Soaking rain hits the nation's food bowl.

The Murray Basin is soaking up widespread rain thanks to a cut-off low that has been spiralling from west to east, drawing in moisture from the tropics and moving slow enough to deliver some very healthy totals. This same low delivered heavy falls to southwest WA last Friday and Saturday. Over the last 24 hours heavy rain and storms have drenched SA's coast and country. To 9am this morning: Clare picked up 36mm- it's heaviest rain in 17 months, Snowtown received 38mm- it's heaviest rain in 4 years and Adelaide Airport got 31mm!

The rain-bearing low is moving east so rain is clearing from SA this afternoon but increasing in parts of QLD, NSW and Victoria today, and on the NSW coast south of the Hunter region tomorrow. Thanks to this system, parts of the Riverina district in NSW have received their first rain in months including Deniliquin with 30mm. Victorian towns have also received their best rain in months with 29mm in Mildura.

As the low moves across NSW today, severe storms with flash flooding are possible over the central and southern inland. Severe storms are also possible this afternoon from QLD's northwest to southeast with the chance of damaging winds and large hail.

As winds become strong onshore on the NSW coast south of the Hunter region tomorrow, it will bucket down from the south coast up to the Hunter including Sydney. Falls of 50mm+ are possible for coastal suburbs and showers may continue during the evening so don't forget the poncho if you're heading to the State of Origin.

Keep the brollies up Sydney- there’s more rain on the way!

Weekend showers drenched Sydney's coast and city bringing the rain total up to 105mm in the city since last Monday, and over 200mm for Cronulla. But unfortunately, none of this rain reached the Warragamba catchment area. While these showers have cleared, keep your brollies handy as it’s going to bucket down tomorrow and Wednesday.

A low is moving across NSW tomorrow bringing widespread rain across the state. Patchy light rain will develop this afternoon, becoming heavier as the low comes across tomorrow, and then pounds moist onshore winds onto the coast on Wednesday. The good news is that this time Warragamba will get at least 20mm, while areas south of Sydney could get over 50mm.

The big wet hits Brisbane, Sydney and Perth!

Brisbane is getting drenched today thanks to a surge of cold air pushing in across southeast QLD. Showers and thunderstorms could deliver locally heavy falls especially for coastal suburbs. But don't fret if you have weekend plans, as showers will clear by tomorrow morning. Not for Sydney and Perth though....

Showers will develop in Sydney this afternoon and evening, ramping up on Saturday with a surge of southerly winds so it will be chilly too. Expect the showers to be heavy at times, especially on the coast, but conditions will ease on Sunday.

You'll also need your brollies in Perth this afternoon as showers roll in and increase tomorrow. At least 20mm is expected for Perth with the chance of severe storms and strong winds. The good news is that a lot of this rain will also spread across the southern agricultural regions of Australia including Western Australia's Central Wheatbelt. But this surge of rain is likely to be accompanied by damaging winds for Western Australia's southwest and south coast.

Sydney gets soaked by heaviest rain in months!

Over the last 2 days, Sydney's suburbs have been getting drenched by heavy showers but if you've been looking at the synoptic chart to find answers on where it's coming from, you're probably still scratching your head. This is because the synoptic chart only shows the conditions at the surface. Synoptic charts from the last 2 days have shown onshore winds on the NSW coast but this isn't enough to cause the intense downpours that we've seen.

One of the main triggers of these heavy showers is actually located about 4-5km above the surface in the form of a "cold pool" aloft. As this "cold pool" moved over the very warm sea surface temperatures (24 degrees at the moment!), this large temperature difference caused the instability to trigger thunderstorms. The warm sea surface temperatures have also lead to higher evaporation, providing more available moisture for these showers.

As a result, buckets of showers have soaked Sydneysiders with coastal suburbs copping the heaviest falls. Cronulla received its highest 2 day rain in 7 years with 160mm, while Sydney city received 62mm over 48 hours. Falls have been significantly lighter away from the coast with Penrith only getting 1mm. Yesterday was also the coldest day of the year in Sydney with the city shivering in a maximum of only 15 degrees .

