As the east coast of Australia gets battered by a powerful polar blast, which will bring extremely cold temperatures and more rain, millions of Australians will be forced to shiver through a winter storm this week.
Two brief days of sunshine in NSW were followed by heavy rain on Sunday, and forecasters are predicting additional downpours, freezing temperatures, and snow.
The Tasman Sea low pressure system and southerly winds, according to Weatherzone analyst Andrew Schmidt, are what caused the wet weather.
Sydney was pounded by rain on Monday before it left the coast, but the weather service has issued a return warning as early as Wednesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning: “A cold front will sweep across south-east and eastern Australia in the next days, bringing a wintry mix of showers, brisk winds, and snow to lower levels.”
“Showers lessening on Wednesday, but cold weather persists.”
Residents of Queensland awoke to cold temperatures, setting off a frigid start to the week that is predicted to last the entire week.
As the BOM predicted “extensive” frost around the town throughout week, Roma, five hours west of Brisbane, was the coldest place in the state on Monday morning, dipping to a miserable -3.9C.
The small town of Kingaroy, located two hours west of the state capital of Queensland, was likewise chilly at -2.4C as it prepared for more chilly mornings with temperatures anticipated to plummet to 0C, 1C, and -1C on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, respectively.
Camden and Richmond, two Sydney suburbs, are expected to reach 2C on Saturday, while Paramatta will plummet to 4C.
After receiving nearly four months’ worth of rain in the first week of the month, Sydney recorded its eighth wettest July and ninth wettest year in more than 160 years of records.
The first seven days of July saw 281.4 mm of rain fall at Sydney’s Observatory Hill weather station, bringing the year’s total rainfall there so far to 1,828.8 mm.
The city had a one-week July flood that was about four times greater than its monthly average and was already the eighth-highest July total in records going back to 1858.
According to Sky News Weather analyst Alison Osborne, snow will fall in portions of Tasmania that would extend all the way up to the northern ranges, which are located on the boundary between Queensland and NSW.
She said that the recent cold front was actually sending up a surge of extremely arctic air.
This indicates that, although snow showers will often affect places like the Australian Alps and the central plateau of Tasmania, they may also deliver a light dusting of snow to the central and even northern ranges on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
Except for WA, Ms. Osborne advised Australians to prepare for ice conditions starting next week.
Through southern Queensland, the central portions of the Northern Territory, eastern and southern Australia, and throughout areas of Victoria’s high country, she predicted, “there’ll be widespread frost as the mercury lowers right down to below five degrees and in some cases below freezing.”
“Frost warnings for growers and road weather alerts in Tasmania are likely to be in effect again.”
Sydney’s showers are expected to clear later this week, but the surf is expected to remain hazardous.
In the wake of the most recent floods in NSW, flood victims are starting to return to their flooded homes.
Despite the possibility of sporadic showers for the majority of the week, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast relief for regions hit by flooding.