Weather warnings: series of ‘vigorous’ cold fronts to bring wind, rain, snow

Many in the north and northeast of Tasmania woke to heavy rainfall this morning and that rainfall will extend down the East Coast through the day.

IT WILL be a good weekend for staying indoors and getting cosy with cold, windy and wintry conditions forecast across the state.

Many in the north and north east of Tasmania woke to heavy rainfall this morning and that rainfall will extend down the East Coast through the day.

Heavy rainfalls around 30-50mm were forecast for East Coast towns today including St Helens, St Marys, Fingal and even as far south as Orford.

Supervising Meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology Tasmania office, Simon Louis, said we could see totals of up to 80mm of rainfall in isolated, higher locations.

“Elsewhere in eastern Tasmania we might see rainfall of 15-25mm and lower rainfall totals in the west with rainfall only up to 5mm,” he said.

“It’s possible that we will issue flood watches for some eastern catchments.”

The Bureau of Meteorology currently has a marine wind warning for the entire East Coast, a flood warning for North East and East Coast catchments and a minor flood warning for the South Esk River.

Supervising Meteorologist, Simon Louis, from the Bureau of Meteorology Tasmania office. Picture: SUPPLIED

There is a severe weather warning in place for the East Coast, parts of the Furneaux Islands, the South East, North East and Midlands.

“We’ll see fresh and gusty winds on the East Coast with that low on Thursday, probably see winds averaging 30-50km/h along the East Coast with some stronger gusts.

“But we expect those winds to be fairly coastal, so they should just mainly effect the coastal fringe and more moderate winds further inland.”

A series of “vigorous” cold fronts will move across the state through the weekend.

“That will lead to a burst of cold, windy and wintering conditions across Tasmania for the weekend.”

Get ready to pack away your thongs because the first wintry blast of the year is set to hit parts of southern Australia...

Posted by Bureau of Meteorology on Tuesday, 31 March 2020

The North West should see 15-20mm of rain developing on Friday with a thunderstorm later in the day as the first of the cold front moves through.

Saturday will see a second cold front with further strong and gusty winds across the state and potentially 15-20mm of rainfall in the North West and central Tasmania.

A third front will cross on Sunday with continuing strong westerly winds and showers.

“Those fronts will also bring cold conditions so we’ll see maximums in Tasmania only in the mid-teens in most of the major towns.”

Snow levels could drop to as low as 900mm on Saturday and Sunday.

Mr Louis said the wintry cold fronts would become more frequently from now on.

Flood watch warning will be continually updated at www.bom.gov.au.