Australia Weather: Winter blast hits NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Adelaide over Easter long weekend
Damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain: ‘Wintery blast’ will ruin your Easter long weekend plans with ‘well below average’ temperatures expected
- Wet weather forecast for the Easter long weekend
- NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA in line of fire
- Temperatures are expected to drop ‘well below average’
It looks like Australians will opt for hot chocolate over Easter eggs with a cold blast that will create shivering temperatures all weekend.
NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are all expected to be affected by the unfortunate weather.
According to senior meteorologist Sarah Scully of the Bureau of Meteorology, temperatures are expected to be “well below average” with rain forecast across much of the country.
Showers and thunderstorms are forecast across eastern and southern New South Wales on Friday, with a chance of severe storms along the east coast and adjacent mountain ranges, bringing damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain, she said.
Australians will opt for hot chocolate over Easter eggs with a cold blast that will send shivering temperatures over the long weekend (pictured, weather in Melbourne)
A burst of unusually cold mid-autumn weather will hit the south east of the country this weekend (pictured is a Weatherzone map showing temperatures across Australia)
Showers are forecast in the south on Saturday, decreasing to the mountain ranges on Sunday before turning dry all day on Monday.
“Hazardous surf conditions will develop on the south and central coast on Sunday and spread to the north coast on Monday.”
Melbourne is experiencing its coldest Easter Sunday since 1946, with wet and windy conditions en route, according to WeatherZone meteorologist Ben Domensino.
On Friday, a combination of showers, possible storms and clouds will bring the cool change, with daytime temperatures hovering around 20C, with the weekend set to get worse.
South to southwesterly winds will carry cold air through Melbourne, with daytime temperatures only expected to hover around 18ºC on Saturday, 15ºC on Sunday and 16ºC on Monday.
“The cold wave will be caused by a strong cold front swinging north and dragging an icy air mass from the Southern Ocean into Australia,” Domensino said.
NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are all expected to be affected by the unfortunate weather (pictured shows a woman battling the rain in Melbourne)
Heavy rain in the south east this weekend (pictured is a weather map from Sky News)
“The last time Melbourne had an Easter Sunday at or below 15ºC was in 1943 when the temperature only climbed to 14.3ºC.”
South East Queensland is likely to be hit by severe thunderstorms on Good Friday, according to Ms Scully.
“Severe thunderstorms are possible in south-east Queensland on Good Friday before turning drier across much of the state from Saturday,” she said.
“Temperatures will be above average on Friday and shrink eastward from Saturday.”
South Australia is expected to suffer from a wet, cold and windy Friday and Saturday, with occasional sunshine on Sunday and Monday.