South Australians braces for wild winds, gusty showers and thunderstorms across the state

Severe weather warnings will stay in place until at least Wednesday morning, after the state was smashed with wild weather on Tuesday.

A lower pressure system drifting across the state will see gusty showers “coming in waves” throughout Tuesday. Picture: Brett Hartwig.

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Severe weather warnings will stay in place until at least Wednesday morning, after the state was smashed with wild weather on Tuesday.

Damaging wind gusts are expected to pommel a huge stretch of SA, spanning from Mount Gambier in the Lower South-East to parts of the southern Flinders Ranges in the Far North, overnight and into the late morning.

A separate coastal warning for “abnormally high” tides will also stay in place.

While the rain falls down, Adelaide is looking to hit a top of just 15C on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The jetty at Semaphore providing some entertainment for 18-year-old Kai Martin of Mt. Barker, and 17-year-old Reagan Gray of Findon, on June 24, 2025. Picture: Dean Martin

Severe weather warnings are in place for a stretch of SA spanning from the Lower South-East to the lower Flinders Ranges. Picture: BOM

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan Fischer said damaging winds were likely from Tuesday morning until Wednesday morning, with large waves and elevated seas expected.

“A deep low pressure system to the south will extend a series of vigorous fronts over southern SA during the next 48 hours,” he said.

“This will result in widespread gusty winds, squally showers and storms with local heavy falls possible and coastal impacts from large waves, rough and elevated seas.”

Mr Fischer said on Tuesday afternoon that wind gusts peaked at 96 kmh just after 1pm at Mt Crawford, and that peak wind gusts in the Adelaide metropolitan area had been around 70-80 kmh.

The South Australian State Emergency Service (SES) asked residents to prepare for windy weather by tying down and putting away loose items around their property.

SES chief of staff Derren Halleday said the SES had attended close to 100 weather-related incidents on Tuesday, primarily involving down trees and loose equipment, mainly in the metropolitan areas and in the Adelaide Hills.

He expected that number would climb into Tuesday evening and Wednesday.

“Metropolitan areas had a significant amount of work, but particularly the Mt Lofty ranges with some of those larger trees do cause us some challenges and we’ll be continuing to focus on those areas,” Mr Halleday said.

He also warned South Australians to take extra care around coastal areas of the state.

“Unusually high tides are dangerous to swimmers, surfers and rock fishers. Stay away from coastal areas until conditions subside,” he said.

“We’re asking people to utilize some common sense in regard to the jetties.”

“Some jetties are already closed at the moment due to the damage that they sustained last month and we do ask people to stay off the jetties.”

As of 6.30am, the SES had attended eight weather related incidents, mainly in the metropolitan areas and in the Adelaide Hills. Picture: Tim Joy

The wooly weather first hit the state on Monday, when the West Coast and the York and Eyre peninsulas were lashed with rain.

As much as 28.8mm was recorded at Cape Borda on Kangaroo Island, 22mm at Wudinna, and 19mm at Port Lincoln.

The system then drifted across the Adelaide metropolitan area and into the east of SA on Tuesday.

Some areas along the western and southern coast of the state, including Stenhouse Bay, Port Kenny and Cape Borda saw their wettest day since last June, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

“We had a number of locations which recorded totals up around that 30mm mark, particularly about those western and southern coasts where we saw some thunderstorm activity overnight,” Mr Fischer said.

“For those locations that amount of rainfall is actually the wettest day in at least a year and for some of those locations it’s been two or three years since they had a daily amount of that magnitude.”

Severe weather warnings remain active for Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, Yorke Peninsula and the southern Flinders Ranges.

Originally published as South Australians braces for wild winds, gusty showers and thunderstorms across the state