Bunker down, a ‘month’s worth of rain’ to fall in next few days

Around half of the Aussie population are either in lockdown or set to be within a few hours, but it could just be the best place for us with news that parts of the country are set to receive a “month’s worth of rain” in the next few days.

According to Rob Sharpe from Sky News weather, a low-pressure trough in western Queensland is pushing rainfall across inland areas and the coast and is set to link up with rainfall in the southeast creating a “substantial” rainfall event. He predicts a wet few days and into the weekend for much of the east coast of Australia.

“We’ve started to see some wet weather along the east coast but there’s a lot more to come and it’s not just for coastal areas,” he said. “We’ve got showers for the NSW coast and southeast Queensland and they will continue for today and tomorrow as well, particularly for northern stretches of NSW and into Queensland.

“We’re going to see substantial falls, many areas of southeastern Queensland are looking at comfortably more than a month’s worth of rainfall from this event. Some of the drought-affected areas could even see double that July average just in this one event.”

Queensland 

The sunshine state will not be so sunny for the next few days with the standard rainfall set to be between 25-50mm for most of Queensland, while isolated patches could see more than 100mm. Residents of the drought-affected Wide Bay-Burnett region and inland areas will certainly welcome the news.

Brisbane residents will see a few millimetres on Tuesday, while the really significant rain is expected to fall on Friday and Saturday, with forecasters predicting up to 45mm across both days. Temperatures are set to hit 20 degrees with a 14-degree low.

Areas of the Gold Coast could see up to 35mm on Friday and 30mm on Sunday, while Bundaberg could see 60mm from Friday to Sunday and Rockhampton up to 45mm in the gauge over those days too.

NSW

Meanwhile, in New South Wales, parts of the state should bunker down for a good few days of wet weather.

In Byron Bay, residents will expect between 50mm and a huge 120mm of rain, while Sydney residents will see showers on Wednesday with it forecast to clear to a cloudy day with a shower or two on Thursday. Experts suggest the temperatures for the weekend will be chilly, with overnight lows to hit around 10 degrees.

The rest of the country can expect some rainfall but far less extreme than in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Perth will see rain ease on Tuesday with reasonably heavy falls reappearing later in the weekend.

It looks like Canberra residents will miss out on the rainfall event, with a few showers later in the week but mostly dry. The state should expect mild winter temperatures of 14 degrees this week, dipping to around 3 degrees in the early mornings and below zero for the weekend.

In Melbourne, you can expect a high of 16 degrees for the next few days, and a low of 5 degrees over the weekend. There will be some rainfall later on in the week and into the weekend with potentially heavy showers on Friday.

Adelaide will experience rainfall for much of the week from about Wednesday onwards, with Friday predicted to be the heaviest falls. Residents can expect a maximum of 13 degrees from Friday with lows of 9 degrees heading to 6 degrees on the weekend.