Wintry weather to hit southeastern Australia later this week
A burst of cold, wet and windy weather will affect Australia’s southeastern states this Thursday and Friday, with severe weather likely in parts of Victoria and New South Wales.
Showers and storms increasing next few days
Showers and thunderstorms will affect parts of southeastern Australia on Tuesday and Wednesday under the influence of relatively weak low pressure troughs. While most areas will only see light falls on these days, isolated areas of heavy rain are possible, particularly with thunderstorms.
Conditions will deteriorate on Thursday and Friday as a pool of cold air gets driven across southeastern Australia in between a deepening Tasman Sea low pressure system and a high pressure system centred to the south of Australia.
Image: Forecast 850 hPa temperature and mean sea level pressure on Thursday night, showing a high pressure system to the south of Australia and a low pressure system over the Tasman Sea. Cold air (shaded blue) is being driven over southeastern Australia in between these two systems. Source: Weatherzone.
Early taste of winter
This weather pattern will cause a surge of cold, wet and windy weather in southeastern Australia on Thursday and Friday, affecting parts of Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the ACT. This wintry mix will include rain, hail, thunderstorms, snow and blustery winds.
The cold air crossing southeastern Australia is likely to cause a low pressure system to develop over the western Tasman Sea on Thursday, which could then deepen rapidly on Friday. This deepening low is expected to cause a particularly nasty period of powerful winds, heavy rain and large waves in parts of Vic and NSW on Friday, possibly affecting parts of Tas and the ACT as well.
Image: Forecast wind gusts at 5pm AEDT on Friday, March 27, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.
This system will bring the first taste of wintry weather so far this season in southeastern Australia, along with severe weather in at least two states. Melbourne is only forecast to reach 16°C on Friday, which would be the city’s coldest day so far this year.