The Kiewa River at Bandiana, on the eastern edge of Wodonga, was at 2.90 metres and steady at 11am on Tuesday, 10 centimetres above the minor flood level, and the Bureau of Meteorology expects it to stay above that mark "for the next few days". The warning, issued at 11.28am AEST, is one of two minor flood warnings still current after the cold fronts that crossed south-eastern Australia from Friday, and it says no significant rain is forecast for the rest of the week. The other, for the Murray at Barham, had the river at 5.57 metres and falling slowly at 3pm on Monday, with the bureau expecting it to drop below its 5.50 metre minor level overnight.
Upstream at Kiewa, the river channel was 3.34 metres and falling, and may drop below its 3.30 metre minor level overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Bandiana peaked at 2.96 metres at about 9.30am on Sunday. The bureau attributes the rises to "moderate to heavy rainfall observed across the Kiewa River catchment since Friday evening". VicEmergency carries the warning at its lowest tier, Advice, with the next update due at 1pm on Wednesday.
The Ovens at Wangaratta came within 10 centimetres of minor flooding, peaking at 11.80 metres at about 7.15pm on Monday against a minor level of 11.90 metres, and the bureau issued its final warning for the river at 10.14am on Tuesday. In Tasmania the North Esk at Corra Linn peaked at 2.82 metres early on Sunday, 12 centimetres into minor flood, and its final warning was issued on Monday morning.
The bureau's weekly rainfall summary, issued on Monday, puts the heaviest total at Mount Read on Tasmania's west coast, with 159.6 millimetres for the week, and the heaviest single day at Perisher Valley in the Snowy Mountains, where 80.8 millimetres fell in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday. "Falls greater than 50 mm were recorded in western Tasmania and alpine regions of Victoria and New South Wales," the summary says.
Behind the fronts came cold, clear air. Perisher Valley recorded minus 5.5C at 6.30am on Tuesday and Thredbo Top Station minus 5.4C. In Victoria, Falls Creek fell to minus 4.3C and Mount Hotham to minus 4.0C. On the plains, Westmere in the Western District reached minus 1.7C, Casterton and Mortlake minus 1.0C and Horsham minus 0.3C, under a frost warning the bureau issued at 11.32pm on Monday for six Victorian districts forecasting "temperatures down to -1 degrees". Melbourne's 6.1C was its coldest morning of the month so far. No further frost warnings will be issued for this event. A warning to sheep graziers in the Snowy Mountains, issued at 10.55am on Tuesday, says cold temperatures, showers and south-westerly winds on Wednesday bring "a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions".
The next system is already on the marine charts. At 10am the bureau cancelled its wind warnings for the Hunter, Sydney and Illawarra coasts for Tuesday, but issued a gale warning for the Eden coast on Wednesday and strong wind warnings from Coffs Harbour to Batemans Bay, including Sydney's enclosed waters. Gale warnings are current for Tasmania's south-east and south-west coasts, extending to the lower east coast on Wednesday, and strong wind warnings cover all Victorian coastal waters, with Port Phillip and Western Port added on Wednesday. No severe weather, thunderstorm, fire or heatwave warning is current anywhere in Australia.
In Sydney, the 6.2 millimetres that fell to 9am on Tuesday was the first rain of the month, three days after the city's 32.1C Saturday and the westerly change that took power from 62,256 Endeavour Energy customers. The distributor's last update, at 4pm on Monday, said 769 customers were still without supply, with repair crews concentrated at Mount Tomah, Bilpin, the Bells Line of Road and the lower Blue Mountains. Brisbane, which reached 34.5C on Sunday, has had no rain at all this month. Its mean maximum for September so far is 28.4C against a long-term average of 25.7C.
Both Victorian flood warnings issued on Tuesday carried a note that "due to a technical issue, the Flood Warning Number is the same as the previous Flood Warning", and the bureau's web pages carry an outage banner saying some radar data, warnings and observations are unavailable. Archived copies of the same pages show an outage notice in place since at least 18 July. The bureau has not published an explanation, and there is no sign that any warning was missed.
The bureau's next Kiewa warning is due by noon on Wednesday, and its next Barham update by 1pm the same day.
