‘Black Nor’easter’ to dump rain bomb across Australia’s east coast
Created by two systems colliding, the rare weather event is expected to bring up to 300mm to Australia’s eastern coastline over the next three days.
Residents along the east coast are set to experience a rare super cell, with warnings of up to 300mm of rain expected to drench a 1600km stretch of the eastern coastline.
Dubbed as the rare ‘Black Nor’easter’, which gets it name from the darkness of the moisture-rich clouds that can turn the middle of the day as dark as twilight, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned possible flash flooding, gale force winds and hazardous surf over the next three days.
Southeast Queensland, much of New South Wales and eastern Victoria are in the firing line from Thursday into the weekend as a powerful cut-off low and a moisture-rich coastal trough combine producing thunderstorms and torrential rain.
Severe Weather Update for #NSW, southern #Qld and eastern #Victoria, where heavy rain is forecast. #Flood Watches are also in place. Video current: 11:30am AEDT 4 April 2024.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) April 4, 2024
Latest forecasts and warnings: https://t.co/4W35o8iFmh or the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/cWukVbNBAP
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines from the Bureau said rainfall totals will be well and truly into the 200mm margin, particularly for areas along the east coast.
“It is very, very wet. Flash flooding and riverine flooding are both possible. This is going to be a dynamic and serious situation,” Mr Hines said.
Friday is predicted to be the most impactful day of the combined systems’ duration, with New South Wales set to experience the worst.
Sydney could see totals of up to 175mm of rain between Thursday and Saturday, more than half of that falling on Friday alone.
Between 200-300mm of rain is possible in other areas along the coastline, with the New South Wales coast and the ranges potentially seeing 80-150mm falling in just six hours on Friday.
A Black Nor’easter in 2020 led to Sydney’s wettest day in 30 years.
The dangerous system comes after an elderly man died in flood waters south of Brisbane on Wednesday night as more than 150mm of rain caused flash flooding.
A 71-year-old was found dead after his vehicle was submerged in flood waters.
Police were called to conduct a welfare check of the car at a private property in Greenbank, about 42km from Brisbane’s CBD, at 5.20am. The man was found near the car.
Mr Hines said the thunderstorms and flash flooding seen in parts of southeast Queensland overnight were just the beginning of a wet weekend.
“(There were) heavy falls of up and over 150mm in some places leading to significant surface flooding and that is just a taste of what’s to come over the next three days,” he said.
A severe weather warning has been issued on Thursday for parts of New South Wales for heavily to locally intense rainfall with thunderstorms, stretching from south of Newcastle to Merimbula.
“The focus is really going to shift into New South Wales from (Thursday) evening, heavy falls around the northern coast and inland on Thursday night and as we play through Friday we will really start to see that rain start to focus in on the New South Wales coast and about the mountains too,” Mr Hines said.
Several flood watches are in place across Queensland and eastern New South Wales.
The system is set to move south into eastern Victoria on Saturday, with heavy rainfall easing further north.
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