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What to expect from this wild weather

Andrew Walton

Andrew Walton

Cold weather chaos will dump itself on south-east Australia this weekend, with seven states and territories to be hit with Antarctic air.

Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania will experience the coldest temperatures recorded in five years.

The conditions are predicted to cause disruptions throughout metropolitan and regional areas and police have warned people to take care on the roads.

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UBIMET weather service senior meteorologist James Wilby told The New Daily: “It certainly looks like a significant cold outbreak. A significant intrusion of cold air across the south east of the country.”

“It is a low-pressure system that is moving up from the Antarctica direction,” Mr Wilby said. “It’s not actually air from Antarctica itself but it will be air that’s close to Antarctica.

“The weather front that pushes through has the potential for some quite heavy snow, into places that could cause quite a bit of disruption.” 

Photo: Getty

Roads can get hairy, like they did at the Snowy Mountains above and police say be careful. Photo: Getty

Victoria

Min: minus 1 degree – Mt Hotham
Max: 17 degrees – Gabo Island

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) duty forecaster Terry Ryan said north-eastern Victoria would feel the chill more than any other area.

“Wangaratta, we’re going for minus 1 next Tuesday and some zeros for Sunday and Monday up there,” he said.

BoM is forecasting wet and windy conditions for most of Melbourne and said its outer suburban fringe suburbs can expect snow.

The temperature in the city is not expected to climb above 12 degrees for the next week.

Mt Buller welcomed the arrival of the cold snap, saying 4cm of fresh snow had fallen since Thursday evening.

New South Wales

Min: 1 degree – Sunday, Selwyn (NSW)
Max: 20 degrees – Tweed Heads (NSW)

Photo: Getty

There’ll be heavy rain across metro areas like Sydney. Photo: Getty

The cold blast is set to bring freezing temperatures to NSW from Friday right through the weekend, sending night temperatures to near or below 0 degrees.

Snow could fall on the Snowy Mountains above 1400m from Friday, with heavier falls at lower altitudes expected as a stronger cold front moves across the state over the weekend and into next week.

BOM meteorologist Andrew Haigh said between 10cm and 15cm could fall over the NSW central ranges and into the northern tablelands, with snow as low as 600m.

Mr Haigh said some areas of NSW will experience their coldest day since 2007.

ACT

Min: minus 1 degree – Sunday, Canberra
Max: 2 degrees – Sunday, Canberra

Blizzard conditions are forecast in the Snowy Mountains district on Saturday, while snow is forecasted for suburban areas of Canberra.

South Australia

Min: 3 degrees – Cummins
Max: 16 degrees – Marree

The cold snap slated to hit South Australia this weekend has prompted a rare cold weather health warning.

BoM says Adelaide will have a top of just 12 degrees on Saturday with heavy showers and rising winds from an intense low pressure system.

Snow showers are also possible for parts of the Flinders and Mt Lofty ranges.

SA Health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said in those conditions hypothermia is a real and significant health risk.

Tasmania

Min: 1 degree – Fingal
Max: 15 degrees – Swansea

The cold will hit Tasmania but not as viciously as the rest of south-east Australia. 

Despite that, BoM have issued Tasmania with a road weather alert, saying icy roads will make driving dangerous.

Heavy rainfall means it will be wetter than normal around the state. Hobart’s temperatures throughout the weekend and next week should stay in the low teens.

AAP

Don’t get caught out in the cold like these guys did earlier this year in NSW. Photo: AAP

Queensland

Min: 5 degrees – Warwick
Max: 33 degrees – Kowanyarna

The icy Antarctic blast will sweep southern Queensland, bringing chilly temperatures, frosty winds and even snow.

Temperatures in Brisbane are set to dip up to 5 degrees below the July average and snow flakes are expected to fall at Eukey near the NSW border.

The effects of the icy blast will be felt from Sunday and temperatures are expected to remain chilly until Friday.

Before the cold snap hits, thunderstorms are expected to hit parts of southern Queensland.

Northern Territory

Min: 3 degrees – Alice Springs
Max: 34 degrees – Batchelor

Southern NT will receive icy winds and tourist zones near Alice Springs and Uluru will shiver through freezing minimums. 

The overnight lows in Alice Springs to next Thursday will be between 0 degrees and 3 degrees.

– with AAP and ABC

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