Weather in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane: Polar blast will hit within hours
A blast of cold air rising from the ocean south of Australia will bring one of the strongest cold waves of the year to the lower eastern part of the country.
The cold front will bring icy temperatures, damaging winds, low snow and gusts to South Australia, Victoria and parts of NSW, bringing a wintry tingle to the start of spring.
“On Thursday the cold front will bring gusts of wind and significant wind chill so it will feel as cold as 7 degrees Celsius,” Weatherzone meteorologist Corine Brown told Daily Mail Australia.
The cold blast will hit South Australia on Thursday and Victoria on Friday (pictured)
After a warm winter, much of South Africa, Victoria and NSW is in for an icy weekend
Weatherzone said the cold snap would be in stark contrast to the mild winter much of the country has had in recent months.
“Friday, as the system moves into Victoria, temperatures will be about the same with a wind chill of 7 degrees Celsius, and will continue until Saturday.”
“In Sydney it will feel a little warmer on Friday, about 12 degrees Celsius, but there will most likely be thunderstorms as the cold front meets the warmer air ahead.”
“A mass of cold, dry air from behind the front will hover over Victoria on Saturday and that will bring cool mornings.”
The frigid air won’t reach the top half of the country, but southern Queensland and central Australia will reach the edges of the system, bringing cold mornings.
Weatherzone said showers could develop over WA, SA, Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and Queensland as the weekend approaches as it could result in snowfall in the Alpine region, parts of Victoria and Tasmania.
Some storms could become severe as a squall line may develop over NSW on the leading edge of the cold front, bringing gale force winds and lightning.
There may also be a greater fire hazard as winds whip warmer air ahead of the cold front.
The cold front is expected to hit warmer air and bring storms into NSW on Friday
The mercury in Adelaide will hit a maximum of just 14 degrees Celsius on Friday and hit a low of 5 degrees Celsius early Saturday morning.
Melbourne will reach a maximum temperature of 12 degrees on Friday and drop to 7 degrees early Saturday morning.
In Sydney it will be at least 8 degrees early on Saturday morning, while a significant frost of -2 degrees Celsius will occur in Canberra.
At the edge of the system, Brisbane will see a minimum temperature of 15ºC on Friday night, while Alice Springs will drop to a minimum of 4ºC tonight.
The cold front will move over Perth earlier this week and will bring cool temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday with maximums around 20 degrees.
Darwin will be unaffected by the system and will be warm and sunny all weekend with maxima around the low to mid 30s.
The cold weather system could also bring snowfall to the Australian Alps this weekend (Photo: Perisher resort)
This year’s average ski season could see a late burst of fresh snow this weekend (Photo: Thredbo resort)