Overnight a cold front has swept up the southern and central coast of New South Wales and will likely impact Northern NSW from today with the potential for heavy, localised rain and large swells.
The cold front brought a strong, very windy southerly change, as well as increasing rain and showers for much of eastern NSW. The front is linking up with an extensive rain band stretching back across southern Queensland into the Northern Territory. Tropical moisture is streaming in from the northwest and fueling the moderate rainfall across eastern New South Wales.
‘As of 6am Thursday (today), the heaviest falls are focused through the northern parts of the south coast and the Illawarra, but through the rest of today, we do expect to see this widespread rain across much of eastern New South Wales, pushing inland across the central west as well,’ explained senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Miriam Bradbury.
20 to 40 mil
‘Rain will contract towards the north-east as the day goes on. We’re looking at a widespread 20 to 40 millimeters in these areas today, with lower falls across the remaining areas to the west of the NSW ranges pushing back across southern parts of Queensland and into parts of the Northern Territory as well. Thunderstorms may also generate locally heavier downpours across parts of northern NSW.’
Fire management
There have been a number of controlled burnoffs that have created significant smoke across Byron Shire with thick smoke reported in Main Arm on Wednesday and smoke impacting Ocean Shores residents overnight. The expected rain will dampen down the fires and reduce these impacts.
Large swells
Hazardous surf warnings in place for the north coast of NSW with large waves and powerful south-easterly swells from today.
‘Hazardous surf warnings do extend across broader parts of the northern coastline, including the Hunter coast, Macquarie coast, Coffs coast and Byron coast. We may also see these dangerous marine conditions pushing up into south-eastern parts of Queensland as well,’ explained Bradbury.
Rain for Friday and Saturday
Rain will contract into the north-east of NSW tomorrow and there is the potential for a low-pressure system developing off the northern NSW coast tomorrow and lingering over the area until Saturday.
‘This may bring some more widespread heavy falls to parts of the northern coast later on Friday and into Saturday, particularly if that low-pressure system,’ explained Bradbury.
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