Rain, hail and icy winds gripping SA
South Australia is feeling the brunt of a polar air mass today, with icy winds, rain and hail sending shivers across the state.
A frigid air mas that originated near Antarctica has been spreading over South Australia during the last 24 hours.
Image: Hail at Mount Lofty on Tuesday morning. Source: @thesummitcaferestaurant
On Monday, a burst of dry and blustery winds developed ahead of the approaching cold air, whipping up large clouds of dust across the state. This airborne dust reduced visibility on the Eyre Highway near Ceduna and temporarily turned the sky brown around Adelaide.
There are currently strong winds and dust in the air on the Eyre Highway near Ceduna.
— South Australia Police (@SAPoliceNews) June 7, 2021
Visibility is reduced between Ceduna and Penong, and motorists are advised to travel with caution in this area.
Strong winds and wild weather are expected to continue for the next 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/pN04ZeBSTe
Cloud and rain then spread across the state's southern districts late on Monday, combining with the airborne dust in some areas to cause brown rain. The arrival of the cold air also caused Adelaide's temperature to drop by 6ºC in 10 minutes at 4pm on Monday.
Showers and cold, blustery winds then continued to spread across South Australia on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Image: A view of the cold air mass from space, with speckled clouds bringing showers to South Australia at midday AEST on Tuesday.
Wind gusts of 90-95 km/h were recorded at Naracoorte and Adelaide Airport on Monday afternoon and night. Ceduna clocked a gust of 87km/h shortly after 9:30am on Tuesday.
Adelaide's temperature has been struggling to rise on Tuesday morning in response to the polar air mass and intermittent showers. As of 11:30am, the city's highest temperature so far today was 10.1ºC, although most of the morning felt like 5-6ºC due to wind chill.
There were also reports of small hail in some southern districts of South Australia overnight and this morning, including the Mount Lofty Ranges.