Cold southerly change bringing snow over the weekend

Today:
• Showers about the west and north, increasing during the afternoon then extending statewide in the evening. Locally fresh and gusty northwesterly winds.
• A Minor Flood Warning is current for the River Derwent, and a Flood Watch may be issued today for other catchments.
• Rainfall for today 20-30 mm into the west, 5-15 mm across the north and central areas, less than 5 mm southern districts.
• Northwesterly across the state later today and strengthen ahead of a cold front that crosses the state tonight. Wind gusts reaching 80-90km/h across the north and east are possible tonight into Saturday morning.
• Saturated soils in northern and western Tasmania may make trees more susceptible to falling in strong winds.
• High tides continue across the north over the next couple of days with fresh and gusty onshore winds increasing the predicted tide height by 20-30cm. Predicted high tide on Friday is 3.50m at 4.31pm (Devonport). See http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/tides/#!/tas for predicted tide heights across Tasmania.
• Marine wind warnings are current for coastal waters and the lakes.

Saturday onwards:
• A west to northwest flow across the state as the cold front moves into the Tasman Sea during Saturday morning and a trough crosses the state during the day.
• Southerly change overnight on Saturday with the colder air crossing the state in the afternoon. Snowfalls lowering to around 500m Saturday evening and then to 300m in the southwest and far south during Sunday (400m remaining south).
• The snowline lifts to around 800m on Monday.
• Minor Flood Warning likely to continue over the weekend due to expected rainfall.
• Rainfall totals for Saturday are 10-20mm into the west, 5-10mm into the northeast and less than 5mm elsewhere.
• Winds continue to be fresh and gusty into next week with wind gusts on Sunday over northwest and coastal areas in the west, south and east reaching 80-90km/h. Wind gusts across the north on Sunday reaching 70-80km/h.
• Marine wind warnings are current for coastal waters and the lakes.
• Warnings are updated daily at: www.bom.gov.au/tas/warnings/.
David Matthews Bureau of Meteorology