A cold front drove damaging winds and blizzard conditions across the Victorian and New South Wales high country on Thursday, with the Bureau of Meteorology holding severe weather warnings across the south-east.
The Bureau issued its Victorian warning, product IDV21037, at 10:41am AEST on Thursday for parts of the East Gippsland, North East, and West and South Gippsland districts. Over the ranges above 1200 metres it forecast damaging winds averaging 60 to 70km/h with peak gusts around 110km/h through Thursday, and blizzard conditions from the evening.
The overnight observations ran higher on the peaks. The Bureau recorded a gust of 117km/h at Mount Hotham late on Wednesday, 109km/h at Mount Buller, and 107km/h at Falls Creek early on Thursday, with average wind speeds above 80km/h at each.
Across the border the Bureau ran a second warning, IDN21037, reissued mid-morning Thursday for the Snowy Mountains, Southern Tablelands, the ACT, the South West Slopes, the Illawarra and the South Coast. It warned of gusts above 125km/h over the highest alpine areas, above 1900 metres, and blizzards possible overnight into Friday. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service advised people to postpone back-country travel.
The same front had crossed South Australia a day earlier, bringing damaging winds near 90km/h to the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas, Kangaroo Island and the coastal south-east under a Bureau warning issued on Wednesday afternoon.
Rain from the system kept a flood watch current for parts of North East and Central Victoria, with minor to moderate flooding possible across the Upper Murray, Ovens, King, Broken and Goulburn catchments and a minor flood warning on the Goulburn River, the tail of a wet week across the state's north-east.
The Bureau expected the alpine winds and blizzard to ease on Friday morning. It said it would update the Victorian warning by 5pm AEST on Thursday, and warnings across the south-east were being reissued through the day as the front moved through.
