Significant rain is forecast to fall across multiple Australian states bringing much needed respite after a week of catastrophic bushfire weather conditions.
The New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology estimates up to 100mm of rain will fall across parts of the state in the coming days.
NSW RFS says if forecast conditions eventuate the rain would provide a much-needed break for firefighters and communities struggling with hundreds of devastating bushfires.
“This will be all of our Chirstmas, birthday, engagement, anniversary, wedding and graduation presents rolled into one,” NSW RFS said in a tweet.
Rainfall predicted for NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland
After weeks of severe bushfire conditions, rain is expected to sweep across Australia eastern states throughout the week.
A large trough is deepening through eastern parts of Australia with rainfall expected across central Victoria and central and eastern parts of Queensland and NSW.
Sydney has a chance of showers today alongside communities in and around Lismore, Coffs Harbour and Wollongong.
Victoria could see widespread thunderstorms on Wednesday in areas surrounding Melbourne, Mildura, Bendigo, Seymour, Mt Hotham, Wangaratta, Ballarat and Latrobe Valley.
This system could deepen even further as it moves east with Thursday bring more rain communities further inland.
“Places like Dubbo, Canberra and St George in Queensland could see more than 15mm of rain,” Weatherzone meteorologist Hannah Wilson said.
“That trough could hang around for the remainder of the week and we could get isolated rainfall in communities across Victoria, NSW and Queensland however at this stage it’s hard to tell exactly where the rain will fall.”
Ms Wilson said based on the average rainfall for NSW during the first two weeks of January, the state still has a long way to catch up.
“Even if we got 5-10mm evert night for a few nights, Sydney’s average rainfall for this period is 102mm and so far we’ve had just over 6mm so we still have a long way to go,” she said.
“Looking at summer as a whole we have even further. We’d need a strong deluge every night for consecutive days.”
South Australia will miss out on any rainfall over coming days with full sun and high temperatures predicted state-wide.
Adelaide is forecast to reach 35C today and tomorrow while areas further inland around Coober Pedy and Leigh Creek expected to spike to 48C.
Hot and windy conditions could see dangerous fire conditions for the state still struggling to contain the state’s bushfire crisis.
Wednesday will see even high temperatures and no chance of rainfall for central parts of the state while Adelaide will see a slight drop in maximum temperatures forecast to reach 29C.
Severe cyclone Claudia is forecast to deliver more rainfall across Western Australia after the tropical low-pressure system caused severe thunderstorms and more than 500mm of rain for parts of the state during the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday.
The rainfall is expected to continue tonight and tomorrow.
“Tomorrow evening is also showing a good chance of thunderstorms and a lot of rain,” Ms Wilson said.
A severe thunderstorm warning involving damaging winds, heavy rain and large hailstones has been issued for parts of Gascoyne, Goldfield and South Interior districts.
The Northern Territory’s monsoon season has begun with record-breaking deluges over the weekend.
Possible thunderstorms are forecast around the NT with Darwin likely to see more rain and stormy conditions for the remainder of the week.
Hobart and other areas of Tasmania are forecast to experience showers on Wednesday.
A warm day is expected in Hobart today with a maximum of 29C although temperatures will drop to 24C tomorrow.