A vigorous cold front and associated troughs are set to sweep across southeast Australia late this week, bringing a round of severe thunderstorms before a sharp transition to wintry conditions into the weekend. 

Ahead of the front, a prefrontal trough will move across southeast Australia on Thursday 9th, helping to spark severe thunderstorms across parts of southern SA, Vic and southern NSW. With strong winds aloft, these storms are likely to produce damaging wind gusts, with a chance of destructive winds in some areas. Independent of thunderstorms, a tightening pressure gradient will bring strong northerly to northwesterly winds, with gusts exceeding 80 km/h over elevated terrain, and reaching 90-100 km/h over the ranges of Vic, alpine regions and parts of Tas. 

After the cold front crosses later on Thursday, a much colder airmass will sweep across the southeast on Friday 10th, with a secondary trough and low driving a noticeable shift to wintry conditions into the weekend. Conditions will become increasingly windy, with gusts potentially exceeding 100 km/h across exposed and elevated areas

Image: Access-G 10m wind gusts for 10am EST Friday 10th April 2026. 

As colder air deepens across the region, snow may fall as low as around 600 metres in parts of Tas, while the odd flurry may extend into the Victorian ranges above 1000 metres if the cold air pushes far enough north. Cold air thunderstorms with small hail are also possible, marking a notable early-season wintry outbreak for April across southeast Australia.

Image: ECMWF precipitation type for 7am EST Saturday 11th April 2026.