The wild weather which has lashed southeastern Australia is moving out into the Tasman Sea, leaving in its wake dangerously swollen rivers, wind damage, and even a decent dusting of spring snow.
Overnight, winds howled their way around a low pressure system centred over the eastern part of Bass Strait.
Winds were strong across virtually all of southeastern Australia, but they were strongest on our southeastern coastline, with readings in excess of 100 km/h at several weather stations early on Thursday morning, including:
- Gabo Island (Vic, near the NSW border) – 109 km/h
- Green Cape (NSW, just north of Vic border) – 107 km/h
- Wilsons Promontory (Vic’s southernmost point) – 106 km/h
- Hogan Island (close to Wilsons Prom but technically part of Tas) – 100 km/h
Winds had also been extreme the previous night at Mt Hotham with gusts up to 132 km/h on a night when a record 198.8 mm of rain fell, in conditions as extreme as a Category 2 cyclone.
While numerous Ocean Gale Warnings remain in place on Thursday morning, conditions are slowly moderating over land areas, with the focus turning to flooding in many Victorian rivers.
One day #bushfires, the next #flooding: Towns along Macalister River evacuate as Gippsland in flood, days after battling bushfires https://t.co/jCFqQA02vY
— Neil Dufty (@NeilDufty) October 4, 2023
The flooding situation in parts of Gippsland is already serious this morning, with floodwaters in the streets of Newry, a small town north of Sale. Many local roads are completely cut off.
READ MORE: Gabo Island’s first September 32C in over a century of records
After numerous falls in excess of 100 mm in North East Victoria on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the heaviest falls in the 24 hours to 9 am Thursday occurred in southeastern NSW and East Gippsland, hence the flooding in the latter region. Falls included:
- 71 mm at Gabo Island and 63 mm at Mallacoota on Victoria’s far southeastern tip.
- 75 mm at the Mt Cann fire tower and 74 mm at Mt Elizabeth – two relatively remote inland Gippsland weather stations.
- 64 mm at Mt Ginini (ACT) in Canberra’s water catchment
- 63 mm at Thredbo Top Station (NSW), some of which arrived as snow early on Thursday morning.
Flooding in other parts of Victoria can be expected increase in coming days, with numerous moderate and major flood warnings in place for rivers running high with the extreme rainfall of Tuesday night.
As for the unseasonable spring snow, this was the view of Mt Feathertop from the Great Alpine Rd at Mt Hotham on Thursday morning as cold air behind the front combined arrived in time to combine with the last few hours of available moisture.
Image: You’d say it was looking like winter all over again, except most of this winter didn’t look like winter! Source: @thatgreenjacketguy on Instagram.
Locals in the Victorian high country reported three or four centimetres on the ground, with similar totals in New South Wales.
The weather looks to moderate by the weekend as a large high pressure system brings stable conditions, although temperatures will stay cool due to southerly winds, and the flood danger will remain high in many rivers for some time.
As ever, please check our warnings page or our app for the latest.
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