Wild weather lashing Australia’s east coast brings a MONTH’S worth of rain in just 24 hours

A month’s worth of rain fell in parts of Victoria overnight as the east coast of Australia continues to suffer through unseasonably dreary weather.

Although the monster downfall has largely subsided, thunderstorms remain a possibility for Sydney and other parts of New South Wales with further fall are also tipped for the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania over the weekend.

As the grey, rainy conditions continue, Western Australia is predicted to see a sweltering heat wave over the next few days with the mercury rising into the high 30s.

A month’s worth of rain fell in parts of Victoria overnight as the east coast of Australia continues to suffer through unseasonably dreary weather. Pictured: A radar map of the weather hitting Australia

Pictured: A couple huddled beneath an umbrella to stay dry in Melbourne

A man is captured riding his bike through flood water after heavy falls in Melbourne

A huge band of thunderstorms dragging in tropical moisture from the northwest of Australia rolled in across Melbourne overnight.

‘There was rainfall between 40 to 50mm across the city in the past 24 hours to 9am, with the CBD seeing the highest rainfall in 11 months and the airport recording the highest January rainfall in 26 years,’ Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke told Daily Mail.

He said in some parts of northeastern Victoria they saw falls well over 100mm overnight – more than a month’s worth of rain in a single day.

‘Seven creeks recorded 144mm or three times the Jan average, and many other areas saw similar falls,’ Mr Dutschke said.

At the moment it has dried out over Tasmania and central Victoria but showers and thunderstorms remain possible for parts of NSW, the ACT and other areas of Victoria over the weekend.

Southeast Queensland could also be hit with rain on Saturday and in the next few days.

A huge band of thunderstorms dragging in tropical moisture from the northwest of Australia rolled in across Melbourne overnight. Pictured: A vehicle drives through flood waters in Melbourne

‘There was rainfall between 40 to 50mm across the city in the past 24 hours to 9am,’ Mr Dutschke said

‘Thunderstorms are a chance today in Sydney and in the morning tomorrow,’ Mr Dutschke said.

On Tuesday a large storm system is also set to move in across Sydney and other parts of NSW.

Mr Dutschke said the unusually cold and rainy weather is due to changing climate cycles.

‘We’ve got high amounts of humidity that have been building over the past few days and that high humidity is mostly because we are in La Nina,’ he said.

‘We’ve also had slow moving low pressure troughs so that moisture has been translated into heavy showers and thunderstorms.’

According to the The Bureau of Meteorology, La Nina weather patterns occur when equatorial trade winds become stronger, changing ocean surface currents and drawing cooler deep water up from below.

When this happens warm surface water piles up in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, where the Top End of Australia sits. 

Steady rain and dark clouds are seen at Melbourne Park on January 29, 2021

A person with an umbrella walks by Melbourne Park as pours down over the tennis venue

Pictured: Tennis equipment is loaded onto a bus outside of the Grand Hyatt Melbourne hotel in Melbourne, Friday, January 29, 2021

‘The warming of ocean temperatures in the western Pacific means the area becomes more favourable for rising air, cloud development and rainfall,’ BoM says on their website

This means wetter weather, cooler days, warmer nights and heightened risk of cyclones.

While the east coast battles through the drizzly weather, Western Australians are bracing for a heatwave set to reach temperatures into the high 30s.

Perth is set to reach 35C this weekend with wind gusts of up to 70km/h.

Adelaide will stay mostly dry with temperatures around 25C and Darwin will hit 30C with tropical thunderstorms forecast overnight.

Streets in Melbourne were inundated by heavy rain overnight causing floods

Mr Dutschke said the unusually cold and rainy weather is due to La Nina weather cycles