Christmas comes with weather worries for South Australia, Victoria and NT
Version 0 of 1. Darwin is expected to cop lashing rain and storms, and firefighters in Victoria and South Australia will be on high alert as Australians prepare to celebrate Christmas. Far north Queenslanders will spend the day hoping Stan and Tatiana don’t show up – not relatives, but the mooted names of a low pressure system bearing down on the Gulf of Carpentaria, if it escalates into a cyclone. After a wet, grey build-up, Christmas Day in Sydney will be sunny and mild, with a maximum of 25C and just a small chance of showers. Related: Queensland's first cyclone of the season could hit on Christmas Day The situation will be much the same across the rest of New South Wales, although Christmas lunches in the northeast and far north could be affected by afternoon thunderstorms. The North Australian monsoon has arrived in the Top End earlier than expected in an El Nino year, dousing Darwin with 200mm of rain so far on Thursday. Severe weather warnings have been issued for the Northern Territory’s capital as well as the Tiwi, Arnhem and Carpentaria districts. Bushfires are a big concern in some parts of South Australia. Adelaide is heading for a top of 38C and strong northerly winds have been forecast for Christmas morning. Fire bans are expected to be issued in up to 10 districts and firefighters will be on standby across the state. The Country Fire Service (CFS) state coordinator Leigh Miller says the forecast conditions are the worst he can recall for Christmas Day in almost 30 years. “We don’t need to have catastrophic conditions for bad fires to start,” he said. “We’ve had many fires continue, throughout all the years we’ve been in the CFS, in conditions much less than what we’re going to be facing on Christmas Day.” Related: Firefighters still battling bushfires that destroyed 16 homes in Victoria The situation is no better in Victoria, where firefighters are still battling two blazes, one at Jamieson Track near Lorne, and the other at Barnawartha, which claimed four homes at the weekend. Claire Yeo, a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said relief in the form of a cold front would arrive in Victoria around sunset and a little earlier in South Australia, bringing some welcome rain. “Most of the rainfall in Victoria will be in the early hours of Saturday, moving into eastern Victoria and NSW during Boxing Day.” Yeo said there could be implications for the cricket Test, but the heaviest rainfall was likely to hit Melbourne before the match started. The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said on Friday residents in vulnerable areas needed to take precautions. “This is what this fire season is all about: being aware of your circumstances, exercising common sense, looking out for each other, having a detailed plan and sticking to it, leaving early and living,” he said. The 109 yachts tacking and jibing from Sydney to Hobart as part of the annual race can expect choppy seas outside Sydney head when they set off on Boxing Day. A southerly will reach up to 35 knots and rough conditions are expected as the fleet spends its first night at sea. “It’s not a really strong one, but it does pack a fair bit of punch with it,” NSW Bureau of Meteorology’s Michael Loganhe said. “It does fringe into the lower end of the gale warning category. It will make for rough conditions, it’s setting up for quite an eventful first night.” Rain is expected to dampen celebrations in Brisbane, with the temperature forecast to reach 27C, but any downpour would be welcomed in the state’s parched central west. Hughenden, with a population of about 1500, has been drought declared since 2013. “The last serious falls I can remember there were three and a half years ago,” the Flinders shire mayor, Greg Jones, told AAP. “Showers are forecast for early next week, but we need a lot more than that.” The mercury is expected to hit 37C in Hughenden on Friday. “We’re just praying for rain,” Jones said. Showers are also predicted for the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. |