Australians warned to prepare for more cold weather this week – so will it warm up in time for Christmas? Here’s how it’s looking near you
- A cold snap has hit Australia’s southeast with chilly winds, rain and even snow
- Early forecasts said there could be rain on the weekend but these are revised
- Meteorologists now forecasting that Christmas Day will be fine weather for most
- Australian capitals should see sunny weather between 20C and 30C on Sunday
Christmas Day is just around the corner and while Aussies have shivered through a miserable cold snap for the past few days, December 25 is shaping up to be perfect holiday weather.
Unseasonable icy weather has gripped the southeastern states over recent days with temperatures plummeting and cold winds making it feel like winter.
The chill is driven by multiple weather systems interacting to bring persistent southerly winds and scattered rain over the southeast but it’s looking likely to clear and warm up a little by Sunday, December 25.
‘The message to you over the southeast of the country is, ‘I’m sorry, summer is not here just yet’,’ Sky News meteorologist Alison Osborne said on Friday.
A map showing the forecast temperature for about 11am Christmas Day with most capital cities seeing temperatures in the low 20s with Hobart a little colder and Darwin warmer
Despite a cold and rainy snap earlier in the week Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne should see perfect holiday weather on the weekend
Sydney was hit with strong winds, cloud and rain on Sunday, which is continuing into Monday while Melbourne last week recorded its coldest summer day in more than a decade as snow fell across the state’s alps.
The maximum temperature of 15.8C in Melbourne on Wednesday was the chilliest summer’s day in the state since 2006. and the mercury dipped to -5.4C at Mt Hotham by 5am, with snow flurries sweeping the region.
A Weatherzone spokesman agreed the ‘unseasonably chilly weather’ was due to a strong cold front.
‘In its wake, cold, showery weather is persisting in southern Victoria, with snow falling to about 1200m in the Victorian Alps,’ he said.
The high country between Sydney and Melbourne experienced heavy snowfalls in the last week (pictured is Mt Hotham)
Melburnians can finally see some sun next week with the forecast expected to reach 30C on Wednesday and 27C on Christmas Day.
In Sydney showers will continue through the week but Saturday and Sunday should week sunny weather and maximums of a summery 27C and 28C.
Brisbane will be sunny and reach a maximum of 31C on Christmas with some slight cloud on Christmas Eve.
While in Adelaide and Canberra it will be sunny and 30C on Sunday.
Last Thursday, Weatherzone ran three forecast models through two different maps to predict the possibility of rainfall and maximum temperatures across the country.
A number of trends have emerged including that rain is predicted to fall across most of the north and the eastern coast.
However, there is a fair amount of disagreement about where and how much rain will fall on December 25.
Heavy rain is possible in the centre of the country and all models anticipate rain in the northern tropics, which is normal for this time of year.
Earlier forecasts (pictured) said there should be rain on Christmas Day but this is now looking far less likely with updated weather models
Two out of three models expect temperatures to exceed 40C in the northwest of WA.
On the opposite of the country, the weather could be poles apart with cool weather forecast in southeastern Australia in two models.
Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said it was currently unlikely that any capital city would exceed 40C on December 25, and some cities could be cooler-than-average.
‘This outlook may come as a relief to anyone who spent Christmas in Perth last year, when the city was hit by a holiday heatwave and reached a sweltering 42.8ºC on December 25,’ he said.
Last year was the hottest temperature ever recorded in an Australian capital city on Christmas Day beating the last record of 42.1ºC in Adelaide in 1888.
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