Millions of Aussies will be crushed by heavy rain and damaging thunderstorms as a wet weather system lashes large parts of the country.
Large parts of Australia’s east coast will see rainfall totals of between 30 and 60mm over the next 72 hours, Weatherzone reports.
Parts of South Australia, Victoria and south-west NSW have already been lashed by heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a possible thunderstorm warning for the Sydney metropolitan region on Wednesday evening, after temperatures at Sydney Airport earlier reached 38.2, making it the hottest place on Earth.
Western parts of NSW have also been warned to brace for possible heavy rain.
Sydney, along with the Hunter and Illawarra regions, will again be in the firing line of severe thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon and evening.
Central and eastern NSW will also be hit by damaging winds on Thursday afternoon.
The State Emergency Service has warned millions of residents to prepare for “potentially severe storms with heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hail” for much of the state, including Sydney, the NSW north coast, the Hunter and Illawarra.
Eastern and southeastern parts of Australia are likely to experience heavy rainfall and damaging thunderstorms (weather map in photo)
Wetherzone senior meteorologist Yoska Hernandez told Daily Mail Australia the ACT will also be affected by isolated thunderstorms.
Ms Hernandez said the nation’s capital will bear the brunt of the wet weather on Friday, while Melbourne will see a cool change on Thursday and Friday.
“A few showers will hit Melbourne [on Thursday] and temperatures will reach highs as low as 20 degrees,” she said.
‘[It’s] It will likely linger in the city for most of Friday before showers return on Saturday.”
Ms Hernandez explained that a slow-moving low-pressure trough has caused the wet weather system, which will last through most of the weekend.
“That trough will linger over eastern and southeastern parts of Australia for most of the weekend before moving into the Tasman Sea on Monday,” she said.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued severe thunderstorm warnings for most of Australia’s east coast.
Parts of South Australia, Victoria and south-west New South Wales have already been hit by heavy rainfall (pictured pedestrians trying to avoid the wet weather)
The agency has indicated that rainfall is the main weather risk for the rest of Wednesday.
The latest forecast comes as several parts of Australia remain in the grip of a sweltering heatwave.
Temperatures soared to a sweltering 40 degrees in Sydney’s western suburbs on Wednesday, while Adelaide topped 33Con on Tuesday.
The mercury in Perth will reach highs of 37 degrees on Friday.
The damaging heatwave has put pressure on Australia’s energy systems after 347 locations were left without power during an unplanned outage in Sydney’s CBD as of 3pm on Tuesday, according to an update from Ausgrid.
Thousands of households and businesses had power restored in the NSW Riverina region, including Wagga Wagga, Culcairn and Henty, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Authorities have also issued blackout warnings for Queensland this week, with the highest risk of blackout times between 3:30pm and 7:30pm.
Sweltering conditions have emerged during planned maintenance at three of NSW’s four coal-fired power stations, which remain the state’s main source of energy.
The strained power supply is expected to be ‘at risk’ on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.
Households have been urged to use less electricity and an urgent warning has been issued for those who rely on electricity-powered medical equipment to have a backup plan in case of a breakdown.
A slow-moving low-pressure trough has created the wet weather system, which will last through most of the weekend (weather map in photo)
Brisbane
Thursday: Possible shower. Min 22C Max 30C.
Friday: Shower or two. Min 23C Max 29C.
Saturday: Showers. Min 22C Max 27C.
Sydney
Thursday: Showers. Possible thunderstorms. Min 22C Max 31C.
Friday: Showers. Min. 21C Max. 25C.
Saturday: Rain. Min. 21C Max. 23C.
Canberra
Thursday: Shower or two. Min 16C Max 31C.
Friday: Showers. Possible thunderstorms. Min 15C Max 25C.
Saturday: Rain. Possible heavy showers. Min 15C Max 20C.
Temperatures soared to a sweltering 40 degrees in Sydney’s western suburbs on Wednesday (photo by visitors at Bondi Beach)
Melbourne
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Min 16C Max 24C.
Friday: Partly cloudy. Min 17C Max 27C.
Saturday: Showers. Possible serious falls. Min 17C Max 22C.
Hobart
Thursday: Showers are becoming fewer. Min 12C Max 16C.
Friday: Possible shower. Min. 11C Max. 19C.
Saturday: Showers, tending rain. Min 12C Max 19C.
Adelaide
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Min 15C Max 23C.
Friday: Possible late shower. Min 13C Max 25C.
Saturday: Possible shower. Min 15C Max 24C.
The damaging heatwave has put pressure on Australia’s energy systems, with households urged to use less energy (weather map pictured)
Perth
Thursday: Sunny. Min 17C Max 33C.
Friday: Mostly sunny. Min 21C Max 37C.
Saturday: Sunny. Min 21C Max 30C.
Darwin
Thursday: Shower or two. Possible thunderstorms. Min 25C Max 32C.
Friday: Shower or two. Min 26C Max 33C.
Saturday: Shower or two. Min 25C Max 32C.