Blizzard conditions are on their way for large parts of New South Wales and Victoria’s alpine areas as a “vigorous” cold front brings cold showers, strong winds and frigid temperatures, while South Australia has been hit by torrential rain.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe weather warnings for damaging wind gusts and blizzard conditions for southern NSW and across much of Victoria, with peaks gusts of up to 130km/h likely over Alpine areas.
In Victoria, blizzard conditions were forecast over Alpine areas above 1,400m, dropping to 1,000m later on Sunday, with Warrnambool, Maryborough, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh all potentially affected.
An earlier warning said that damaging winds could also be expected across southern coastal areas, with central areas forecast to face damaging wind gusts in excess of 90km/h.