Current at 2:00pm AEDT on Sunday 27 March 2022
Today, for the northern New South Wales coast, and parts of the Northern Tablelands, north of and including Forster, occasional showers and thunderstorms may result in heavy rainfall. To the south, thunderstorms and showers may produce bursts of rainfall, though rainfall totals are expected to remain below severe thresholds.
From tonight or tomorrow, a deepening coastal trough off the south-east Queensland coast will increase the frequency of showers along the northern New South Wales coast. Heavy falls are possible over the Mid North Coast, Northern Rivers and parts of the Northern Tablelands forecast districts. A Severe Weather Warning and a Flood Watch are current.
With catchments in northern NSW already saturated, rivers, streams and creeks will respond quickly to any heavy, short duration rainfall and are at risk of potential flash flooding over the coming days. There is also potential for landslides.
The localised flooding seen over the past week will likely become more pronounced with riverine flooding from the Mid North Coast through to the Northern Rivers, Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains.
There have been high rainfall totals from showers and thunderstorms across northern New South Wales in recent days. Most of the coast north of Newcastle recorded around 100mm or more in the past week. Some of the higher rainfall totals included Wauchope (near Port Macquarie) that received around 180mm on Friday and Alstonville (near Lismore) that received around 200mm on Saturday.
The Bureau is recommending communities along the northern coast stay up to date with the latest Bureau warnings through the Bureau’s website (www.bom.gov.au/nsw/warnings) and BOM Weather app and follow the advice of emergency services.
