Showers and thunderstorms look set to dampen Christmas Day for millions of Australians as mild weather on the east coast is expected to 'intensify' this weekend.
Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra could experience heavy rain, while the central and western parts of the country are likely to be hot and dry.
Weather Zone meteorologist Ben Domensino said a number of weather systems were working together to increase the chance of widespread rainfall over NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
“Potentially severe thunderstorms could affect parts of eastern and southeastern Australia on Christmas Day,” Domensino said.
'This is due to instability, as moisture-laden air near the surface interacts with a colder air pool above.'
“A broad low-pressure trough over those states is also fueled by moist northeasterly winds.”
He added that this was reinforced by a positive Southern Annular Mode, which could bring wet weather to eastern Australia, and even hail could fall on Christmas Day thanks to cold and dry air at higher levels.
It looks like December 25 will be a wet December for the East Coast, as this rain map shows
A number of weather systems work together to cause the increased risk of rain, hail and high winds
Mr Domensino said particularly in north-eastern NSW and eastern Queensland, any storms that develop could produce “large to giant hail, causing damaging winds and heavy rain”.
He said while Victoria's storms may not be as severe, “one of the biggest threats will still be heavy rain, which could cause areas of flash flooding.”
Sydney could escape most of the rain, but as much as 8mm could fall on December 24 and 25.
Melbourne is likely to receive more rain with 9mm on Sunday, up to 25mm on Monday and another 10mm on Tuesday.
Brisbane will be wet and humid on Christmas Day with temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius and 20mm of rain, followed by another 10mm on Tuesday.
This map shows convective available potential energy (CAPE) in the atmosphere forecast for December 25. The model is used to anticipate the severity of storms and shows wild storms could occur in northeastern NSW and eastern Queensland.
Cairns, which has seen heavy rain and flash flooding in the wake of Cyclone Jasper, appears to be sunny with only a few showers at the start of the week.
Adelaide will experience a mostly dry and sunny Christmas, but cool early next week with highs around 22 degrees Celsius.
It will also be fairly dry in Darwin, which is unusual for the monsoon season.
In Perth it will be an ideal warm and sunny Christmas with clear skies and highs of 33C to 35C.
Perth residents can expect beautiful beach weather over Christmas, while other capital cities will be cool and wet (Photo: Bondi last year)