National weather forecast: Blocking high brings consistent weather

A blocking high dominates the weather across central Australia and eastern Australia this weekend. G’day from the bureau, David here to take a look at the weather for tomorrow Saturday the 17th of October. And we’ll look ahead at Sunday the 18th as well. Spoiler, it’s pretty much the same as Saturday’s weather for most parts of the country. Let’s look at Saturday first up then, we can see this blocking high. It’s sitting there in the southern Tasman. It’s not moving at all. So it’s bringing very consistent weather over the weekend and beyond for central and eastern Australia. It means cool showery weather up the east coast. Showers, rain and thunderstorms through central and western Queensland in particular, but also spilling into north west New South Wales. It means warm and mostly sunny weather for South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. So beautiful weather in the south east. Showers and storms continue about parts of the Top End as well, and a dry day on Saturday in Western Australia for most, but then some showers reaching the South West Capes late in the day on Saturday.

Let’s go around the grounds now, starting with Queensland, where the first thing to pick out is the rain and possible thunderstorms through the Maranoa and Warrego, particularly around Charleville, maybe down towards Saint George as well. In the early morning on Saturday there could be heavy rain with this system here. So some spots through the day, both in the early morning and then continuing into the afternoon could see 100 to 150mm of rain if heavier storms develop over the same area a few times over through the day. Severe thunderstorms also on the forecast further north towards Longreach in the central west in the afternoon on Saturday near that trough system there. Meanwhile, on the east coast, quite cool, cloudy, showery conditions, Brisbane, a shower or two and a top of 23 degrees. Temperatures 4 to 8 degrees below average along the coast and right through this cloudy, rainy area of central Queensland as well.

Moving down to New South Wales and the ACT, see those below average temperatures continue along the east coast, particularly showery along the Northern Rivers, but showers continuing through Sydney and right down the coast as well. Some of that rain spills over the Queensland border in north western New South Wales, although the totals will be more modest as we get further south, particularly as these showers develop through the afternoon. Further south west, not too much in those. Warmer in southern New South Wales, including around the Riverina. You can see the temperatures getting up into the mid 20s there, and that’s a hint of what we’ll see in Victoria in the south eastern states, where they’re on the other side of that ridge of high pressure.

So northerly winds are seeing temperatures climb on Saturday and that will continue through Sunday and into next week as well. So Melbourne going for a mostly sunny top of 25 degrees and temperatures in the mid to high 20s right across Victoria. Beautiful day, plenty of sunshine, northerly winds, maybe a little bit of cloud and a couple of light showers through the Mallee in the afternoon, but nothing significant in those.

A beautiful day as well on the way for Tasmania. Temperatures well above average for this time of year. Hobart going for a sunny top of 24 degrees. Launceston 22 degrees. Quite fresh winds along the east coast in the afternoon as the northerly flow picks up there. But it’ll be a beautiful day overall for Tasmania.

Similar story for South Australia, with temperatures in the mid to high 20s pushing up into the 30s as you get further north. 27 mostly sunny for Adelaide, so again, northerly winds bringing that warm air down from the interior. Beautiful day. A couple of little showers around in the afternoon again in the far east, but again nothing significant in those.

Western Australia, a dry day for the most part. Perth going for a top of 24 degrees. So quite mild there. Much warmer inland, Kalgoorlie going for 37. You see that trough is dragging that hot air down from further inland. We’ll see some afternoon showers and storms with that trough about the south-east of the state, and then we’ll see some showers reach the South West Capes late in the day, in the evening, as you see that cold front nearing the coast there. That’ll cross quickly on Sunday, we’ll see that in a minute.

And for the Northern Territory, some showers and thunderstorms around most parts of the territory, although becoming more sparse and more isolated than what we’ve seen in recent days. There’s the chance of a shower and a storm around Darwin with the top of 35 degrees there.

And looking ahead to Sunday, as I said, it’s almost a carbon copy for many parts of the country on Sunday, with this high pressure system, you see it, it’s barely moved there between Saturday and Sunday. So still got those cool, showery conditions along the east coast, 23 for Brisbane, 22 for Sydney. Plenty of rain and some thunderstorms still through inland parts of Queensland, again with a risk of severe thunderstorms bringing particularly heavy rain. Dry and warm conditions still through Adelaide 29. Melbourne 25, Hobart 25 degrees, well above average again. Perth will see some early showers that will clear out and then a dry afternoon to follow with a top of 21. And Darwin could see some showers and a thunderstorm again on Sunday with a top of 34 degrees there.

That’s all we’ve got for you for now. Have a great weekend, particularly if you’re getting out and about into the sunshine across the south-east. Enjoy that. And you can always find the latest on our website, on our app, and follow us on our social media channels for more updates. Thank you. See you next time.