Widespread showers and some thunderstorms and snow will affect a broad area of southern and eastern Australia at the end of this week.

A large pool of cold air approaching Australia from the south will interact with warmer, moisture-laden air from the north to produce several days of dynamic weather in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW, and Queensland from this Friday. Some of this weather could persist into the first half of next week as well.

On Friday, widespread showers and some thunderstorms will affect Australia's eastern inland from central Queensland down through western NSW into northern Victoria. Showers and blustery winds will also accompany a cold front passing over southern parts of South Australia on Friday.

We will see more showers in parts of southern and eastern Australia on Saturday and Sunday, along with some thunderstorms and alpine snow. However, there is more uncertainty between forecast models regarding the evolution of this system heading into the weekend, so forecasting the location and timing of rain becomes more difficult.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain between now and Tuesday next week, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

Looking further ahead, it's almost impossible to predict what will happen early next week at this stage because the model uncertainty gets larger beyond the weekend. It is worth pointing out that there's potential for dangerous weather in eastern parts of southern Queensland, NSW or Victoria during the first half of next week.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain between now and Tuesday next week, according to the GFS model.

It's worth keeping a close eye on the latest forecasts if you live in southern or eastern Australia, with more reliable information likely to become available as new model data becomes available in the coming days.