Weather News

Wet end to winter looms

Ben Domensino, Tuesday August 16, 2016 - 15:06 AEST

A nation-wide soaking next week will cap off a wet winter and it could be one of the standout events of the season.

Southern states of Australia are in for a soaking later this week, but an even more impressive rain-bearing system is on the cards from Sunday onward.

Impressively this system is already taking shape some 3000 kilometres south of Africa. When it reaches Australia next week every state and territory will receive rain.

Western Australia will be first in line. Computer models currently show the system crossing the state's south on Sunday and Monday, bringing showers and storms with its passage.

Tuesday is when rainfall looks most likely to spread through South Australia and inland parts of the Northern Territory.

The middle of next week is when things look like they will kick into gear for the eastern states. By this stage cold upper-level air from Antarctica will surge over Australia helping warm, moisture-laden air rise from the surface to produce cloud, rain and thunderstorms.

The final ingredient for next week's rain event will be an abundance of moisture in the atmosphere due to unusually warm sea surface temperatures surrounding northern and eastern Australia.

At this stage it is not possible to say which locations will get the heaviest falls and how much rain there will be. What can be said though is that parts of Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria are likely to see rain during this event and there will be heavy falls in the mix. Rain for Tasmania is less certain but cannot be ruled out.

Some river catchments are still swollen from record-breaking July rainfall and will be worth watching closely during this event.

Some areas in central and western Queensland had the heaviest July on record and the state as a whole registered its seventh-wettest July.

A prolonged rain event enhanced by an intense east coast low caused a long list of towns in New South Wales to set new June daily rain records. Nine of these locations had more than a century of data and two (Robertson and Mullumbimby) picked up over 300mm in 24 hours.

Tasmania's emergency services are still on high alert after the state endured repeated bouts of abnormally heavy rain from the end of autumn. The island state experienced its wettest three-month period on record from May to July, with some catchment areas seeing the highest flood peaks ever recorded in June.

Details of this rainfall event will be updated during the next week on Weatherzone's news page here: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2016

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