The Bureau of Meteorology have spoken to the media this morning about what we can expect over the weekend on the east coast of Australia.
Meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Jonathan How, says that a tropical low has developed over the northern Coral Sea. It’s been given the designation of 22U and currently sitting about 400 kilometres to the north east of Cairns, but, it is well off the Queensland coast. ‘This tropical low is expected to develop further in the following days over the northern Coral Sea, but it will remain well offshore and moves to the east and south east over the next seven days – there is no immediate threat to Queensland communities.
A low to moderate chance of a cyclone
Mr How says that from today there is a low chance of this tropical low becoming a tropical cyclone. ‘This chance increases to moderate on Saturday and then high from Monday, but then for the middle of next week, there is a range of possible scenarios in the movement and development of this tropical low or cyclone.
‘This includes moving further east and away from Australia, towards places like New Caledonia and Vanuatu, or, the system could drift further south over the Coral Sea, and this is something that a tropical cyclone team is monitoring very closely, so Queenslanders should stay up to that with the latest tropical cyclone information heading into next week.’
Southern eastern Australia
Mr How says that after a run of some pretty cool days, much of eastern Australia, and particularly the south east of the country, is looking at a burst of heat heavy into this weekend.
‘We’ll see a run of very hot days and also some very warm nights. This is all due to a high pressure system to the south of the country, and that’s directing warmer northerly winds over Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Mr How says for Friday maximum temperatures will be climbing up into the high 20s for coastal parts of South Australia and Victoria, and increasing to the low to mid 30s inland, and a little milder day across Tasmania.
Temperatures from low 20s to low 40s
‘The expected maximum temperatures for today are, 31 in Melbourne, 33 in Adelaide, and 21 in Hobart. But then tomorrow, on Saturday, that’s when the heat peaks across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. It will be a sunny but also a very windy day. Temperatures reaching reaching the mid to high 30s for large parts of Victoria, South Australia, inland, New South Wales, and into the low 40s for inland areas.
’In Tasmania, we’ll see temperatures jump into the high 20s to low 30s. So maximum temperatures for tomorrow, Melbourne, 37 Adelaide, hot 38 and Hobart, 30 degrees.
‘It’ll also start to warm up in New South Wales. Sydney is forecast to reach the high 20s and into the low 30s for Western Sydney from Saturday.
The fire danger
Mr How says that the fire danger will be elevated as a key feature of the heat wave will be very strong and gusty, northerly winds. ‘These winds will combine with those high temperatures to produce elevated fire danger.
‘We’ll see those winds strengthening during Saturday afternoon across South Australia and into the evening for Victoria and Tasmania, it will remain quite windy even into Sunday, and warnings for damaging winds are possible. We will see these elevated fire dangers, even from Friday, reaching high for much of southern South Australia, as well as southern and North East Victoria.’
Mr How says that Saturday will see fire dangers reaching extreme levels for large parts of South East, South Australia, Western and also central Victoria. ‘That includes the Mount Lofty Ranges as well as Melbourne, with that extreme fire danger risk, and we will also see high fire dangers across large parts of Tasmania, even after the cool change moves through on Sunday, and with those windy conditions continuing, we will still see high fire dangers across much of South Australia, Victoria and also Tasmania.’
A cool change
Mr How says that a cool change sweeping across from late Saturday and into Sunday will bring temperatures right back into low to mid 20s. ‘At this stage, we are forecasting that the cool change will reach Adelaide early on Saturday evening, and then move across West Victoria overnight Saturday and into Sunday. It will reach Melbourne on Sunday morning, and that will bring relief from a very hot night and then travel across West Victoria and Tasmania to the day on Sunday that will lead into a cooler start for the new week across much of south eastern Australia.
‘However, the cool change won’t make much of an impact on New South Wales, with a lot of very warmer days across eastern parts of the state, including for Sydney, really only cooling down across Sydney and Western Sydney in the middle of next week. We’ll also see a few isolated showers and thunderstorms with this cool change, not looks, but not expecting too much in the way of rainfall, and there is the risk of dry lightning activity.’
Western Australia
Mr How says there is a second tropical low that the Bureau are monitoring, which is currently well off the coast of Western Australia over the Indian Ocean. ‘This system does have a moderate chance of developing inter tropical cyclone from today, that increases to a high chance from tomorrow, but this system will remain well offshore Western Australia and will weaken over open waters of the Indian Ocean next week, so there is no threat to Western Australia or any offshore territories.’
You can stay up to date with the latest weather information by visting the Bureau of Meteorology website at: www.bom.gov.au or the bomb app, and to follow the Bureau on social media.
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