00:00Queensland and New South Wales saw significant, powerful and potentially dangerous thunderstorms
00:07yesterday caught up in this bigger band of wet weather which was swamping the north and
00:11east of the country.
00:13We saw some pockets of very heavy rainfall associated with these thunderstorms through
00:16the afternoon, evening and into the night last night.
00:19Some spots reporting about 80mm of rain within an hour.
00:23That is a very intense burst of wet weather, certainly did lead to some areas of flash
00:27flooding, it led to some river level rises in Queensland, I think a couple of people
00:32and cars got trapped in those rapidly rising rivers as well.
00:36Alongside not just the heavy rain, we also saw some giant hailstones about 6 or 7cm across
00:42on both sides of that Queensland and New South Wales border and a few damaging wind gusts
00:47were thrown in for good measure as well.
00:49It certainly was some fairly active, disruptive weather as those storms got going through
00:54the day yesterday.
00:55They lingered into the night as well, but after about midnight last night they did just
00:58settle down a little bit.
01:00Still some rain around for sure, but currently not quite as intense or heavy as what we were
01:05looking at yesterday afternoon.
01:06Well Angus, what does this then mean for flood warnings in affected areas?
01:10Well, the risk of more rain is present there today.
01:13We could see more wet weather across the north of New South Wales and much of central, eastern
01:18and southern Queensland today and caught up in this big band of rain.
01:22We're likely to see smaller pockets, smaller areas of thunderstorm and severe thunderstorm
01:27activity.
01:28So that means localised areas of quite heavy rain definitely on the cards again today.
01:32Now that heavy rain won't hit everyone, but the risk is quite extensive.
01:36So there is a chance that heavy rain could hit a number of different locations.
01:39And if that happens to be on the same spots that got heavy rain yesterday, which is absolutely
01:44possible, then the ground obviously from yesterday's rain is waterlogged.
01:48It's wet.
01:49So that rain today is going to hit the ground, it's not going to soak in.
01:52It's going to immediately start to run downhill and it's going to end up in the river network.
01:55And we could see some very rapid river level rises if that rain happens to fall in the
02:01same spots that it fell yesterday.
02:03So we've seen a few rivers already with moderate flood warnings in place.
02:06We certainly could see other rivers see some flooding today if that rain kicks in, particularly
02:11again after lunch.
02:12All right.
02:13Well, let's move away from the wet weather.
02:14I want to talk about this fire weather warning in parts of New South Wales.
02:20Yeah, quite different feel.
02:22Once you get to the western side of the Great Dividing Range, it's a really different weather
02:26situation for today.
02:28So most of the rain and storms on and east of the mountains, but to the west, it's much
02:33drier.
02:34It's also really quite windy out that way and temperatures, they're not sky high.
02:38It's not a scalding hot day, but at this time of year, even a fairly warm day is still
02:43giving us temperatures that are warm enough to lead to dangerous fire conditions.
02:48So we have got high to extreme fire danger due to that combination of windy
02:52weather, dry weather and warm enough weather across particularly western parts of New South
02:57Wales.
02:58So certainly be cautious with all things to do with fire.
03:01There are some total fire bans in play for some of those western districts on the western
03:05side of the ranges there.
03:06So obviously take heed from those as well.
03:10So really significant conditions on both sides of the mountains today.
03:14All right.
03:14Well, Angus, look into your crystal ball for us.
03:16Are we expecting some of this extreme weather to spill into the coming week?
03:20We're actually not really, at least not for a few days.
03:23So the wet and stormy weather across the east coast should clear almost everywhere by the
03:28very end of the day today.
03:29By about midnight tonight, we'll be seeing the tail end of that weather system.
03:33The only exception to that is the far north, so far north Queensland and the top of the
03:37Northern Territory.
03:38We'll be seeing rainstorms continuing into the new week.
03:42But across the rest of eastern Australia, it will really settle down by Monday morning.
03:46Quite a different feel to the weather on Monday.
03:48Generally bright, sunny and mild across much of Australia.
03:52So we'll see a good few dry days for those areas that have been affected by storms.
03:56Although, if you do live up in the far north, wet weather continuing and if you live way
04:00down in the south of Victoria, Tasmania, a cold and showery few days lie ahead.
04:05But in between those two, it's fairly calm for the outlook.
04:08All right, Agus, thank you so much for that update.
04:10A senior meteorologist there is Angus Hines.
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