‘Destructive’ winds to lash southern Australia

More wild weather is on the way, with damaging wind gusts of more than 100km/h forecast just days after some areas were smashed by almost a month’s worth of rain in just a day.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported a whopping 70.6mm of rain at Mount Hotham in the Victorian Highlands last week, just 30mm shy of the total rainfall for the month of August last year.

The deluge soaked much of the country’s south, from east to west, with Mount Read in Tasmania reporting 202mm for the week.

While the worst of the heavy rain appears to be over, severe weather warnings are still in place for hundreds of thousands of residents on Tuesday, including in Tasmania.

Up to 25mm of rain is forecast for Tuesday before falling to 6mm on Wednesday in Hobart. A severe wind warning is in place for the entire island state, with peak gusts of up to 125km/h forecast.

The “destructive northwesterly winds” are forecast to be felt the hardest in parts of the east coast between Swansea and Orford until Tuesday night, with peak gusts of 100km/h expected elsewhere.

The wind warning is expected to stay in place until Wednesday on the western and northern coasts, with a minor flood warning in place for 12 river catchments, including the Huon.

“Catchments across Tasmania are relatively wet from rainfall over the last several weeks and catchments will react quickly to rainfall,” the bureau warned in an alert on Tuesday morning.

“A series of weather fronts will cross Tasmania during this week (ending September 1), with total accumulated rainfall likely to be greater than 100mm in parts of these catchments.

“Widespread minor flooding is likely throughout the flood-watch area, with isolated moderate flooding possible. Especially in smaller catchments, several peaks are likely to occur during this week.”

The forecast prompted the Tasmanian SES to urge residents to “remain vigilant, as the wind and developing rain conditions will likely continue throughout the week”.

A severe weather warning for damaging winds is also in place on Tuesday for swathes of Victoria, including central and western regions such as the Grampians and Otways.

Residents in alpine areas of the state are also being warned to brace for destructive peak wind gusts of up to 130km/h overnight, while Melbourne is expected to be windy with up to 2mm of rain.

To the west, a strong cold front expected to cross the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas on Tuesday afternoon is also expected to bring damaging winds, including to the Adelaide Hills area.

Adelaide residents can expect wind gusts of up to 45km/h on Tuesday before decreasing on Wednesday, while gusts of up to 50km/h are forecast in Canberra with a scant chance of rain.

To the north, Sydney is set for sunny and mild weather, with only 25km/h winds and highs of 31C, while Brisbane could reach 28C with winds of up to 50km/h.

In the west, Perth is forecast to reach 21C on Wednesday following a 90 per cent chance of rain on Tuesday. Warnings of isolated damaging wind gusts are also in place for Albany and the state’s south.