A powerful cold front has smashed Tasmania with destructive winds, recording a peak gust of 154km/h at Maatsuyker Island this morning, as more than 20,000 homes and businesses remain without power.
The Bureau of Meteorology clocked the extreme gust at 10:41am on Friday, as a frontal system swept east across the state, bringing widespread damaging winds and thunderstorms.
Scotts Peak recorded winds of 139km/h at 7:41am, while the Hartz Mountains clocked 126km/h at 10:35am.
Gusts topping 100km/h have been reported across multiple locations since early morning.
Cape Grim on the state’s north-west tip recorded 122km/h at 6:51am, Launceston a gust of 109km/h at 7:44am and Devonport 101km/h at 6:34am.
Wynyard hit 102km/h at 5:34am and Strahan airport reached 104km/h at 5:47am.
The bureau has issued a severe weather warning for damaging to locally destructive winds across most of the state.
For Hobart, Launceston and surrounding areas, winds averaging 55 to 65km/h, with gusts around 100km/h, are expected through the day.
Elevated and exposed areas could see winds averaging 70 to 80km/h with peak gusts around 120km/h.
The system has already caused widespread damage, with fallen trees and powerlines reported across Tasmania.
TasNetworks says more than 20,000 customers are without power following over 40 separate outages, mostly in the north-west.
The five largest outages alone have left 10,612 homes and businesses in the dark.
TasNetworks has deployed 30 crews and brought in 20 contractors to help restore power, cancelling all planned maintenance work to focus on repairs.
“We currently expect customers affected by the most complex, isolated and inaccessible outages to be without power for at least 72 hours,” the utility said.
“Please prepare now for that scenario.”
TasNetworks said crews remain committed but can only work when conditions are safe.
