3000km Rainband Set to Soak Australia’s Outback

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A massive 3000-kilometre-long rainband is stretching right across the country — and it’s bringing more rain to already saturated and remote areas, especially in outback Australia.

Forecasters are warning that roads could be cut off later this week, just as communities are still trying to recover from the devastating floods in NSW. This huge rain system is on its way to northern WA, the Northern Territory, and parts of Queensland.

According to Weatherzone, while the south is being hit with icy, wintry weather, the north and centre of the country are about to cop some serious rainfall thanks to this big north-west cloud band.

Meanwhile, it’s chilly in the south-east. Adelaide has just seen its heaviest rain in nine months, and snow is expected to fall over the mountains. On top of that, strong winds that swept through South Australia have kicked up dust that’s now blanketing Sydney — so much so that the city’s air quality has been rated “very poor.” Not great news for anyone with asthma or allergies.

It’s been a wild 24 hours weather-wise. Winds reached over 120km/h across parts of southern Australia. Mount Hotham in Victoria recorded gusts of 126km/h, Thredbo in NSW hit 115km/h, and both Mount Buller and Falls Creek saw winds up to 110km/h. Even Melbourne had a blowy day, with gusts between 60km/h and 80km/h.

Rain totals have been pretty hefty too. Mount Lofty and the Adelaide Hills in South Australia picked up between 30mm and 50mm, which, for some drought-hit areas, was the wettest day since winter or early spring last year. Victoria saw a more modest 5mm to 15mm.

As for today, NSW is still in the firing line. The Mid North Coast, northern Hunter, Northern Tablelands, Illawarra, Blue Mountains, and South Coast are all expecting damaging winds, with gusts possibly exceeding 90km/h.

On top of that, areas already soaked from earlier floods — like the Hunter and northern NSW — have copped another 20mm to 40mm of rain, though the good news is that’s expected to clear by this afternoon.

There are still wind and high tide warnings in place for South Australia and Victoria, but things should ease later today. And across the board, conditions should settle down overnight and into tomorrow.

If you’re in an affected area, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) website for the latest updates and warnings. Stay safe, and maybe keep that umbrella handy a little longer.

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