Hello from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Thank you for joining me here for the National Weather Forecast, where we are going to take a deep dive around the country, check out the weather elements which will be impacting us for Wednesday, which will be the 21st of January, and our rainfall areas on Wednesday, relatively few and far between actually.

We will certainly have some rain across Tasmania, with this weak cold front swinging through. We'll also have some storms over inland parts of Queensland during the day on Wednesday, and of course across our tropical north some showers and thunderstorms, which is all pretty typical for this time of year.

So for the state-by-state breakdown, we'll start in the north-east, and there will be inland storms across Queensland, mostly west of about Emerald in the Central Highlands. That means spots like Longreach and Roma, and communities in and around those areas, certainly could see some afternoon thunderstorms, some rain, and perhaps some damaging wind gusts that could push right up to the north-west as well, in and around the Mount Isa area.

Across the east coast, it will be a relatively fine day with minimal rainfall, a couple of light showers possible around Brisbane and the south-east. While it will be a fine day in Rockhampton, flood waters along the Fitzroy River are expected to peak on Thursday morning, so take care there, and then hopefully later in the week those flood waters starting to subside.

A bright sunny day expected throughout New South Wales on Wednesday. There will be a light southerly wind and all that really does is just keep a bit of a lid on the temperatures, particularly across the east coast. Wollongong one of the cool spots with a high of just 23 °C, Sydney does a few degrees better at 26 °C.

Warmer inland, Canberra heading for a lovely 30 °C afternoon, and that will be surrounded by 33 °C to 34 °C temperatures as well. A couple of showers possible way up in the far north, but minimal, if any, rainfall elsewhere.

We do expect to see cooler temperatures across Victoria on Wednesday compared to earlier on in the week, particularly the southern half of the state. We do see those temperatures are in the lower half of the 20s about Melbourne and then down on southern areas. In the northern half of Victoria, a sunny day and temperatures in that 30 °C to 35 °C range for most areas.

A couple of showers could also pepper southern areas too, particularly along the south-west coast from the South Australian border, through Warrnambool, around to the Surf Coast, and couldn't rule out a few light showers around Melbourne and parts of Gippsland as well.

Now it will be a bright morning in Tasmania, but clouding over throughout the morning, with some rain on the way from around about midday onwards as this cold front reaches and then crosses the state. Most areas will get at least a brief spell of rain during the afternoon or evening as this cold front sweeps through, but we could actually see some slightly heavier showers across the north-eastern corner, really looking Launceston across to around St Helens, down to Swansea, maybe down to Maria Island.

So it's this corner of the state where we could see some slightly more persistent and heavier rainfall. Outside of that area, it will just be quite light, including across Hobart.

A cloudy morning across the south coast of South Australia, really all the way from Mount Gambier across to Ceduna. We could even see a little shower across the Mount Gambier coast, potentially around the Robe area or other spots down there.

The cloud will clear up for the most part, a pretty sunny afternoon, and temperatures are honestly quite modest for this time of year, a little below average in many areas. It will be a sunny but breezy day across the northern agricultural and pastoral areas.

A very hot day is expected across Western Australia, especially the west coast. We see temperatures as high as 45 °C around Carnarvon, 44 °C around Geraldton, high thirties to low forties in and around the Perth area too.

And notice this wind symbol here in Geraldton. It's going to be quite windy across this west coast, and a combination of hot, sunny, windy weather is leading to Extreme Fire Danger from Geraldton down to the Perth Hills on Wednesday. So certainly some caution and care required with the outdoor activities in that part of the state.

It will be very hot through the Gascoyne and the Pilbara, with temperatures into the mid forties at least for some areas, and minimal rainfall expected across the state. Maybe a light drop in the Eucla.

Across northern Australia, we will see a few showers and storms for the Top End and the Kimberley, but really it's all very standard stuff for the wet season. Nothing out of the ordinary, and only modest rainfall totals are expected even once those showers and thunderstorms do get going.

The southern half of the Territory and most of inland WA will have a dry and pretty warm day, although not as hot as it has been earlier this week.

You can always find up-to-date weather information through the Bureau's website or app, but thanks for watching.