Cold Front Reaches Southeast Australia With Multi-State Wind and Flood Warnings

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said a vigorous spring cold front reached South Australia’s coast overnight and would cross Victoria and southern New South Wales on Saturday. Damaging-wind warnings stretched from South Australia’s southern Flinders Ranges to New South Wales’s Illawarra, with gusts forecast up to 110 km/h in elevated South Australian areas. The bureau forecast severe thunderstorms, 30–40 mm of rain in northeast Victoria with isolated totals of 50–60 mm, and flood-watch conditions in northern Victoria and Tasmania. Sydney, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains faced extreme fire danger and a total fire ban before calmer conditions expected Sunday.