Australia weekend weather: Winter like cold snap set to hit
Forecasters are warning of a “big cold snap” over the weekend with winter like temperatures, rain, sleet and snow as well.
Environment
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South eastern parts of Australia are set to shiver through their coldest weekend in almost three years.
That’s due to a series of cold fronts that have been dragging polar air across Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales – each one bringing colder conditions than the next.
Rain, sleet, snow, winds and thunderstorms – you name it – it all be mixed in with the turbulent conditions.
“The third and most recent front is the strongest of this week to impact south eastern Australia and for many in those regions this week it has felt like winter is one step closer each day,” said Sky News Weather meteorologist Alison Osborne.
Sydney could see its coldest day since last August and Brisbane potentially its chilliest May morning for 17 years.
Snow could descend below 600 metres in three states with as much as 30mm falling on Thredbo and Perisher.
“This front will then sweep through NSW during the weekend and bring a big cold snap, on Sunday in particular,” said Ms Osborne.
“It’s the coldest winter like storm of the year so far”.
The cold front will barrel through the Tasman Sea on Saturday, bring cold, unsettled weather to Victoria and Tasmania, before heading up the coast Sunday.
A wet Melbourne is set to reach just 13C on both Saturday and Sunday with lows of 7C.
Website WeatherZone has stated that if the city remains at 13C or cooler on both days it will be Melbourne’s coldest weekend since August 2021 and the coldest May weekend in 23 years.
Up to 15mm of rain could fall on Saturday with a further 6mm on Sunday. Monday will be barely any warmer or drier.
Mallacoota, on the east coast, will be very wet with up to 30mm set to fall on Sunday and heavy showers on Saturday.
Adelaide will have a weekend in the mid-teens reaching 15C on Saturday and up to 17C by Monday. Overnight lows will sink to 7C on Sunday morning. Expect some lights showers both days.
Across the Bass Strait and Tasmania is scarf weather. On Saturday, Hobart will be lucky to get to 13C and then colder still, with a maximum of just 12C, on Sunday. It’s likely to get down to 3C at dawn.
Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, towering above the city, will be below freezing at points with a low of -5C on Sunday morning and a high of just 2C. A dusting of snow is a possibility.
Temperatures will plummet in Canberra from a high of 16C on Saturday to just 9C on Sunday as that cold front makes its presence felt. Sunday’s minimum will be 3C and then zero on Monday.
Sydney will be a warm and sunny 22C on Saturday – so enjoy it because the rain is coming and it’s getting cooler.
Sunday will see a high of 18C with 3-15mm of precipitation. Monday will be much the same but could be cooler overnight at 8C which would be the coldest Sydney has got since last winter.
Snow will be a feature across the weekend with falls possible down to an elevation of 600 metres in Tasmania, 700m in Victoria and 800m in NSW. That’s low enough for snow near Orange, Oberon, Barrington Tops, and the Grampians as well as on high ground above Hobart.
Of course the ski resorts will see snow too. As well as Perisher and Thredbo’s possible 30mm, Falls Creek, Alpine Park and Mount Buller could also see more than 10mm of the white stuff fall.
A wet Saturday for Perth with up to 6mm of rain and a high of 19C. Early on Sunday, temperatures will bottom out at 11C before heading up to a 24C high. But showers remain a possibility.
It would be very much a stretch to suggest Brisbane is cold, what with 26C maximums for both days this weekend. But it is cooling down into next week. Monday may reach 22C while if it gets down to as low as 7C early on Tuesday morning that will be the coldest May day since 2006.
A sunny, partly cloudy, weekend in Townsville with highs nudging 30C and lows of 20C.
Darwin will peak at 33C on Saturday and 34C on Sunday with heaps of blue sky.
Originally published as Australia weekend weather: Winter like cold snap set to hit
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