Weather News

Cold and wild winds for Tasmania

Winds averaged in excess of 140km/h along parts of Tasmania's west coast this morning, with brisk winds even reaching the otherwise sheltered Hobart.

This morning winds averaged 143km/h over a ten minutes period at Maatsuyker Island at 5am, making it the windiest conditions there for two years. These wind speeds are of the same strength as a category three tropical cyclone.

Hobart is usually well protected from the strong winds that batter the west coast, however at 3:30am winds gusted to 80km/h. Since then winds have remained moderate to fresh making the cold day feel even colder than the mercury suggests. By 1pm the temperature had only reached nine degrees with wind chill making most of the day feel like four or five.

These cold conditions are almost mild when compared to Mt Wellington where strong winds overnight made minus five degrees feel like minus 16 degrees. At lunch time the temperature had only reached minus two and felt like minus 12 in the wind.

Snow and showers have also been a major part of Tasmania's weather with snow falling as low as 300m overnight, with Strathgorden recording 5cm of snow. Showers were prevalent across the state with most areas picking up more than 10mm.

The wintry conditions are due to the cold front that arrived yesterday, while the strong winds, showers and snow are due to the low pressure system that developed behind it. This low neared Tasmania's south coast this morning as it moved east, before beginning to move away from the state just before lunch time.

Wind and showers are expected to ease tonight and into Tuesday as the low will continue to track east. Western parts of the state will see another increase in wind and showers ahead of another front on Tuesday.

Wind will continue to fluctuate this week, but it won't get as windy as today for some time.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2012

More breaking news

ABC News
Sydney Morning Herald
National Nine News
News Limited

East Coast Low soaks NSW

15:24 EST Parts of the NSW coast have seen their heaviest rain in four years as an East Coast Low creeps north.