Following an uncharacteristically warm week for southeastern Australia, a solid line of cold fronts are on the way to bring us back to winter with a bang. One-in-twenty year July temperatures have been blasted away by cold and very strong winds today, and the mercury is set to drop further. The winds, at times damaging, are currently lashing parts of South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in the wake of a strong cold front. The reason why it has been so windy today is similar to the reason why water travels faster down steep hills. Just like a fluid, air speed (or wind) depends on the slope of an atmospheric gradient. The steeper the change in air pressure or temperature, the faster the air will travel. Once this front moves out into the Tasman today, there is another one close in tow for Sunday. That front is not likely to be nearly as strong as today's, however, the one after that is looking ferocious. Sneaking its way across the Bight, this third front is likely to start wreaking some havoc for southeastern SA from late Sunday. Gale force winds are to be expected, possibly even storm force, which then become a risk for exposed and elevated parts of Victoria and Tasmania on Monday. The strength of the wind highly depends on the track of the associated low. At this stage models indicate that it will cross southern Tasmania during Monday night and into Tuesday. Alpine areas can expect a good boost of snow to repair the damage done to the pack this week gone. The snowfall amount also depends on the track the low will take, with anywhere from 50cm to a metre accumulating by Tuesday. In keeping with the trend, weaker fronts on Tuesday and Wednesday should skip across southeastern Australia, then it's time for a bit of high pressure. Much calmer conditions are predicted to see the week out. Don't get too comfortable though, as there are indications of another cold front early in the following week to keep winter coming.