Millions to face winter drenching this week

Every state and territory in Australia will cop a winter drenching this week.

Weatherzone reported a the combination of a powerful low-pressure system south of Australia, and a cloudband over the north-west, would bring moisture throughout the country during different parts of the week.

“Cloud and rain will build over a broad area of western and southern Australia on Monday and Tuesday as the low pressure system and northwest cloudband develop,” Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino wrote.

“The heaviest rain during Monday and Tuesday is likely to fall over northern Tasmania, southern and western districts of South Australia, and along the south coast of Western Australia.”

South Australia will cop a third day of widespread rain on Wednesday, setting up potential flooding concerns.

Damaging wind gusts are also a potential factor in any dangerous weather, most likely in Western Australia, Weatherzone said.

“The second half of this week will see rain spreading across parts of the NT, SA, Queensland, NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania as the north-west cloudband gradually moves further east,” Domensino said.

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“The northwest cloudband and its associated rainband will remain a prominent feature on Thursday and Friday, causing decent rainfall over a 3500km corridor extending from Tasmania up to the NT.”

However, the extent of the later-week falls remain unknown this far out.

Domensino said some forecast models predicted rain easing on Saturday, but that others had it re-intensifying on Sunday and early into next week in the country’s east.

“Comparing the maps shows that there is broad model agreement that this week’s rain will be widespread and affect part of every state and territory,” he wrote.

“However, there is some disagreement about where and how much rain will fall, particularly over eastern Australia.”

People are urged to stay up to date with emergency warnings at the Bureau of Meteorology website.