Weather takes a weekend break
After what seems to have been a never-ending conveyor belt of troughs, fronts and low pressure systems, residents in Australia's south are finally able to take a breather.
While another cold front has crept into Australia's southeast this morning, a very dominant high pressure system is bringing mostly settled conditions across the entire country. Now that doesn't mean that the weather is 'perfect'. Tasmania and eastern Victoria are still experiencing some strong winds and showers, and those winds are likely to strengthen on Sunday – with Tassie copping the brunt of it.
Image: Forecasted wind gusts for Sunday 19:00 AEST across the country (ECMWF model)
So aside from Tasmania ruining the trend – the weather is looking pretty quiet for the remainder of the weekend. Those pesky showers over the southeast should lessen tomorrow, allowing large parts of the country to bask in the sun.
Image: Forecasted 24-hour rainfall (blue shading) for Sunday using ACCESS-G model
Now, this is hardly ground-breaking news for the northern half of the country. High pressure has kept most of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland mostly dry and sunny over the past weeks (ignoring the occasional trough that has pushed through) – which isn't unusual during the winter months.
After the weekend break, the weather will start the working week by sending yet another cold front through South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania on Monday, before continuing its track over central and eastern NSW on Tuesday. The airmass behind this front is frigid so expect some chilly days during the first half of next week, with windchill making temperatures feel an extra 2-4C degrees cooler.
Thankfully it will only be a single cold front sweeping through. High pressure is then set to return later in the week, providing another lull in Australia's weather.