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Almost all of Australia to be smashed with rain, storms and winds for 10 days

It’s set to be a sodden week for “virtually all parts of Australia” as forecasters warn a series of weather systems will batter almost the entire country for the next 10 days.

“We’ve got a low pressure system and a couple of troughs connected to that, that are crossing to the east,” Weatherzone Meteorologist Joel Pippard told Yahoo News Australia.

“So that’s going to bring rain and thunderstorms pretty much all the way from northeastern Queensland, so from around Townsville, all the way down south through Victoria.”

Several people travel inside a rescue boat through flood waters (left) and a four wheel drive is submerged in flood waters (right)
With a deluge of rain expected across Australia over the next few days, areas already hit by devastating floods, like in Western NSW, are bracing for the worst. Source: SES/NSW Police

Flood ravaged NSW braces for more rain

Already struck down by devastating floods that led to the death of a five-year-old boy on the weekend, NSW has been put on alert for further heavy rainfall, severe storms and damaging winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour.

Western parts of the state near the South Australian border will be the first in line for a drenching on Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

“Basically throughout all of Western NSW all the rivers have some flooding occurring along them, so we’ll definitely see some of those areas get more rain,” Mr Pippard said.

“It’s enough to exacerbate existing flooding but probably not heavy enough to cause new flooding.”

Sydney in line for record-breaking rainfall

While around 30 to 50 millimetres of rain is expected to fall on the NSW south coast over the next couple of days, Sydney is inching closer to breaking its wettest year on record.

The harbour city is about 120mm short of the annual rainfall record of 2,194 millimetres set in 1950.

“We probably won't crack it in the next 10 days, but it is possible,” Mr Pippard said.

“It really depends what that system next week does, because models show actually quite a lot of moisture coming with that one.

“I'd say roughly 40 to 80 millimetres over the next 10 days, so that record is not expected to be broken but certainly possible.

“It’s almost a certainty that we’ll crack it this year.”

Two people walk under umbrellas through Sydney's CBD.
Weatherzone says Sydney is likely to smash its annual rainfall record in 2022. Source: AAP

‘Significantly unseasonable rainfall’ for Western Australia

While the system on the east coast is typical of this time of year, with extra moisture added in thanks to La Nina, the west coast is headed for a freak rainfall event.

“We've got a very unusual system which will be coming up from the north and over central WA,” Mr Pippard said.

“So a lot of the desert areas of WA will be getting quite a bit of rain over the next couple of days.

“That's super unusual. Usually it's bone dry at this time of year.

The low pressure trough will hit northwest WA’s Kimberly and Pilbara districts early next week, two regions which usually don’t see any rainfall at this time of year.

“In Leinster, their monthly record is 25 mils and they're expecting about that on Thursday, so it's quite likely to be record-breaking in some parts of WA.”

Early October drenching for the Northern Territory

While the heart of the Top End wet season falls in midsummer and early autumn, Darwin is in line for an unexpected drenching.

“They start to get more rain at this time of year, but usually from thunderstorms and not so much from the rain that we're looking at, so I’d say that’s a bit unusual,” Mr Pippard explained.

He’s predicting 15 to 30 millimetres to fall over a two-day period.

Lighter conditions for Victoria

With the rest of the country preparing for a wild week, Melbourne is set to escape most of the rain.

Only five to 10mm of rain are forecast to fall in the city on Tuesday, while 10 to 25 is expected in the north and the ranges.

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