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Destructive winds hit SE Australia as rain spreads to NSW, Queensland

Source Weatherzone Tue 22 Jul 2025

A powerful surge of winds caused destructive gusts in parts of Victoria on Tuesday morning, with more dangerous weather on the way for parts of southeastern Australia in the next 24 hours. A low pressure system and associated cold front that swept across SA on Monday will cross southeastern Australia on Tuesday. This system will cause a wintry mix of rain, wind and snow as it moves across the country's southeast on Tuesday and Wednesday. An associated low pressure trough extending to the north will also produce rain and thunderstorms over broad areas of Qld and NSW. Wild winds in southeastern Australia Victoria experienced a powerful surge of winds on Monday night into Tuesday morning as northerly winds strengthened ahead of the approaching cold front. Parts of Tasmania and SA also felt the brunt of the system, with the following gusts observed on Tuesday morning: 150 km/h at Mount Hotham (Vic) 130 km/h at Mount Buller (Vic) 126 km/h at Mount William (Vic) 120 km/h at Thredbo Top Station (NSW) 107 km/h at Mount Read (Tas) 104 km/h at Cape Jaffa (SA) Image: Tuesday’s daily forecast for Ballarat, Vic on the Weatherzone app. Wind will remain the main threat in southeastern Australia on Tuesday into Wednesday morning under the influence of the cold front and low pressure system. As of 10 am AEST, severe weather warnings were in place for damaging to destructive wind gusts in parts of Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and SA. Image: Modelled wind gusts at 1pm AEST on Tuesday. Rain soaking several states In addition to causing dangerously strong winds, this system will also produce rain over large areas of southeastern and eastern Australia on Tuesday and Wednesday. In southeastern Australia, most of this rain will fall on Tuesday associated with the passage of the cold front. Some areas will also see follow-up showers on Wednesday in a more westerly airstream behind the cold front, although these will generally be lighter than Tuesday and less widespread. A broad band of showers and some thunderstorm activity will also extend north across NSW and Queensland, spreading from west to east on Tuesday and Wednesday. The combined influence of the low pressure system, cold front and low pressure trough should see rain falling from Tasmania all the up to the Cape York Peninsula over the next couple of days. This covers an area close to 4000 km in length. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 48 hours ending at 10pm AEST on Wednesday. Looking ahead, drier and calmer weather will return to most of eastern and southeastern Australia by Thursday under the influence of a high pressure system. However, this respite will be brief, with another low pressure system set to cause widespread rain across the eastern half of Australia between Friday and Sunday. The rain from this next system is expected to be heavier and more widespread that the current system due to the influence of a large northwest cloudband. You will find more detailed updates on this upcoming rain event on the Weatherzone news feed throughout the week. Also be sure to keep a close eye on the latest forecasts and warnings in your area. - Weatherzone © Weatherzone 2025