The slow-moving cold pool has now moved offshore so showers are easing, but a repeat of this current pattern is expected on Friday and Saturday. Like the last 2 days, it will be cold and unstable so a few thunderstorms and heavy showers are likely.

What desert? Outback gets more unseasonal rain!

It has been an amazing few months for the outback with widespread and consistent rain - and there's is more to come! I've been to the outback a couple of times this year already and the transformation from red dust to green is incredible. I took this photo from the air and you can see the huge contrast between the normally red earth that is being overtaken by vegetation.

Most of the rain this year has been the result of cyclones and lows but this weekend, a northwest cloudband sprawled across northern Australia and delivered soaking rain from Western Australia across to Queensland. Kalumburu in Western Australia's Kimberley received 79mm in 2 days while Lajamanu got saoked by 5 times its May average rain in just days with 41mm.

This cloudband is contracting towards the northeast tomorrow, but another northwest cloudband will spread across the tropics this week bringing further unseasonal rain. The Kimberley could get another 100mm.

Frosty filming in Bathurst

It was absolutely freezing as I did my live crosses from Bathurst NSW to the Weather Channel yesterday morning- the mercury dipped down to an icy -3.3 degrees making it the coldest morning of the year!! With clear skies, no winds and little moisture, we had perfect conditions for frost. My producer took this photo in between live reports from the Bathurst Harness Racing Club which was covered in icy frost. Fortunately, the Autumn beauty of the town helped me to forget that I couldn't feel my toes or fingers! The golden sun was rising over fog-filled valleys, the leaves were bright shades of red and burnt orange, and with frost across every surface, it looked like the town was dusted with a coat of icing sugar! But it's important to remember that frost can have a very detrimental impact on some agricultural communities in Australia, especially fruit growers.

The frosty starts are here to stay for the next couple of days so get the beanies and scarfs out, and rug up!

Frost-chasing in Bathurst!

Cold Antarctic air is sending shivers all the way from Tasmania to southern parts of QLD leading to a series of frosty mornings this week.

As a result, the Weather Channel on-ground crew and I making our way to frost-bitten Bathurst in NSW to report from the freezing cold conditions live on the channel tomorrow morning so make sure you tune in at 603!

If you're being affected by the frost or Autumn freeze, send me your weather photos to feedback@weatherchannel.com.au and you might see them on-air!

See you tomorrow!

Cold blast sends shivers through the southeast

The most significant cold front so far this year is blasting cold Antarctic air, showers and south-westerly winds across much of the southeast with temperatures are as much as 10 degrees colder than yesterday! Snowfall is expected to descend as low as 1000m for Victoria and 500m for Tasmania, a sure sign that Winter is not far away! Rhylla from Victoria's Mt Buller sent in this picture today, and if you have any weather photos make sure you upload them on our website http://www.weatherchannel.com.au/. Speaking of our new website, you can also see speckled cloud moving across the southeast on the satellite -this indicates very cold air. And if you want to know how long this cold spell will last, you can get a 10 day forecast for any postcode in the whole country!

While much of the southeast is shivering, the northern half of NSW is enjoying a beautiful sunny day thanks to warm north-westerly winds ahead of the change. Sydney is heading for 26 degrees today, a balmy 7 degrees above the long-term average. But get your woolies, uggies and scarfs ready as the cold front will hit Sydney tonight delivering cold weather for the rest of the week. Cold and dry south-westerlies are also moving into southern QLD dropping temperatures and bringing frost to the Granite Belt tomorrow.

A slow-moving high will edge towards the southeast tomorrow causing winds and showers to ease, but it will also lead to very cold nights and frosty mornings. By Thursday morning, severe frost will affect northeast Victoria and the NSW slopes and ranges. Even Sydney's western suburbs are a chance to get frost over the weekend with temperatures dipping down to 3 degrees.