The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that abnormally high tides may flood low-lying coastal areas of Victoria and southern Tasmania on Sunday, as a cold front crosses the southeast and a strong westerly airstream builds behind it.
The Victorian coastal hazard warning, issued at 11.34am on Saturday, covers the coast between Phillip Island and Hicks Point. The Bureau says sea water flooding of low-lying areas is possible, and that "tides are likely to rise well above the normal high tide mark during Sunday evening high tide". Phillip Island, Inverloch, Port Albert and Lakes Entrance are named.
Tasmania's warning, issued at 10.57am, is worded more strongly. The Bureau says flooding is likely, not possible, between Southport and Tasman Island. Hobart, Huonville, Geeveston, Dover, Dodges Ferry and Lauderdale are named.
The system behind it is a low passing south of Tasmania with a cold front trailing from it. The Bureau's Victorian forecast has the front reaching central districts on Saturday evening and clearing eastern Victoria early on Sunday, with a cool westerly airstream and further embedded troughs crossing southern Victoria at times through to Tuesday. Tasmania has three fronts coming, on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday, with the Monday system bringing what the Bureau calls a much colder airstream.
Severe weather warnings for damaging winds are current in the alpine areas of both New South Wales and Victoria. In New South Wales, above 1900 metres, the Bureau expects winds averaging 80 to 90 km/h with peak gusts up to 110 km/h from Saturday evening, easing on Sunday morning. Thredbo Top Station is named. In Victoria, above 1500 metres, it expects average winds of 60 to 70 km/h with gusts around 100 km/h from late Saturday afternoon, easing during Sunday morning before strengthening again in the afternoon. Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and Mount Buller are named.
Snow is forecast above 1400 metres in New South Wales on Saturday, dropping to 1000 metres on Sunday. In central Victoria the snow level falls from 1000 metres to 900 metres. The Bureau has not published a snowfall accumulation figure for this event. Alpine minimums on Sunday range from minus 5 at Mount Hotham to 1 degree at Mount Buller.
Sheep graziers warnings are current across parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, with the Bureau warning of a risk of losses to lambs and sheep exposed to the cold, rain and westerly winds.
Flooding so far is minor and left over from the previous system. The Kiewa River at Bandiana was at 2.87 metres and steady on Friday, above the 2.80 metre minor flood level, and the Bureau expects it to stay there over the weekend. Minor flood warnings are also current for the King River and Fifteen Mile Creek, and for the Murray.
Nothing significant has happened yet. As of Saturday afternoon VicEmergency had logged four trees down and one rescue, its highest alert level for this event was Advice, and Powercor and TasNetworks were both reporting no outages. No emergency has been declared and no evacuation ordered.
Sunday brings 14 degrees and showers to Melbourne, 11 and showers to Hobart, and a minimum of 1 with a top of 9 in Canberra. The Bureau will reissue both alpine wind warnings by 5pm Saturday. The tide to watch is Sunday evening.
