Australia weather: Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne to see storms on grand final weekend

In fact, it’s expected to be a wild and wet grand final weekend with severe storms, damaging winds, hail and flash flooding all forecast across Australia’s eastern states.

A low pressure system moving east through South Australia is set to link up with moisture in the atmosphere to cause widespread rain and storms along the east coast from Friday onwards, including in Brisbane and Sydney.

The storms are likely to hit western NSW by Friday before moving east and causing widespread rain throughout the southeast inland areas and along the coast by Saturday.

Widespread falls of between 30 to 50mm are expected from Friday through until Sunday along the east coast from Melbourne to central Queensland, and some areas could see up to 150mm if hit by intense thunderstorms.

Up to 15mm of rain is expected to fall in Sydney on Sunday where the Panthers and Storm, and the Broncos and Roosters, will battle it out in NRL men’s and women’s grand finals.

Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders said it was looking increasingly likely that the AFL decider on Saturday night in Brisbane would be hit by storms.

“We’re expecting severe storms, squall lines with heavy falls, but also damaging winds and flash flooding,” Mr Saunders said.

“Some areas will see their heaviest rain in months, potentially we could see the heaviest rain since earlier this year for many parts of eastern Australia.”

The rain is expected to hang around until early next week, with Sydney forecast to receive up to 8mm of rain and storms on Saturday, up to 15mm on Sunday and as much as 20mm on Monday.

“It will be a huge weekend of rain and it will last until the early part of next week,” he said.

“Monday and Tuesday we’re still expecting fairly widespread showers and storms up and down the eastern seaboard.”

Up to 25mm and storms has been forecast for Brisbane on Sunday, with 25mm and storms also expected on Monday.

Melbourne is set for a slightly quieter weekend, with a possible storm and rain up to 10mm on Friday and up to 20mm and cold winds possible on Saturday.

Weather bureau meteorologist Jonathon How said it would be a “multistate thunderstorm outbreak” peaking on Friday and Saturday in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

“Friday is shaping up to be the peak day across eastern Australia and we’ll see widespread storms, likely severe in some parts,” he said.

Mr How said heavy rainfall and large hail could also damage crops on the eve of harvest season, while flooding could become a risk with many catchments already saturated from previous rain events.

Minor flooding is already occurring along the Kiewa River downstream of Mongans Bridge in northeast Victoria, with more flood warnings likely to be issued in all three states across the weekend.

jack.paynter@news.com.au