Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Brisbane and Hobart soaked, Melbourne and Perth next!

From the moment I walked through The Weather Channel doors at 4am this morning, it hasn't stopped! Eastern QLD was completely drenched overnight, damaging winds and flooding rains are hitting NSW, VIC and TAS today, and much needed winter rains are on the way for Perth!

Let's start with QLD...widespread falls of 50-100mm have been recorded across the coast and adjacent inland with Brisbane picking up 78mm, it's heaviest rain for any day in 6 months and its heaviest August day of rain in at least 10 years. The rain has now moved offshore and, apart from a possible lingering shower or two today, Brisbane and QLD can look forward to dry skies for the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, a low in Bass Strait is driving flooding rains over western VIC and eastern TAS. Falls of 50-100mm are possible over the Otway ranges and eastern TAS, including Hobart. Rain and winds are expected to increase over Melbourne leading into tonight with localised flooding and damaging winds possible. Severe weather warnings and flood watches are in place across many rivers and districts in both states. This surge of rain is particularly interesting for eastern TAS which has experienced a very dry winter so far. Hobart has only picked up 22mm between June-August, when the average winter rain in Hobart is over 150mm!

Perth has also endured a dry winter with practically no rain recorded in August. Thankfully, this is changing today as a cold front approaches the west coast, bringing showers today and soaking rain overnight and into tomorrow. At least 30mm is possible for the city.

Damaging winds are in line for most of VIC, NSW and southern QLD between today and tomorrow. Winds with gusts over 90-100kmh are possible and severe weather warnings have also been issued for this wild weather over the next 24 hours.

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