Australia Braces for Unseasonable Rain and Subzero Temperatures

One side of Australia is expected to be hit by unseasonable rainfall while residents on the other side shiver through subzero temperatures. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned residents in Western Australia to prepare for unseasonable rainfall over the weekend. It’s not very typical for this time of year to see rainfall, it’s normally their dry season, senior meteorologist Jonathan How said. The system is set to move east into Central Australia over the weekend, bringing heavier rain to southern parts of the Northern Territory and northern parts of South Australia. Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Angus Hines earlier said the rainfall would be widespread with some areas receiving 20, 30 or 40mm of rain. When that amount of rain falls in normally dry areas in Central Australia, it can certainly have some impact, particularly on travel and transportation, he said. A lot of these outback roads in these parts of the country are dirt roads, so it doesn’t take that much wet weather before they become muddy and in some cases impassable. We could see road closures over the weekend but there is still a little bit of uncertainty, there is not complete clarity as to how this will play out. But we do expect to see rain through this part of the country on Saturday and in particular on Sunday. The rain is expected to amplify as it moves east across Central Australia over the weekend, and will potentially intensify when it hits the eastern states next week. Temperatures dipped as low as -8C across Australia on Saturday morning. We had another cold start this morning particularly across Eastern Australia, Mr Hines said. Canberra got down to -5.6C, while Cooma in the Snowy Mountains dropped to -8.4C, taking out the spot for the coldest place in the country on Saturday morning. We have seen very cold temperatures right up through northern NSW and into south east Queensland again this morning, and have seen a bit of fog around the Adelaide metro, Mr How said. Generally quite cold, you can kind of continuation on from what we’ve seen through the week with those cold mornings. The good thing about cold mornings today does mean sunny days. Much of NSW, Queensland, northern Victoria and Canberra are set to see sunny skies on Saturday. In terms of sort of the rest of the weekend, we are expecting pretty settled conditions for Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, Mr How said. A high pressure system over Australia is generating quite calm and dry conditions — plenty of sunshine if you’re living on the coast, so a pretty good day to get out. Sydney is in for a mostly sunny weekend with a top of 19C across Saturday and Sunday. Melbourne is set to be partly cloudy with a chance of showers, with a top of 15 across the weekend. Brisbane will also see some sun with a top of 23C and light winds. Perth will be mostly sunny with a max of 19C, and is also set to get some light winds. Adelaide is expected to hit a top of 16C with some sun on Saturday, however while Sunday is set for a top of 17C there is a chance of showers. Hobart is set to have a chance of showers across the weekend and a top of 14C, while Canberra is also set for some sun and tops of 14C. The territory is expected to drop to minimum temperatures of -3C on Sunday. Darwin is set to be mostly sunny with a top of 32C this weekend.