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Southerly Buster Roars up the East Coast

Joel Pippard, Saturday January 4, 2020 - 11:40 AEDT

With record-challenging heat affecting New South Wales and Victoria today, a strong southerly change is set to deliver a gusty evening ahead.

A trough and cold front are crossing Victoria this morning, making for a much cooler day for Melbourne. The change arrived at about 6:30am this morning, and has started to clear the air from the dust and smoke that produced hazardous air quality on Friday afternoon.

As the heat of the day builds, the wind change will become stronger as it feeds off the difference in temperature before and after the change. With temperatures reaching a scorching 42 degrees in Canberra, 45 degrees in Nowra, and 46 degrees in Albury and Penrith, the southerly buster will be a strong one across the region.

This wind change will bring wind gusts of 70-80km/h for VIC and the Eden Coast of NSW, increasing to 80-90km/h between the South Coast and Sydney, strongest along the Illawarra coast, where a damaging wind warning is issued by the BoM. Winds between Ulladulla and Wollongong are expected to reach 90-100km/h as the buster roars through.

Image: A gusty southery change moving up the coast from GFS 18Z

The change should reach Mallacoota at about 2pm, Bega at around 4pm, Batemans Bay roughly at 6pm, Nowra just after 8pm, and Sydney between 10 and 11pm.

While the wind change will initially bring dangerous fire weather, it will bring a rapid temperature drop and lead into a cool Sunday and Monday. Nowra is only expected to reach a top of 23 degrees on Sunday and 22 degrees on Monday. In addition, a rainband looks to pass over VIC and NSW from Sunday, providing most places with a few millimeters of welcome rain over the next few days.

- Weatherzone

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