Tasmania is in for warm and windy conditions this weekend, with high fire danger warnings in place across much of the state.
Senior Meteorologist Simon Louis said the warmest day will be Saturday, as temperatures are expected to reach the low 30s in Launceston, Hobart and the West Coast.
“With the warmer conditions we’ll see freshening northerly winds throughout Saturday as a cold front approaches and then during the course of Saturday night and into Sunday we’ll see the winds shift around to the west as that front crosses the state,” he said.
“The winds will remain fresh and gusty and although the temperatures won’t be quite as high on Sunday with those winds there, that will keep the fire danger high.”
The Bureau of Meteorology expects rain to accompany the front across the west of the state on Sunday.
“We’ll see total falls around 5 to 15mm with those showers, so while that may help a little it’s unlikely to be enough to make a significant impact on such big fires,” he said.
“There is the risk of thunderstorms on Sunday, it’s most likely in the north of the state early on Sunday and then we could see some developing in the southwest during the evening.”
“As always with thunderstorms and showers there are the chances that you get lightning strikes away from the rain and so that’s something that we’ll be carefully monitoring across the weekend.”
