Weather News

Windy weekend for the southeast

Anthony Duke, Saturday July 25, 2015 - 14:15 AEST

Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Alps are enduring an especially windy weekend with blizzards expected from Saturday evening.

Saturday morning has already brought +100km/h gusts to exposed places of the southeast with Thredbo Top Station recording gusts to 107km/h and as much as 115km/h at Hogan Island.

The strong winds have lulled a little, but worse is yet to come. A deep low pressure system is currently barreling it's way towards TAS This will bring damaging gusts to large parts of Victoria and TAS from Saturday evening and throughout Sunday. Severe Weather Warnings are currently in place for both states with wind gusts up to 110 km/h possible on the west coasts of TAS during Sunday.

For ski enthusiasts, the low brings a strong front which will provide a great dump of fresh powder. However, beware of the strong winds this weekend which will cause snow drifts and blizzard conditions. Skiers would be better to wait for next week when more settled conditions will bring blue skies with fresh snow underfoot.

An interesting consequence of this windy weather is flying high in the atmosphere. The jet stream today and Sunday is expected to reach speeds of around 300km/h over southern NSW and northern VIC allowing flights from Perth to the southeast to reach speeds in excess of 1000 km/h, closing in on the speed of sound!

This very fast jet stream is caused by a large temperature difference currently between southern QLD and TAS. In turn, the strong jet produces a deep pressure system at the surface, generating the strong winds.

Stay up to date with the latest warnings at www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp

- Weatherzone

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