A strong low pressure system will drive damaging winds, rain, and snow over a large area of southeastern Australia during the next four days.

A series of cold fronts have already caused cold and blustery winds over parts of southern and eastern Australia during the last few days. On Tuesday night, a tornado left a trail of damage in one of Adelaide's southern suburbs as a cold front buffeted SA. On Wednesday, westerly winds scoured the dry outback in far western NSW and whipped up a thick cloud of topsoil. By Thursday morning, this airborne dust was passing over northeast NSW and southeast Queensland on its way to the Pacific Ocean.

Image: A dusty morning in Brisbane on Thursday. Source: @dean.h77 / Instagram

Now, a large low moving up from the Southern Ocean will pass over Tasmania from Friday before barreling across the Tasman Sea this weekend. While the low itself will only skim Australia, it will create a strong pressure gradient over the nation's southeast as it interacts with a high pressure ridge extending from WA up to Queensland.

The result of this tight pressure gradient will be a broad area of fresh to strong winds across parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW, the ACT, southern Queensland, and Tasmania between now and Sunday. These winds will be persistently strong and are likely to cause damaging gusts in multiple states and territories.

Image: Forecast surface wind gusts on Saturday afternoon, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

In addition to the wind, the low will also cause rain and snow to fall to low levels during the next few days, with snow likely to settle in areas from Tasmania up to northern NSW. The combination of potentially damaging winds with wet or icy roads will create dangerous driving conditions in multiple states.

Take extra care if you have outdoor plans between now and Sunday and check the latest severe weather warnings and road alerts for the most up-to-date information.