‘Exceptionally heavy rain': Queensland and Western Australia set to face colossal showers as nail biting temperatures blanket south-east
Mammoth downpours are expected to thrash vast swathes of Queensland, as a lingering trough that decimated the Northern Territory earlier in the week pushes into the Sunshine State.
Sky News meteorologist Wendy John said tropical moisture over the Indian Ocean is fuelling a massive northwest cloud band across the country, producing 'exceptionally heavy rain' for the first time this year.
The destructive trough is set to push into Mackay in the early hours of Friday morning and will likely stall once it reaches the coast.
'Widespread cloud cover will be happening across much of Queensland and the top part of NSW with the trough that has moved from the northwest right across the country in the last few days bringing record braking dry season rainfall," she said.
Leading into Friday afternoon, John said, "moisture will target the coastline' and will 'allow for some heavy downpours all the way from Mackay down to Rockhampton'.
The system will travel south on Friday evening, and will bring intense downpours for Rockhampton, Bundaberg and the Sunshine Coast.
John stated the gloomy weather would entrench on Saturday and 'unfortunately won't clear up until at least Sunday'.
'That leaves behind some very high rainfall totals, with potential to see 100mm of showers from Mackay all the way down to Bundaberg,' John stated.
Emerald and the Sunshine Coast are likely to see in excess of 50mm by Sunday afternoon.
Shifting southwards, Sky News meteorologist Marina Neuman said it was 'just the beginning of wintry conditions' with millions likely to be waking up to dense frost for the next several days.
A large high-pressure system sitting in the Great Australian Bite is the culprit, bringing cold air up from the south to the southeast, with a lack of cloud cover meaning the cool conditions have the ability to hang around and keep things 'quite cool, particularly in the morning'.
Canberra woke up to a -1C morning on Thursday, its coldest recorded all year, with Neuman stating 'a repeat does look to be on the cards on Friday for the ACT and towns along the NSW-Victorian border".
'It's starting to feel like winter in the south, time to bring out the extra doona,' Neuman said.
Widespread morning frost is also forecast for parts of South Australia, southern NSW, the ACT, northern and central Victoria and the entirety of Tasmania on the weekend.
A significant shake-up in conditions is also expected for WA, after the state emerges from an unseasonably warm and dry autumn.
An incoming low-pressure system is set to clip the south of the state, bringing in substantial rainfall for the southwest for the next couple of days.
Neuman said for Friday 'pretty much all of the WA south coast will see rainfall, stretching all the way from Karratha down to Albany thanks to an approaching cold front as well as a trough that is targeting the northern half of the state'.
The cold front is likely to bring widespread rainfall, periods of heavy rainfall and much colder temperatures.
Heading into Friday evening the cold front will gradually move out, yet the trough is set to push inward with Neuman stating this would allow for 'continued rainfall across Perth as well as the centre of the state, as the dual cold fronts pump air in from the east'.
'Rainfall is expected to stick around well into Saturday with things finally clearing out by Sunday morning,' Neuman said.
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