Widespread severe thunderstorm risk for much of southern Australia
Severe weather to engulf much of the lower half of the country.
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00:00Damaging winds, large hail and heavy rainfall may impact many areas over the
00:04next few days as the severe thunderstorm risk extends across almost half of the
00:09Australian continent. Let's start by taking a look at today's thunderstorm
00:13forecast. Now green areas show where storms are possible, yellow and red show
00:18where severe thunderstorms are possible if not likely. In the west our severe
00:22storm areas are across southern inland parts of Western Australia. We might see
00:27damaging wind gusts with storms through these parts later today. In the east our
00:32severe storm areas are more widespread covering much of the southeastern parts
00:36of the country but mostly to the west of the Great Dividing Range. Adelaide and
00:41Melbourne might see some severe storms today but Canberra and Sydney are less
00:45likely to see that at all. Our severe thunderstorms are likely across
00:50southeast inland parts of South Australia today as well as across inland
00:54parts of northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland. That is where those
00:58severe storms are most likely today. But any severe storms might produce damaging
01:04winds or large hail. Heavy falls are possible with storms but less likely
01:08than the wind and hail risk today. Now storms whether they're severe or not may
01:14still bring down trees or branches across roads or on power lines
01:18potentially leading to some power outages. Winds and hail might also bring
01:22some minor property damage to your property or car. We might also see heavy
01:27falls produce flash flooding in some parts with water over roads leading to
01:31dangerous driving conditions. It is also worth noting that across those parts of
01:35northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland today we might see some
01:39particularly dangerous thunderstorms which could produce destructive wind
01:42gusts in excess of 125 kilometres an hour. So what's triggering all of these
01:48storms? Well in the west we've got a cold front pushing across the west coast
01:52generating these storm areas today. In the east though we don't have any of
01:57these fronts to generate the storms. In fact skies look fairly clear but that's
02:02only because this is a map of rainfall and storms in the southeast are less
02:06likely to produce much rain today. They may still produce those damaging winds
02:11and large hail though. As we go through the course of today the front will move
02:16through Western Australia eventually pushing into South Australia by tomorrow.
02:19It'll extend showers storms and strong winds across those central parts of the
02:25country tomorrow and as we move into Friday that risk will push into the
02:29southeastern parts at once again. This system is expected to move offshore
02:34during the weekend leaving us with much more settled conditions across southern
02:37Australia. Now ahead of this frontal system we are expecting some fairly
02:41strong winds impacting inland parts of Western Australia today elevating
02:45fire dangers. We have fire weather warnings in place for some districts of
02:49Western Australia and that risk is going to move into South Australia tomorrow as
02:53winds pick up with this system moving through. So fire weather warnings in
02:57place for some areas of South Australia tomorrow with the risk of damaging winds
03:01becoming a bit more widespread. That burst of strong winds flares up across
03:06the southeastern parts of the country on Friday before the system moves away and
03:11takes those stronger winds with it. Now we do already have a severe weather
03:15warning for damaging winds in place for much of South Australia for winds
03:19expected tomorrow but it is worth noting that we may see locally damaging wind
03:23gusts even outside of this warning area with showers or thunderstorms. It is also
03:29possible we could see another severe weather warning area issued for the
03:32southeast over the next couple of days depending on how this front moves. It's
03:38also worth noting that storms remain widespread tomorrow as this system moves
03:43through with severe storms likely across many of those southern and eastern parts
03:47of the country. Damaging winds and large hail are once again our biggest risks
03:53but heavy falls are still possible. This is quite a complex weather system with
03:58severe storms possible for many areas so the best way to keep yourself up to date
04:02is to keep an eye on the radar each day and keep an eye on the Bureau's forecasts
04:06and warnings in case we do need to issue any warnings for storms. You can find all
04:11of that via the Bureau's website or the BOM social media. Have a good day, stay
04:15safe and we'll catch you next time.