Cold southwest winds in the wake of the strong cold front of the weekend will continue to bring scattered shower activity today to Tasmania and southern parts of Victoria.
A strong high-pressure cell is centred over southwest Victoria and this system will move gradually northeast over the next 3 days, and by Thursday night should be located off the central coast of NSW. This will result in generally dry weather over east Australia over the next 4 days, apart from shower activity in coastal areas to the north of the high because of onshore winds.
Clear skies and light winds associated with the high will result in widespread frosts over Tasmania, southeast parts of South Australia, Victoria and NSW during this time. Severe frost warnings will be a likely consequence. Numerous inland locations, including Canberra, should experience at least 9 consecutive frosty mornings (including last Sunday and Monday) during this period.
The last time Canberra experienced 9 consecutive days of temperatures below zero in May was back in 1959. 11 would be an all time May record (since 1939 at Canberra Airport).
We have also experienced 21 consecutive dry days in Sydney – late April and all of May and if this continues for another 5 days, this will represent a record dry spell for May (since 1859).
A low-pressure trough is located near the southwest corner of SA and will generate showers and thunderstorms stretching back to the northwest over WA today.
The next cold front moving across the Bight will impact western Tasmania and southwest Victoria on Friday, and in the longer term the development of a trough over inland Queensland next Monday is expected to produce some inland rain for Queensland and northern NSW from Monday to Wednesday.