Millions of Australians will be affected by heavy rain and damaging thunderstorms as a wet weather system batters large swathes of the country.
Large parts of Australia’s east coast are expected to experience rainfall totals of between 30 and 60mm over the next 72 hours, Weatherzone reported.
Parts of South Australia, Victoria and south-west New South Wales have already been hit by heavy rain in the past 24 hours.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a possible thunderstorm warning for metropolitan Sydney for Wednesday night after temperatures at Sydney Airport previously reached 38.2, making it the hottest location of the Earth.
Western parts of New South Wales have also been warned to prepare for possible heavy rain.
Sydney, along with the Hunter and Illawarra regions, will once again be in the line of fire for strong storms on Thursday afternoon and evening.
Central and eastern New South Wales will also be affected by damaging winds on Thursday afternoon.
The State Emergency Service has warned millions of residents to prepare for “potentially severe storms with heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail” across much of the state, including Sydney, the NSW mid north coast, Hunter and Illawarra.
Eastern and south-eastern parts of Australia will be hit by heavy rain and damaging thunderstorms (weather map pictured)
Wetherzone senior meteorologist Yoska Hernandez told Daily Mail Australia the ACT will also be affected by isolated thunderstorms.
Hernandez said the country’s capital will face the brunt of the wet weather on Friday, while Melbourne will experience a cool change on Thursday and Friday.
“Some showers will affect Melbourne (on Thursday) and temperatures will reach highs of just 20 degrees,” he said.
“It is likely to remain settled for most of Friday across the city before rain returns on Saturday.”
Ms. Hernandez explained that a slow-moving trough of low pressure has caused the wet weather system, which will last most of the weekend.
“That depression will remain for most of the weekend over eastern and south-eastern parts of Australia before moving into the Tasman Sea on Monday,” he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued severe thunderstorm warnings for most of Australia’s east coast.
Parts of South Australia, Victoria and south-west New South Wales have already been hit by heavy rain (pedestrians pictured trying to avoid the wet weather)
The office has indicated that rain is the main weather risk for the rest of Wednesday.
The latest forecast comes as several parts of Australia continue to be hit by a sweltering heatwave.
Temperatures soared to 40 degrees in Sydney’s western suburbs on Wednesday, while Adelaide hit highs of 33C on Tuesday.
The mercury will reach highs of 37 degrees in Perth on Friday.
The damaging heatwave has put pressure on Australia’s electricity systems after 347 sites were left without power during an unplanned outage in Sydney’s central business district at 3pm on Tuesday, according to an update from Ausgrid.
Power was restored to thousands of homes and businesses in the early hours of Wednesday morning across the Riverina region of New South Wales, including Wagga Wagga, Culcairn and Henty.
Authorities have also issued blackout warnings for Queensland this week, with the highest risk of blackouts between 3.30pm and 7.30pm.
Sweltering conditions have occurred during scheduled maintenance at three of the four coal-fired power stations in New South Wales, which remain the state’s main source of energy.
Power supplies are expected to be “at risk” on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.
Households have been urged to use less energy and an urgent warning has been issued to those who rely on electrically powered medical equipment to have a backup plan in the event of a blackout.
A slow-moving trough of low pressure has brought about a wet weather system that will last most of the weekend (weather map pictured)
brisbane
Thursday: Possible shower. Minimum 22°C Maximum 30°C.
Friday: Shower or two. Minimum 23°C Maximum 29°C.
Saturday: Showers. Minimum 22°C Maximum 27°C.
Sydney
Thursday: Showers. Possible storm. Minimum 22°C Maximum 31°C.
Friday: Showers. Minimum 21°C Maximum 25°C.
Saturday: Rain. Min. 21°C Max. 23°C.
Canberra
Thursday: Shower or two. Minimum 16°C Maximum 31°C.
Friday: Showers. Possible storm. Minimum 15°C Maximum 25°C.
Saturday: Rain. Possible heavy showers. Minimum 15°C Maximum 20°C.
Temperatures soared to a sweltering 40 degrees in Sydney’s western suburbs on Wednesday (visitors pictured at Bondi Beach)
Melbourne
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Minimum 16°C Maximum 24°C.
Friday: Partly cloudy. Minimum 17°C Maximum 27°C.
Saturday: Showers. Possible strong falls. Minimum 17°C Maximum 22°C.
hobart
Thursday: The rains decrease. Minimum 12°C Maximum 16°C.
Friday: Possible shower. Min. 11°C Max. 19°C.
Saturday: Showers, tending rain. Minimum 12°C Maximum 19°C.
Adelaide
Thursday: Partly cloudy. Minimum 15°C Maximum 23°C.
Friday: Possible late rain. Minimum 13°C Maximum 25°C.
Saturday: Possible shower. Minimum 15°C Maximum 24°C.
The damaging heatwave has put pressure on Australia’s electricity systems and households have been urged to consume less energy (weather map pictured).
Perth
Thursday: Sunny. Minimum 17°C Maximum 33°C.
Friday: Mostly sunny. Minimum 21°C Maximum 37°C.
Saturday: Sunny. Minimum 21°C Maximum 30°C.
Darwin
Thursday: Shower or two. Possible storm. Minimum 25°C Maximum 32°C.
Friday: Shower or two. Minimum 26°C Maximum 33°C.
Saturday: Shower or two. Minimum 25°C Maximum 32°C.