Sydney weather: Severe storm warning for northern NSW ahead of wet Christmas
Severe storms will batter parts of the east today, with every state and territory experiencing heavy rain and a wet, miserable Christmas.
Severe storms will continue to batter northeast NSW on Monday, with every state and territory experiencing heavy rain as millions of Aussies brace for a wet, miserable Christmas.
The bad news comes as the Sydney’s rapidly spiralling COVID-19 outbreak sees other states close their borders to residents, throwing travel plans into chaos and leaving many families facing holidays apart.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for residents of the North West Slopes and Plains, Central Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains and Upper Western regions on Monday morning.
The slow-moving system is spreading east and is expected to reach parts of the Hunter, Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast later in the day, with flood warnings issued for the Gwydir, Bellinger and Orara rivers.
“In the lead-up to Christmas there is a lot of wet weather across Australia, especially for northern and eastern and central parts of the country,” said Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe.
“Through the Hunter Valley and many other parts of the NSW coastline and surrounding areas we’ve seen a whole series of showers in recent days but up north it is a lot wetter than that.”
A monsoon system over Western Australia’s Kimberley region has been bucketing Australia on multiple fronts as rain and cloud spread southeast. “We’ve got showers drifting across southern Queensland, in NSW we’ve got this band of rain spreading down, in South Australia we’ve got a separate rain band moving through,” Mr Sharpe said.
“There’s two major weather systems in the southeast, one over South Australia and one over NSW, and they’re both tracking southeast, so Victoria (is) in the firing line.”
In Victoria, the BOM has issued a severe weather warning for the Central, South West, parts of Northern Country, North Central, West and South Gippsland and Wimmera regions for Tuesday, with heavy rainfall and the potential for flash flooding.
Heavy rainfall is on the forecast again for northern and eastern Australia. Accumulated rainfall totals over the next few days show moisture from a tropical low near the Kimberley coast spilling across to eastern Australia. #monsoon #lanina https://t.co/GaxtgDenvN pic.twitter.com/2JxG9fDT8Q
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 20, 2020
The rain will spread across western and central Victoria tonight, with Melbourne to see the heaviest rainfall on Tuesday.
Conditions in NSW are expected to ease by Tuesday evening, but wet weather will continue in the northern half of the country as it dries out in the southeast. Christmas Eve will see wet weather will start to build again along the NSW coastline, with heavy falls also expected in central Queensland.
Sydney and Brisbane will see showers continuing until Boxing Day, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart will be cloudy, Perth and Adelaide can expect sunny and hot conditions, while storms will batter Darwin all the way throughout.
CHRISTMAS FORECAST
Brisbane: Cloudy and 27 on Christmas Eve, showers and 26 on Christmas Day, showers and 27 on Boxing Day
Sydney: A few showers and 27 on Christmas Eve, showers and 25 on Christmas Day, showers and 26 on Boxing Day
Canberra: Partly cloudy and 27 on Christmas Eve, partly cloudy and 24 on Christmas Day, partly cloudy and 25 on Boxing Day
Melbourne: Possible showers and 20 on Christmas Eve, partly cloudy and 21 on Christmas Day, partly cloudy and 28 on Boxing Day
Hobart: Cloudy and 17 on Christmas Eve, partly cloudy and 19 on Christmas Day, partly cloudy and 24 on Boxing Day
Adelaide: Partly cloudy and 27 on Christmas Eve, sunny and 29 on Christmas Day, sunny and 34 on Boxing Day
Perth: Clear skies and 37 on Christmas Eve, sunny and 32 on Christmas Day, partly cloudy and 29 on Boxing Day
Darwin: Storms and 32 on Christmas Eve, continuing through Christmas Day and Boxing Day
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