It might be just one more sleep away, but winter is certainly going to start with a vengeance. If you haven't caved and reached for the warm blankets yet, now is the time.
A strong cold front and associated low are bringing damaging to destructive winds, low-lying snow, rain and freezing temperatures onto the south-east of the continent.
After ravaging South Australia overnight into Monday, complete with record-tumbling rainfall and even a tornado in Adelaide's northern suburbs, the system continued west yesterday.
But even with the main front slinking off the coast, there is plenty of weather left in its wake.
After a windy night up the east coast, particularly for southern Queensland and northern New South Wales overnight, damaging winds were expected in Melbourne on Tuesday.
"Tuesday night we will see some of the damaging winds persist, including for Sydney and southwards towards Mallacoota," said the Bureau of Meteorology's Jackson Browne.
Strong westerly winds were expected to keep powering over the Great Divide through Wednesday, providing another night of damaging winds along the east coast, particularly for southern New South Wales.
With so much waterlogging on the east coast, trees and powerlines were expected to be particularly vulnerable to falling or collapse.
People were advised to take care and follow the instructions of local emergency services.
Some centres to freeze
The bureau was forecasting maximum temperatures would plunge 3 to 6 degrees Celsius below the May average all the way up to southern Queensland and into the Northern Territory.
But with the wind it was going to feel even colder.
Canberra was forecast to dip down to -2C on Thursday between minimums of 0C on Wednesday and Friday.
Wagga Wagga was expected to barely stay above freezing with a minimum of 1C on Thursday.
From Tuesday through to Saturday, Charlotte Pass was only expected to scrape above freezing once, reaching 1C on Thursday and getting down to negative 6C on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Across the border, Shepparton and Gisborne were expected to shiver down to 1C on Thursday.
Snow, large swells to come
By Wednesday the snow level was expected to fall down to 600 metres all the way from Tasmania up to the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.
"On the alpine resorts, they're looking at 20 to 50 centimetres of snow accumulation," Mr Browne said.
"Then areas such as Mount Macedon, the Dandenongs, Canberra, the Brindabellas, Orange, Bathurst and Katoomba could all see some snow flurries as this system makes its way through."
The wind was not the only thing to be whipped up by the current system — the southern coastline was expecting large swells above the astronomical tide.
Australians were urged to take care out on the water and keep up to date with the latest warnings at ABC Emergency.
