The rain that helped extinguish critical fires in eastern Australia has started to ease, while intense heatwaves continue to swelter the north.
The wet weather system over New South Wales will lose strength throughout Friday before easing completely for a dry weekend.
The band of rain, brought on by a cold front earlier this week, extended from eastern Victoria to parts of south-east Queensland on Friday morning.
However, Weatherzone Chief Meteorologist Brett Dutschke predicts it will start to dry from the bottom up during the day.
“Rain has already subsided in most areas. You are still likely to see heavy rain between Coffs Harbor and the Gold Coast on the eastern side of the range,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“Those eruptions will only happen between morning and mid to late afternoon, I don’t think we’ll see any significant rain after that.”
‘The south coast will dry later today, followed by the Illawarra, Sydney and parts of the Hunter in the afternoon, while showers continue in the north.
“A few showers could reach the northern Central Tablelands.”
A band of rain stretching from eastern Victoria to southeast Queensland will taper off during the day on Friday
Almost no rain is expected across Australia on Saturday and Sunday.
The system saw heavy rain fall in several areas on Thursday, especially in northeastern New South Wales.
Unfortunately, the wet weather didn’t reach the state’s worst fires.
“The largest fires are in the Northern Tablelands and the North West Slopes, which have not received much rain and will not see enough today to cause significant impacts,” Mr Dutschke said.
“All other fires in the east and south have been significantly suppressed, some have even been extinguished.”
As of 9am on Friday, the NSW Rural Fire Service was battling 110 bushfires across the state, 58 of which were out of control.
All fires were burning at the advisory level, not the emergency level.
“Rain fell on many fire sites overnight, with some areas receiving between 20 and 90mm of rain,” the report said.
‘This weather can also bring unfavorable conditions due to the presence of lighting and waterlogged soils.
“Please note that there are still high and moderate fire danger forecasts across the state today.
“Firefighters are taking advantage of the current weather to contain the ongoing fires and strategize for changing conditions early next week.”
The intense fires above the Glens Creek Rd Fire in Nymboida caused a fire-induced thunderstorm on Thursday.
The rain system did not reach the worst fires in New South Wales and Queensland (photo, Toorbul fire)
“This is an extremely dangerous situation, with these storms having the potential to produce erratic winds and dry lightning and rapidly increase the spread and behavior of fires,” the RFS said.
‘During these events it is important that you monitor conditions and keep up to date with the latest information via the Hazards Near Me app and the RFS website.’
Once the rain clears over Sydney on Friday, Sydneysiders can expect partly cloudy conditions on Saturday before skies clear on Sunday.
Temperatures are also expected to return to normal this weekend, after a cold snap earlier this week.
A high of 19 degrees is expected on Friday, followed by 21 degrees on Saturday and 26 degrees on Sunday.
Temperatures will also rise in Melbourne by up to 20C on Friday, 24C alongside cloudy conditions on Saturday and a sunny 26C on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the western Top End of the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia are suffering from a heatwave.
“The severe heatwave is now really confined to the northwestern end of the Northern Territory, including Darwin,” Mr Dutschke said.
‘Temperatures will reach the high 30s Celsius and low 40s Celsius and the heat is expected to continue until around Monday.
‘From then on the intensity will decrease.’
Almost no rain is forecast across Australia on Saturday and Sunday (photo, rain forecast for Saturday)
While Perth is expected to enjoy mostly sunny weather this weekend with a four-day high of 26 degrees Celsius, other regions in the state will be grateful for a reprieve from the heatwave as things start to cool.
“There are only small areas of low-intensity heatwave in the Kimberley,” Mr Dutschke said.
‘It’s starting to cool down.
‘The Broome area still looks quite warm, with temperatures between 30 degrees Celsius and low 40 degrees Celsius, but the biggest heatwave is around Darwin.’
The weather in Brisbane looks gray with showers ranging from a chilly spell in the afternoon to overcast skies.
These clouds will linger Saturday and Sunday, along with temperatures ranging from lows to the mid-20s Celsius.
The weather forecast for Canberra also looks cloudy with partly gray skies on Friday and Saturday, ahead of a sunny Sunday with a high of 26 degrees Celsius.
Adelaide is expected to see mostly sunny weather on Friday and Saturday before cloud clears completely on Sunday.
However, the South Australian capital should brace for a chilly start to the day, with a low of 8 degrees expected early Sunday morning.
Partly cloudy weather in Hobart on Friday will develop to showers on Saturday before clearing to cloudy conditions on Sunday.
The intense fires above the Glens Creek Rd Fire in Nymboida produced a fire-induced thunderstorm on Thursday (above)