Return of sunny weather in Adelaide ahead of showers next week
IT’s been a wild week of wind, snow, hail and deep cold. Happily, things are looking better for the weekend — but the rain isn’t far away.
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AFTER a week of wild weather Adelaide residents can pack up their snow jackets and enjoy sunshine over the weekend.
It comes as the state’s power distributor has confirmed all South Australian homes affected by the storm blackouts have had their power restored.
But the dry and mild conditions won’t last as the weather bureau is predicting rain on Monday.
Over the weekend Adelaide and the rest of the state should experience light winds and clear conditions.
Duty forecaster Naomi Benger said frost could be an issue in the early hours of the morning as the temperatures drop overnight but there should be sunny conditions throughout the day over the weekend.
“There will be cold temperatures overnight and frost ... frost will be the main concern,” she said.
“There will be showers in the Lower South East around Sunday.”
Temperatures in Adelaide to reach 15C today and Saturday, peaking at 16C on Sunday.
Ms Benger said frost would accumulate in the northern suburbs on Saturday morning.
A high-pressure system currently over Renmark and Broken Hill was expected to move slowly eastwards to New South Wales by Sunday.
Come Sunday night clouds should start building up — one from the north and another from the south — to send some rain to the state on Monday.
SA Power Networks spokesman Paul Roberts said the utility hoped to have all repairs completed next week but that the remaining work was not affecting properties.
He said power had even been restored to 75 properties on Kangaroo Island for which there were difficulties repairing infrastructure.
Access issues had caused these properties to go without power for three nights.
Mr Roberts said workers had to restring electrical wires in a gully around Middle River.
“Workers have had to hand restring 500m of wires in a gully where it’s half an hour in and half an hour out,” he said.
“And they have to use an excavator to bring in a pole and help pull it up. It’s been quite incredible how they’ve achieved that.”
Mr Roberts said SA Power Networks was expecting to pay out a total of $7 million to affected customers within the next three months.
State Emergency Services chief Chris Beattie applauded the work of the utility in restoring power to the rest of the state.
But with frosty mornings expected to continue until Saturday, emergency services are encouraging people to check on their loved ones.
“Be good neighbours — think about the vulnerable, particularly friends, family or relatives who are living in areas affected by those power outages,” Mr Beattie said.