Ignore the calendar, winter has arrived early in south-eastern Australia.
The frigid change comes in the wake of a cold front which swept across the south-east yesterday.
By this morning the front is expected to have cleared off, but a large pool of cold air is lingering.
"That will give us showers, possible thunderstorms, some small hail, and really just temperatures significantly below average," said Christie Johnson, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology.
Temperatures are expected to be four to eight degrees Celsius below average in the south-east.
"So pretty cold compared to what we've had earlier this week," Ms Johnson said.
This type of front this time of the year is really not that unusual, but the arrival of winter is always a bit of a shock and this one is looking pretty cold.
In the lead-up, Melbourne has been forecast to reach a maximum of just 13C on Friday.
"If we only got to 13 that would probably be the first time since about 1962 that we got that cold this early in the year," Ms Johnson said.
"But really, we do get these cold fronts coming through as we lead into winter."
Snow is expected down to around 900 to 1,000 metres through Tasmania, Victoria, and southern New South Wales, with possible falls down to 1,200m further north into New South Wales regions like the Blue Mountains.
East coast low for Tasmania
On the mainland this is not expected to be a huge rainfall bearing system with falls of five to 15mm expected and higher falls under thunderstorms and in elevated areas.
But it is a different story down in Tassie where an east coast low is expected to form behind the front.
There has been uncertainty in the lead up as to where exactly the low will form and how strong it will be.
But it is now looking like heavy rainfall and potentially damaging wind gusts are in store for the east and south of the state.
"There has been recent rainfall so the catchments are fairly saturated, which means we do also have the risk of riverine flooding," Ms Johnson said.
"Given that there's also the risk of thunderstorms we could well see flash flooding as well."
The wild weather is expected to pick up Thursday night before peaking during daylight hours Friday.
Showers are expected to linger as the system moves off late on Saturday.
Significant system for the southern isle
"East coast low" is not a term meteorologists use lightly. Exact criteria differ a bit from state to state, but generally it is a term used to describe the big damaging storms along the east coast.
"For Tasmania, we are comfortable calling it an east coast low," Ms Johnson said.
A cold front this time of year is pretty common, but this kind of low over Tasmania is more of a jolt to the system.
"We do get these low pressure systems a couple of times a year, but they do vary in intensity," Ms Johnson said.
"So depending on how intense this one is it could be the sort of thing that we maybe only see every few years."
The SES is warning of falls of 100mm with wind gusts of 100kph in coastal areas.
Heavier falls are possible with thunderstorms.
Leon Smith, acting director of the Tasmania SES, urged rural and city residents to br prepared for the possibility of flooding.
“There is also a high chance of trees coming down, given the wind, which may lead to power outages. So people need to be prepared and should exercise caution if they are out and about, especially when driving," he said.
On Friday, Hobart is forecast to have a maximum of 15C with a 95 per cent chance of rain and possible rainfall of 60mm to 80mm.
To the north, the forecast for Launceston is a maximum of 13C with a 100 per cent chance of rain and possible falls of 25mm to 35mm.
But up in the hills at Ben Lomond, Friday's maximum is forecast to be just 2C after a low of -1C. There is a 100 per cent chance of rain with possible falls of 35mm to 50mm, falling as snow down to 1,200 metres.
In central Tasmania, Mount Field is expecting temperatures of 2C to 6C on Friday, with possible rainfall of 40mm to 70mm, falling as snow above 1,100m.
So rug up and keep up to date with the latest warnings at ABC Emergency.
