A rain-soaked weather system is sweeping across eastern and southeastern Australia on Tuesday, with parts of NSW, Victoria and the ACT already drenched and severe thunderstorms likely to build later in the day.
After dumping South Australia’s heaviest rain in four years, the system is now pushing east, bringing widespread rain, local flash flood concerns and the risk of damaging winds, large hail and heavy downpours.
Up to 100mm of rain is forecast to fall near Albury-Wodonga over the days until 10pm Wednesday.
On Monday, the heaviest rain fell over southern parts of South Australia while a long line of thunderstorms stretched more than 1500km north across the Red Centre into the Northern Territory.
The wet and stormy weather then spread further east overnight into parts of NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
By 9am on Tuesday, some areas in southern inland NSW and the ACT had already picked up 30 to 60mm of rain, while parts of central and northeast Victoria recorded 15 to 45mm.
Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said the system was tapping into abundant atmospheric moisture, fuelling widespread rain and storms in the first half of the week.
Falls in Queensland were lighter, although parts of the far west and southwest still received 5 to 15mm, which were decent totals by local standards.
Rain is set to continue through parts of Victoria, NSW, the ACT and Queensland on Tuesday, with thunderstorms likely to develop over northern Victoria, western NSW and southern Queensland during the afternoon and early evening.
“Some of these storms will become severe, with damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain all a threat,” Mr Domensino said.
About 70,000 lightning pulses have been detected across South Australia, the Northern Territory and western Queensland between midday Monday and 6am Tuesday, according to Weatherzone’s Total Lightning Network.
Flood watches and warnings have been issued in parts of South Australia, NSW and Victoria.
Severe thunderstorm warnings may also be issued later on Tuesday as storm activity increases.
The weather system has already delivered a soaking to South Australia, with multiple rounds of rain affecting the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide region on Monday and Tuesday morning.
Those areas recorded widespread falls of 20 to 50mm, with isolated totals of 60 to 70mm.
Among the standout totals, Adelaide recorded 29.8mm – its heaviest August rain in 34 years – while Murray Bridge picked up 22mm, its heaviest rain in 40 years.
Kingscote received 31.2mm, marking its wettest August day in 33 years and its heaviest rain in four years.
Adelaide is now having its wettest winter in 22 years, with the city’s seasonal rainfall total climbing to 293.8mm.
Conditions should begin easing on Wednesday as the system starts moving offshore, although showers are expected to linger over eastern NSW and southeast Queensland.
A few more thunderstorms are also possible in central and northeast NSW and far southeast Queensland, but they are not expected to be as intense or widespread as Tuesday’s storms.