Australia’s east coast is facing an unexpected end to winter, amid unseasonably strong winds and record-breaking warm weather continuing through the weekend.
Multiple August heat records were broken on Friday, with Sydney experiencing its hottest August day since 1995, with a top of 31.5C.
The warm run of weather was expected to continue through the weekend in central and southern Queensland, along with north-eastern New South Wales, with Brisbane set to see multiple days of over 30C.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecast that temperatures are set to reach 34C on Saturday and Sunday in the Queensland capital. Monday’s maximum was forecast to be 33C, before temperatures cool through the end of next week.
Towns in the north-east of NSW, including Ballina, Grafton and Lismore, were also expected to face weekend maximums of more than 30C.
However, the Bom has also issued severe weather warnings for damaging winds across Victoria and Tasmania on Saturday, with gusts of more than 130 km/h recorded at multiple locations.
Senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said some locations may see their warmest August day since 2009 on Saturday.
“So many, many locations are likely to see their warmest August maximum temperature since 2009 and several may set new August records today,” she said.
“These warm temperatures are expected to persist for the next few days, before cooling off a little on Tuesday as this southerly change moves through.”
It comes as the snow season begins wrapping up early, with Mount Buller announcing its season would end on Sunday and Falls Creek resort announcing a price drop amid dropping snow cover. The resort announced a 30% discount on resort entry permits on Thursday, amid the recent rain and warmer temperatures.
Scully said the warm weather had come via a “really stubborn” ridge of high pressure that has extended across the northern and central parts of Australia over the past week.
“That system has brought settled and clear sky conditions, with the air sort of stagnating over the interior and being able to really heat up,” she said.
“And, as a result, we’ve seen maximum temperatures well above the August average.”
Earlier on Saturday morning, gusts of 156km/h were recorded at Luncheon Hill, alongside gusts of 150km/h at Low Rocky Point and 143km/h at Cape Grim, all in Tasmania.
Widespread damaging gusts were expected across most of Tasmania on Saturday, with a strong cold front bringing prolonged bouts of damaging gusts of win.
The Bom says gusts in excess of 125km/h will probably continue in the afternoon, with heavy showers and thunderstorms along the front about the western, far southern and northern parts of the state.
The wind was expected to ease across most of Tasmania from Sunday morning, with damaging wind only persisting over elevated terrain and coastal parts of western, northern and southern Tasmania.
Scully said some of the rain was falling on already saturated catchments, resulting in a series of flood warnings across the state.
Minor to moderate flood warnings have been issued to the Forth, Mersey, Meander, North Esk, South Esk and Macquarie rivers.
Scully said residents should remain up to date with the latest forecasts from the bureau and to listen to local emergency services.
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