Dreary weather ahead for Tassie but peak wettest weather on Saturday: BOM

Tasmania is facing some unseasonably wet conditions this weekend. What the week ahead will bring >>>

Parts of Tasmania are on flood alert after drenching rain swamped the state on Saturday.

Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said Tasmanians should brace for some further “wintery conditions”.

“That’ll stick around for the next several days,” he said.

“There will be either cloud or rain, or at least cold, showery conditions, so it may be awhile until we get a nice spell of sunnier, warmer weather.”

Rain has hammered through half of the state since the early hours of Saturday.

The Cataract Gorge flood warning on July 26. Picture: Alison Foletta

By not even 10am on Saturday, some parts of the state had over 30mm in the last 24 hours including 55mm in Pyengana and 32mm in Targa in the north and 40mm at lake Mackenzie and 30mm and Sheffield in the north west.

Down south it was less heavy rain with around 10 mm collected in a 24 hour period.

“We had a decent bit of rain overnight and that’s continues into Saturday,” Mr Hines said.

Spillage at Trevallyn Dam on July 26. Picture: Alison Foletta

While the band of of rain slide down south over Saturday morning, it got a good whack of rain for a few hours.

It was a soggy and cold day for stallholders and shoppers at the Salamanca Markets.

While grey and overcast at the time of set-up, the rain started to pour mid-morning, with a sea of umbrellas enveloping the square as stallholders battled to secure their tents.

While a relatively – and understandably – quiet day for the market, it still drew visitors from across the state, including the Marshall family who drove from Launceston for a weekend getaway to Hobart.

“It’s still great to be here,” Rebecca Marshall said, whose six-year-old son Cian battled the rain with gumboots, and a yellow raincoat.

Mr Hines said the rain should clear the state by five pm on Saturday.

“We’ll see cloudy skies and patchy showers returning on Sunday with a few millimetres here or there, same for Monday,” he said.

Rebecca Marshall with son Cian, 6, at the Salamanca Markets on Saturday July 26. Picture: Bridget Clarke

“We’re stuck in a showery weather pattern where each day could bring a few millimetres and chilly wind flow but no persistent rain in the days ahead.”

There are some flood warnings for the northeast.

One moderate flood warning for St Paul’s River and minor for South Esk and Lower North Esk River.

“People who live on or near those rivers, it’s something to be aware of,” Mr Hines said.

“It doesn’t take a whole heap of rain before those river levels start to rise and see some minor flooding.”

The flood warnings should be cleared by Monday.

While most would expect cold and wet conditions at the end of July, Mr Hines said it wasn’t a “typical winter weather pattern” and it wasn’t just Tassie but all of Australia.

‘There has been extensive rain across large parts of the country due to that tropical influence,” he said.

“Once that clears up at the end of the day, amd we get stick in that more showery wind flow, that becomes more of a classic winter set up here.”