Wild weather set for large parts of Australia on Christmas day

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Large parts of Australia are set to receive wild weather on Christmas day, with forecasts varying significantly from state to state. Senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury takes us through what to expect tomorrow, starting with heatwave conditions in Western Australia.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, certainly really intensely hot conditions about the West Coast.

00:06We are heading for a top of 40 degrees for Christmas Day.

00:10We've got high to extreme fire dangers as well, and some low to locally severe heat

00:15wave conditions.

00:16The good news is, though, that's all driven by a heat trough, which will move inland from

00:21Boxing Day, bringing some relief to the West Coast.

00:23So we drop back down to 25 degrees in Perth for Boxing Day.

00:27So it's a short-lived heat wave, but it certainly is going to be intense, particularly for those

00:31getting out and about for their Christmas Day plans.

00:34But people up further north in WA can expect the heat, they're more used to it up there,

00:39I guess, in places like Marble Bar.

00:41I see that it's going to be 46 there in a couple of days.

00:45Yeah, unfortunately, the heat is more usual for those areas further north through the

00:52Gascoyne, the Pilbara, even pushing up towards the Kimberley as well.

00:56So that heat will persist a little bit, a little bit longer through there.

00:58Yeah.

00:59OK, so there are about 600 people on the Cocos and Keeling Islands out in the Indian Ocean

01:04off the WA coast, a fair way off the WA coast.

01:06It's an Australian territory.

01:07How close does it look like this cyclone will get to those islands tonight?

01:13And at what strength?

01:14Yeah, we are expecting Tropical Cyclone Grunt to pass fairly close to the north of the

01:21Cocos Islands.

01:22It's currently still sitting around 100km or so to the east, and it is moving westwards

01:27towards the Cocos Islands.

01:28So it's likely to pass to the north of the Cocos Islands overnight tonight or early tomorrow

01:33morning as a Category 1 or Category 2 system.

01:36So it's currently Category 1, but it is expected to intensify to a Category 2 system tomorrow

01:41morning.

01:41So it really just depends how fast it moves overnight, whether it reaches the Cocos Islands

01:47as a Category 1 or Category 2.

01:49But one way or the other, we are expecting heavy rainfall and gale force winds, damaging

01:53wind gusts across the island.

01:56Unfortunately, really challenging conditions for Christmas Day.

01:59Okay.

02:00Now, there have been some dangerous storms rolling through southeast Queensland this afternoon.

02:04What can you tell us about them?

02:06Yeah, we have seen some significant areas of storms across Queensland, particularly through

02:13the southeast.

02:14We've had several severe thunderstorms rolling through, bringing the risk of heavy rainfall

02:18and large hail.

02:19Really, it's thanks to a lot of moisture sitting across northern Australia and then a trough

02:23moving through, triggering that moisture to feed into thunderstorms, I should say.

02:28So we have seen about 60 millimetres in the space of half an hour at a place called Gymna,

02:33which is inland from the Sunshine Coast, with plenty of other locations also seeing some

02:38fairly high rainfall totals, which has come in in a short space of time as these storms

02:42have moved overhead.

02:43So unfortunately, the risk of those storms continues through the rest of this afternoon

02:47and evening.

02:48Again, there is a risk of potentially severe storms on Christmas Day as well, most likely

02:53in the afternoon.

02:53So definitely something for Queenslanders to build into their Christmas Day plans.

02:57As you may be affected by that weather.

02:59And a couple of days ago, there was a forecast of the possibility of snow in parts of Tassie

03:05on Christmas Day.

03:06Is that still looking like a possibility?

03:10It is still looking like a possibility, but mainly for those elevated peaks.

03:14It's certainly going to be very, very chilly across Tasmania, showers as well.

03:18But the snow is mainly for areas above 700 metres in the west and south.

03:22So mainly those alpine peaks.

03:23OK, now turning to Boxing Day.

03:26We've got a couple of events on the Boxing Day test in Melbourne and the start of the

03:29Sydney to Hobart.

03:30What can you tell us about conditions for those?

03:32So in Melbourne for the Boxing Day test, we are looking at partly cloudy conditions, hopefully

03:40should get some sunshine later in the afternoon.

03:42But there is unfortunately the chance of a shower through the morning and early afternoon.

03:46Not too much in them, less than a couple of millimetres most likely, but unfortunately

03:50it may pause play at times.

03:52We'll hope for the best, hope they are very isolated and clear through quickly.

03:56But it is going to be a cool one as well.

03:58A top of just 17 degrees in Melbourne for Boxing Day.

04:01For the Sydney to Hobart race, we are looking at some fairly strong southerly winds as we

04:07come out of the harbour.

04:08Swells of two to three metres.

04:10Those winds should ease off through the weekend, however.

04:13And then eventually we'll see a north to north easterly wind coming through across Bass

04:17Strait and down the Tasmanian coastline.

04:19So some mixed conditions for the yacht race there.

04:22But hopefully we won't see winds as strong as what we had last year.

04:28You know, the main city on the front is half of the mountain around the hill.

04:33This is the standard that we all have now.

04:35And as the incident is in the south is the 4th of the village in Melbourne.

04:39The half of the village is in ands in the west is the 7th of the village in Melbourne.

04:41Since the village is in the south is the public, the village is the 1st of the village of the village.

04:45And so some new bus were looking at times in the east which is the largest street.

04:48The village of the village is in the south and south.

04:51By the land we are looking at times in the south, which is the 1st of the village of the village,

04:53I mean, if we're in.

04:55If you think about these places where you can be in the south.

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