Weather News

A stormy week ahead for the southeast

Guy Dixon, Saturday October 10, 2015 - 12:33 AEDT

A broad, slow moving trough is currently traversing southeastern parts of the nation and will continue to move east in the coming days. This trough is leading to widespread instability and presents the risk of widespread thunderstorms.

Similarly to last night, this afternoonâ??s setup looks conducive to trigger thunderstorms - although there is one limiting factor. The lower levels of the atmosphere are noticeably dry, so we can expect any storms to be high-based leading to more cloud-cloud lightning, as opposed to cloud-ground strikes.

Thunderstorms should kick off over eastern parts of South Australia this afternoon, extending over Victoriaâ??s Mallee, Wimmera, Northern and Central Districts. Thunderstorms are also likely along the ranges into New South Wales. Not only that, the Lower Western, Riverina and Slopes and Plains of NSW also have a good chance of seeing potentially severe thunderstorms.

As the trough shifts throughout the weekend, thunderstorm potential will largely be confined to eastern parts of VIC and much of NSW on Sunday and Monday, with eastern NSW and southern QLD being the focus further into the week.

In terms of capital cities, Melbourne has the greatest chance of being impacted by thunderstorms this weekend, this afternoon and tonight being the time of greatest risk. As for Sydney, the ranges to the west will make it tricky for storms to reach the CBD while the western suburbs are much more likely to see thundery activity.

- Weatherzone

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