower Burdekin districts.
The North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Central Coast and Whitsundays, Central Highlands and Coalfields, Central West and North West districts are also expected to swelter through a severe heatwave.
On Wednesday, Birdsville, on Queensland’s border with South Australia, hit 45.6°C, QLD’s first temperature above 45°C on record so far this summer.
The extreme heat is likely to continue until early next week, when there is a turn to the cold with more thunderstorms and showers in the forecast.
The heat is expected to be even worse further west with some western Australians forecast to experience temperatures of 48°C this weekend.
Darwin will continue to see severe storms this week (pictured, lightning strikes over Darwin on Thursday)
Snow fell across Tasmania, NSW and the alpine regions of Victoria on Thursday and held until Friday morning (pictured, Toboggan Park in Falls Creek, Victoria)
Marble Bar, some 200km east of Port Hedland, suffered four consecutive days of temperatures above 45C until Thursday, when it dipped to 43C.
The western Kimberly and Pilbara regions are expected to face Australia’s hottest temperatures in the coming days, with highs reaching 47°C to 48°C forecast for Sunday and Monday.
Perth residents can expect much better weather than their northern neighbours, with temperatures in the 20-30°C range into next week.
weather zone Meteorologist Ben Domensino warned that the heat will stick around for a while.
“Forecast models suggest this intensely hot weather will persist in northern Australia for the remainder of this week and into early next week,” it said.
“While the most intense heat will remain in northern Australia for the next few days, a tongue of hot air will briefly escape the tropics and spread across SA this weekend.
“Some districts in central and southern SA could experience extreme to catastrophic fire danger ratings when this heat peaks on Saturday.”
Various parts of Australia will see high temperatures over the next three days (swimming bathers pictured)
A heat wave will bring extremely high temperatures to central Australia on Saturday (forecast left) and Sunday (forecast right)
Meanwhile, parts of south east Australia are still suffering from a prolonged winter with snow falling in several alpine regions on Thursday.
The mountains above Hobart saw the first summer snowfall of the year with flurries that left a patchy layer of snow.
The cold weather is expected to continue in the Tasmanian capital with showers and cloudy conditions forecast for next week with a weekend low of 9°C for Saturday.
Snow showers continued until midday on Victoria’s Mt Baw Baw with a low of -2.5C recorded at 7am.
The low temperatures meant that snow was still present in several regions on Friday morning.
Thredbo was the coldest place to be in NSW with a nine-year December low of -4.2C recorded just before 6am.
Sydney will see partly cloudy weather but warm temperatures over the weekend (pictured, bathers at Bondi Beach)
The rainy season continues in Darwin and residents face another two days of storms after yesterday’s lightning and thunder.
Fortunately, the weather is improving for Sunday and Monday with partly clear skies before another storm rolls in on Tuesday and continues its downpour for the rest of the work week.
Sydneysiders won’t see much of the summer sun for the next few days with partly cloudy weather forecast through Monday.
The weather will be even bleaker in Canberra with showers forecast for Sunday and Monday.
Adelaide looks set to be the rainiest southern capital for the next week as Saturday’s sunshine turns to squalls on Sunday and the drizzle will continue until next Thursday.