Australia’s east coast being deluged with rain here is the weekend weather

The rainy weather that soaked Australia’s east coast during summer and autumn is set to return this weekend with heavy rain, damaging winds and floods forecast.  

Families are being asked to re-asses their holiday plans ahead of the wet and windy conditions just as school holidays begin for Victoria, Queensland and NSW.

Weatherzone said on Wednesday afternoon that a widespread cloudband will cover the east coast as it moves down from the tropics bringing rain and whipping up swells along the coast. 

A low pressure trough deepening on Saturday will bring increased rainfalls with several computer weather models suggesting some coastal areas could see more than 100mm of rain in under 24 hours.

The rain will stretch from Melbourne in the south of the country to as far north as Cape York and spreading west to Darwin – with the heaviest falls around Sydney and the tropical north Queensland coast. 

The deluge will ease in Victoria on Sunday but continue in eastern Queensland and NSW with a second day of 100mm falls in some areas likely to cause flash flooding.

Monday will be similar conditions, with some models forecasting the downpour will continue into Tuesday and Wednesday.

Over the next eight days the accumulated rainfall forecast looks bleak with the east coast getting a drenching from Cooktown in the north to Bateman’s Bay south of Sydney.

Accumulated totals between 100mm and 200mm are likely for some areas and isolated falls of more than 300mm are possible.

Over on the west coast the weather is looking drier with light rainfall in Perth over the next week and no rain in the northern half of WA. 

Temperature-wise the polar blast sweeping up from the Southern Ocean will continue to bring icy conditions for much of the country.

Sydney will see maximums of 17C to 19C for the weekend and dip to 11C overnight.

Melbourne will be considerably colder with minimums of 7C and hitting a high of 13C to 14C.

Perth will also see chilly nights of 7C but will warm up during the day to reach 20C.

Brisbane will be avoid much of the frosty temperatures sitting between 14C and 21C, but will be in for a rainy weekend.

Canberra in stark contrast will reach highs of just 12C and drop to just 1C overnight on Friday. 

The nearby ski fields, already experiencing one of the best snow seasons in years, should also get some good powder with the rain forming snow in the alps region. 

Both Perisher Ski Resort and Thredbo are forecast to receive 4cm of new powder on Friday