Severe thunderstorms forecast to hit south-eastern Australia as hot and humid weather takes hold
A storm dumped 24 millimetres of rain over Melbourne last week. (Supplied: Amruta Wazalwar)
Thunderstorms are likely to hit Australia's south-east over the weekend as "very humid" weather normally felt in the Far North takes hold, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warns.
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said thunderstorms would develop on Friday afternoon in Victoria and northern Tasmania, as well as large parts of South Australia and New South Wales.
He said the change in weather across south-eastern states was primarily driven by hot and humid conditions.
Dew points — which are a measure of how much moisture is in the air — were forecast to rise above 20 degrees in parts of South Australia, Victoria and NSW.
"Those values are normally reserved for the Far North," Mr Hines said.
"Through the next few days, it's going to feel more like a stretch of weather in Darwin than what you're used to down here."
"Very warm, very, very humid — and that is fuelling thunderstorm development."
Mr Hines said severe thunderstorms were possible around Adelaide and much of South Australia, as well as north-western parts of Melbourne and western Victoria.
There's also a chance of severe thunderstorms developing in the north-east and south-west of NSW.
Heavy falls in NSW and Victoria
BOM forecasts these thunderstorms are likely to bring "patchy" rainfall and flash flooding across large parts of the south-east.
"This is quite a typical signal that you'd see on a stormy outbreak — it's not consistent wet weather everywhere," Mr Hines said.
He said NSW and northern Victoria were likely to accumulate the most rainfall over the weekend.
"As these storms come and go over the next few afternoons, flash flooding is definitely possible," he said.
"That could lead to dangerous driving conditions, and strong winds with some of these storms could damage trees and bring power outages with fallen power lines."
Heatwave warnings
(Supplied: BOM)
Meanwhile, warm weather was likely to continue in many parts of Australia over the weekend, according to the BOM.
Temperatures were expected to be up to 12 degree Celsius above average in parts of South Australia and Victoria, and at least 2 degrees Celsius above average in most other areas.
A three-day heatwave across the weekend was expected in northern Western Australia and parts of NSW and Queensland.
Temperatures are forecast to climb as high as the mid-40s in WA's Pilbara and Gascoyne regions.