Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane weather
More extreme weather is ahead, with searing temperatures on one side of the country while damaging storms and hail wreak more havoc on the other.
As Perth braces for a blistering 37C on Tuesday, two days before the start of summer, Australia’s east coast is set to be hit with more wild conditions as the ongoing flood crisis in New South Wales enters its 75th day. .
Destructive thunderstorms with large hailstones are headed for parts of the state as regional cities could be cut off by flooding for up to a month, and stranded residents rely on food delivered by helicopter.
A severe storm warning has been issued for large swaths of NSW and Queensland after thunderstorms battered Sydney, the central coast and Wollongong on Sunday night.
It has been a cool spring for the six capitals on the east and south-east coasts of Australia, due to frequent rain showers and unusually active cold fronts from the Southern Ocean.
Western Australia will record its hottest day of the season on Tuesday, while temperatures in south-eastern Australia will remain in the 20s.
Both the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs have yet to record a 30+ day this season, according to weather zone.
Both capital cities average at least four days of 30C or higher on average each spring.
In the nation’s capital, which typically sees at least six spring days above 30°C, Canberra’s highest temperature on record was 26.8°C on 12 November.
Adelaide hit 32°C three times in November, while Hobart hit a seasonal high of 28.1°C on November 10.
In the west, Perth’s hottest spring day on record last week will be surpassed on Tuesday when the mercury hits 37C.
The heat wave will persist on Wednesday with a high of 35°C before temperatures drop 10°C overnight.
Western Australia is experiencing the early taste of summer as temperatures approach 40C
Perth (pictured) is set to hit 37C on Tuesday and will remain a humid 35C on Wednesday before temperatures drop.
On the other side of the country, the Met Office issued a severe storm warning for Queensland.
The forecast area extends from Bamaga in Cape York to the Gold Coast.
“We are going to see increased precipitation in eastern Queensland during the week,” lead meteorologist Jonathan How told Today.
Starting tomorrow we will see an increase in showers and thunderstorms mainly north of Rockhampton.
“Wednesday and Thursday those will be the wettest days of the week, pushing towards the Sunshine Coast with a daily rainfall total of 50mm to 100mm.
‘Brisbane will also see some rain on Thursday, but most of it will be in central Queensland where we could see rain and possible flash flooding.
“(We are) reminding Queenslanders to look out for warnings in the week with heavy rain to come.”
An unstable air mass could bring hail, heavy rain, flash flooding and damaging winds to parts of New South Wales on Monday afternoon, the Met Office has warned.
“Storms will continue to threaten for much of this week,” the office said.
The warning area includes Port Macquarie on the coast, Kempsey and Combyne, and extends west to Walcha, Uralla, Armidale and Barraba.
Thunderstorms will become more active over parts of the mid-north coast, northern mesas, and northern rivers this afternoon. High winds, large hail and heavy gusts of rain are possible,” states an alert from the Bureau of Meteorology.
NSW SES received 100 calls for help in the 24 hours to Monday morning.
Nearly a third was for storm damage in Sydney on Sunday night, mostly from trees or branches falling on houses and driveways.
Some flood-ravaged NSW communities will be cut off for weeks as the flood crisis continues. Pictured is Sophie Burge and hers neighbor Cameron Tweed moving sheep to higher ground near Deniliquin in southwestern New South Wales.
There are 68 flood warnings in NSW, 12 of them at emergency level.
SES’s flood relief effort remains focused on the town of Euabalong in western New South Wales, where the Lachlan River has isolated the town.
Moderate to major flood warnings remain in effect for seven rivers across the state.
Euabalong publican Neil Quinn said the city last week faced the swollen river with a hastily built bank of levees holding back floodwaters.
“I don’t know how we did it, but we stopped the river,” Quinn told AAP on Sunday.
A tense week followed as the city’s original flood bank began to fail and evacuation orders were issued.
Quinn said the city would rely on helicopters for supplies for at least a month.
The SES is also concentrated in the towns of Hay, Balranald, Brewarrina, Bourke and the downriver towns of Torrumbarry, Barham, Boundary Bend and Moulamein.
Cleanup work has just begun at Forbes (pictured) in west-central New South Wales as the state’s flood crisis enters its 75th day.
