‘Significant’ rain event about to touch down across the nation’s east and north

Rain records are tipped to be broken as a “major wet weather event” is forecast to sweep across the nation in the coming days.

Rain records are tipped to be broken as a “major wet weather event” is forecast to sweep across the nation in the coming days.

While the entire east coast is forecast to take a battering from strong winds, heavy rain and low temperatures into early next week, even the nation’s north will cop a deluge.

Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the unusual weather system is already bringing “unseasonable” rain to much of the country’s northern coast — which is meant to be basking in the warmth of a dry season.

“It’s going to pick up even further particularly going into Thursday and Friday, where we’ll see significant rain across the Northern Territory,” he said. “The wet weather will pick up in the tropics of Queensland as well.”

He said over the next eight days the rainfalls across the north of the nation are “really significant” with many areas seeing more than 25mm of rain and some more than 50mm.

“These areas typically average 0, 1, 2 or 3mm of rain in a month,” he said. “In Katherine (in the NT) for example we average just 4mm from June through to August, and we could see 20mm quite comfortably out of this one event.

“So records are likely to be broken.”

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Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the rainfall was likely to break records.

Meanwhile, a small wet front sweeping over Victoria and NSW is passing on Tuesday but that’s where the good news ends.

Mr Sharpe said that from Thursday night a new wet weather system — which he said is being “enhanced” by a cold low pressure system moving up from the south — will bring a “significant rain event” to large parts of the nation.

“The rain from the northern Australian rain event and the showers for the NSW coast will combine and create a significant rain event — particularly focused for eastern Queensland and eastern NSW,” he said.

He said these areas will likely be hit with “one of the most damaging and dangerous weather systems you can get” in southeast Queensland and NSW.

“There is a lot of uncertainty around this but most forecast models are picking an east coast low,” he said. “It brings heavy rain, damaging winds and damaging surf, so those are all on the cards as a possibility. It is a significant risk.”

The rain is forecast to become heavier and more widespread between Thursday and Saturday, and drag into the start of next week as well.

The return of the wet weather comes less than a week after the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) declared an end to La Niña, and a long June dry spell.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) declared an end to La Niña. Picture: John Grainger.

However, there are strong indications that it will be back in a few months anyway to bring yet more drenching weather conditions.

If La Nina does bubble up again in the spring, it will be the third year in a row it’s made an appearance. That is very rare.

“Back to back La Ninas are not uncommon,” said the Bureau of Meteorology’s head of long-range forecasting, Dr Andrew Watkins.

“In fact we get them about half the time since 1900.

“But a three-year La Nina is less common and we’ve only seen that three times since the middle of the last century.”