Monday 21 November 2022 03:23 AM 100km/h wind blasts strike Sydney, Melbourne: Urgent weather warning for ... trends now
Authorities have issued an urgent warning to millions of New South Wales and Victoria residents as damaging wind gusts of up to 100km/h lead to widespread havoc in Australia's south-east.
The State Emergency Services have advised residents through most of Victoria and the south of NSW to move their cars away from trees and secure loose items such as trampolines, umbrellas and outdoor furniture.
Powerful gusts led to a runway being shut down at Sydney Airport - with footage emerging of a plane wobbling as it touched down. Winds reached a peak of 98km/h at Nowra, on the NSW south coast, just after 9am on Monday.
A severe weather warning is in place for much of NSW, including the Illawarra, Riverina, and Snowy Mountains.
Meanwhile, Canberra and Melbourne are also copping damaging winds - with gusts of 107km/h reported at Wilsons Promontory, in Victoria's south.
This weather map shows the terrifying wind speeds (in purple) lashing large swathes of Australia's east coast on Monday
Passengers on Singapore Airlines flight SIA231 had a terrifying landing at Sydney Airport during 60km/h winds on Monday
Of the 617 requests for help NSW SES received statewide in the 24 hours up to 5am Monday, more than one third were from Sydney alone with the majority related to fallen trees.
Crews remained busy on Monday with the City of Sydney branch called out to several jobs involving fallen trees.
Damaging westerly winds averaging 50 to 70km/h with peak gusts in excess of 90km/h are likely across elevated parts and also eastwards to the coast and across the Goulburn region.
Damaging wind gusts in excess of 90 km/h are forecast for the alpine and Riverina areas on top of rain and thunderstorms.
'Winds are expected to moderate across much of the warning area during the evening, however the risk will persist over elevated terrain overnight,' the Bureau of Meteorology warned.
A severe weather warning of damaging winds is in place for much of NSW from the Central Coast right down to the Victoria border. Areas in yellow are in the firing line
Almost the entire state of Victoria (in yellow) is also in the firing line of damaging winds
Sydney was smashed by damaging winds for a second consecutive day on Monday (pictured City Sydney SES crews clearing fallen trees)
SES crews have been inundated with requests for assistance to clear fallen trees, including the heart of the CBD
It comes as Thredbo and Perisher shivered through sub-zero temperatures as fresh snow blanketed the ski resorts.
Australia's east coast continues to be smashed by extreme weather with everything from sub-zero temperatures and snow to severe heatwave conditions, damaging winds, hail and floods.
Brisbane and the Gold Coast are getting an early taste of summer in the coming days as temperatures surge well into the 30s.
The Queensland capital is expected to swelter through back-to-back days of 35C while a three-day severe heatwave warning has been issued for northern parts of the Sunshine State.
Maximum temperatures of up to 40C are forecast for Queensland's north for much of the next week.
It's a different story down south as ski resorts in Victoria's alpine region woke up to freezing conditions and fresh snow on Monday, just days out from the start of summer.
Elsewhere, the ongoing flood crisis in central-west and southern NSW is far from over as the towns of Deniliquin and Condobolin brace for the worst.
Meanwhile Sydneysiders had to hold onto their hats as damaging winds swept the city and parts of NSW, ripping up trees and tearing off roofs in parts of the city's west.
As a cold outbreak sweeps across south-eastern Australia (the coldest areas in blue), the country's north (in red) is sweltering through a heatwave
It's been a return to winter for parts of Australia with ski resorts across Victoria and southern NSW recording overnight temperatures as low as -5C.
The Mount Buller and Falls Creek resorts in Victoria shared incredible vision of fresh snow on Monday morning with 15-30cm of white power forecast for the rest of the day while another 5-10cm drop on Tuesday could be the last for 2022.
It's part of a cold outbreak sweeping across south-east Australia with Melbourne set to reach a top of 14C on Monday before it sees 27C-plus temperatures by the weekend.
A severe weather warning of damaging winds averaging 50 to 70 km/h with peak gusts up to 110 km/h was also issued statewide.
Wilsons Promontory, located south-east of Melbourne had winds of up to 107km/h on Monday morning.
'Winds are expected to moderate during this evening, although South Gippsland coastal locations will remain a risk
