Hello. It's Angus here at the Bureau of Meteorology. I can't quite believe it, but we're already talking about the weather forecast for Friday, the 20th of February. And as the week does come to a close, it's a day where we expect to see quite an extensive risk of thunderstorms across our northern states, with the chance of some wet, stormy weather through much of northern and inland Queensland, almost the entirety of the Northern Territory, as well as the interior and the far north of Western Australia. Meanwhile, in the south, it's not one but two high pressure areas really controlling conditions down here, leading to settled sunny and warm weather for most of the southern states.

Friday ought to be a bright, sunny, warm day for south-east Queensland, Brisbane up to 30°C and really looking similar across the rest of the south-east coast. With that fine weather also extending inland through Toowoomba, out towards Roma and into the Maranoa Warrego region. Across the east coast could be a few showers from about the Capricornia northwards, but our risk of thunderstorms looks to be north of Mackay and that does mean we could see some storms bringing spells of heavy rain and potential flooding across the Townsville coastline up towards the north tropical coast and Cairns as well. That threat of wet, stormy weather also extends inland out through the far west of Queensland, where we may see severe thunderstorms bring pockets of heavy rain leading to road closures and flooding.

In New South Wales we anticipate a few showers about the mountains really from the Southern Tablelands up through the Blue Mountains, the Central and Northern Tablelands and also across to the western slopes and plains, and in fact up around these northern parts. A rumble or two of thunder is possible. From time to time 1 or 2 of the showers, which originate up in the mountains may drift out across the east coast, so that means the weather for Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle and anyone a little further north, mostly a fine day, just a slight chance of a quick shower, but it should bring less than 2mm.

A hot sunny day for Victoria. Temperatures back into the 30s for most of the state and we're looking upper 30s actually in some northern areas like Mildura and around the rest of the Mallee. Melbourne itself headed towards 32°C. The only thing which is going to stop it being clear blue skies all day is the chance of some morning low cloud or fog, particularly down here in the south. That'll burn away and then the blue sky will dominate.

And much of the day here will be blue skies and sunshine as well. Quite warm weather for the east coast, with 27°C in Hobart and 28°C in Swansea. As the day comes to a close, we expect some cloud to move in ahead of an approaching cold front, which will soon make its way onto the bottom of the map here. Just in the last few hours of Friday, doesn't even reach the mainland by Friday night, but will push a couple of showers onto the west and south of Tasmania heading into the weekend.

For South Australia, it will also be a warm and sunny day for Friday. Temperatures back into the low or mid 30s through many areas. Not much wind with that high pressure system sitting nearby. So calm, clear conditions across Adelaide. There's a chance of a shower or even a thunderstorm in the very far north or very far west of the state. But all of these areas ought to be staying dry.
Still seeing some heat around parts of southern WA, particularly inland.

Look at Northam in the Wheatbelt, up to 39°C, Kalgoorlie-Boulder not far behind at 37°C. It is a touch milder on the west coast as the wind will change around Perth, keeping their temperature at 32°C. It should be a dry, sunny day for most southern areas and really the same up in the north, although we'll see a few showers and thunderstorms over interior parts of the Pilbara, potentially around Newman, as well as the interior and up into the Kimberley.

And finally across Australia's north another day with this extensive chance of showers, storms and even some heavy rainfall. Now in between any clusters of wet and stormy weather that do develop, we expect some pretty good gaps of sunshine. So actually much of your day on Friday might be relatively clear and bright, but those showers could roll through particularly afternoon and evening, and when they do arrive, they may come with some fairly heavy falls. So do keep an eye on that, keep an eye out for any warnings that get issued if those thunderstorms do start bringing heavy rain. And of course, you can always find your latest forecast as well on the BOM website and weather app. Thanks so much for watching.