Thunderstorm activity widespread across ACT, South East, Riverina and here to stay, says BOM

Rain is on its way for the next few days across the region. Photo: Romolo Tavani.

Thunderstorms hovering across the South East, ACT and Riverina are here to stay for the next few days, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

A Bureau spokesperson described the system as relatively weak, undefined and fairly slow moving, leading to possibly widespread rain that will last through until the weekend.

“This is a very stationary trough situated from western NSW through to Victoria,” they said. “It’s not well defined, and that is allowing moisture from the tropics to feed into warm air and create a broad area of thunderstorms.”

Some of those storms may have a significant impact because of the system’s structure: a slow-moving storm will dump its contents in a specific place rather than being more widely dispersed. While the Bureau says rain totals over the next few days will only be in the range of 20 mm, some areas could experience this as a single heavy fall.

“There’s a lot of moisture in the atmosphere and as that’s being released, it could definitely be problematic for some people,” the BOM duty forecaster said.

“It may not be much all up, but concentrated falls around the mountains and further south around the Victorian border have the potential for quite a significant impact.

“Those thunderstorms are currently hanging off the southern ACT and around the Snowys, but we can expect some thunderstorm activity dispersed across the whole region, including the South West Slopes and stretching further north and south before the system clears.”

The storm systems are not expected to begin moving until Friday.

“Heavier rainfall is still likely today and tomorrow across the Riverina and South West Slopes, but we are not expecting the storm environment to ease for several days. The likelihood of storms will ease but the system won’t completely clear until Monday,” the spokesperson said.

“The situation won’t change until another cold air system from the South West begins to shift the current trough to the north east.”

The NSW SES 132500 phone line remains operational and is able to receive calls in the case of emergencies. Optus customers may be unable to connect while their network is impacted.

For advice on how to plan and prepare for storms and flooding, visit the NSW SES website.

Original Article published by Genevieve Jacobs on Riotact.