A cold front moving across south-eastern Australia is promising to bring more frosty temperatures through next week after parts of New South Wales and Victoria shivered through a cold, wet and windy spring weekend.
Rain is expected for south-east Queensland, the New South Wales mid and north coasts over the next few days, but not in the quantities seen over the weekend.
Melbourne is in for a frosty start on Monday morning, with the city expected to wake up to temperatures of 9C, before warming up to a high of 19C during the day.
It’ll be warmer in Sydney, with the harbour city waking up to temperatures of 17C with a high of 20C on Monday. Up to 7mm of rain is expected for parts of Sydney, with Melbourne a higher chance of light showers on Tuesday.
Canberra can expect cool evenings for the next week with the nights falling to 7C, and Hobart was expected to get down to 9C overnight on Monday.
The chilly nights come as residents of NSW and south-east Queensland were battered by heavy wind and rain on Saturday night, prompting authorities to issue flood warnings which were later eased.
The NSW SES responded to more than 270 calls for help in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday, receiving 628 calls for help since the wild weather began on Friday.
Two adults and a baby had to be rescued from rising flood waters in Cougal, west of Tweed Heads, while there was another rescue in nearby Uki as a car towing a vehicle got stuck on a causeway.
Two others were rescued after driving into flood water late on Saturday and early on Sunday morning.
About 4,300 energy customers in the region were without power on Saturday night. Hundreds remain without power, with easing conditions expected to make it easier for workers to restore it.
Miriam Bradbury, a BoM senior meteorologist, said the wild weather lashing the NSW coast was the product of a cold front sweeping up from the south, and a low pressure system off the northern coast of the state.
“We’ve seen some pretty heavy winds and high rainfall totals, but the low is starting to weaken and move away from the coast,” Bradbury said.
The SES downgraded warnings on Sunday morning after heavy rain and flooding in areas around Lismore.
“The flood risk remains, but at minor levels,” it said.
Minor flooding is also expected in the Tweed and Rous rivers, Wilsons River, Richmond River and Orara River. A minor-to-moderate flood warning is current for the Bellinger River.
Not only have flood warnings in the area been downgraded, but severe weather warnings have been cancelled for the northern rivers and northern tablelands districts, giving locals a reprieve from wild winds that also smashed the region.
Across northern Australia, the Top End and Kimberley are experiencing hotter than average temperatures with heatwave conditions setting in.
“We expect really, really warm days and nights across those parts,” Bradbury said.
– with AAP
