As we head into the weekend, widespread rain and thunderstorms are forecast across central and south-east Australia as tropical moisture pours down from the north of the country.

First, let's have a look at the context of this rainfall and it has been an incredibly dry year to date across much of the country. This map shows the rainfall deciles for January and the red shades show where we have seen below average to very much below average rainfall, all the way from Western Australia through Central Australia and down into the far south-east of the country, but there are a few regions worth pointing out.

First Central Australia, we have seen through southern NT, western parts of New South Wales and inland South Australia less than ten millimeters so far this year and in some cases less than two millimeters.

Further south, though, western Victoria and eastern South Australia have seen no rainfall at all.

And so just how much rainfall are we expecting? Well, this map shows the total forecast rainfall out to Tuesday evening, and for many people, this rain will be very welcome indeed. But there are a few things to note about this map.

First, this is just one forecast scenario and the forecast will be updated and change in the coming days. We are also looking at a number of weather systems, in particular a tropical cyclone which is forecast to develop off the Pilbara coast this weekend and for more information on that system, we will have a dedicated Severe Weather Update video and that will be available on our channels later on Friday afternoon.

But we can see, with that tropical cyclone, we are expecting to see rain pushing down across the west coast of Western Australia into the weekend. Areas of focus further away look to be across central Australia, particularly through southern parts of NT and inland South Australia, where we could see rainfall totals of between 50 to 150mm.

However, across southern parts of South Australia and western Victoria, they look to be on the outer band of that rainfall. And also rainfall is forecast further east towards eastern and south-eastern parts of New South Wales.

So ahead of that rainfall, we have already issued a Severe Weather Warning for heavy rainfall that covers northern parts of South Australia and into western New South Wales, with six hourly rainfall totals on Saturday between 20 to 50mm.

We could even see isolated severe thunderstorms within that area, delivering even higher rainfall totals, which could lead to flash flooding, and that rainfall is expected to last for much of the weekend.

More broadly, though, for the rest of Australia, on Friday, we are forecasting widespread thunderstorms all the way from the Kimberley through central Australia and down into New South Wales, and these areas in yellow show where we could see severe thunderstorms and where Severe Thunderstorm Warnings could be issued.

For central Australia, the main risk will be with heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding, but across New South Wales we are forecasting the possibility of severe thunderstorms about the Blue Mountains and up towards the Hunter. And through this part of the country we could see heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hail during Friday afternoon as well as the evening.

Now moving on to the weekend, and on Saturday we see the areas of thunderstorm expand significantly all the way from that tropical cyclone or low off the Pilbara coast and again through Central Australia and down even deeper into parts of South Australia and northern Victoria and again to eastern New South Wales.

Again through central parts of the country the main risk will be with heavy rainfall, but across the east coast we could also see heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail yet again and we do have this area in red where severe thunderstorms are likely and that does coincide with that Severe Weather Warning area.

On Sunday, we do see the storms push further into the south-east of the country, including for Tasmania, as well through Victoria and southern parts of New South Wales, and just zooming in across the far south-east of the country we can see that thunderstorms are possible for Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and also Sydney, and this area in yellow shows where severe thunderstorms are possible, even encroaching into parts of the outer suburbs of Melbourne, and that could bring heavy rainfall, damaging winds as well as large hail.

So with the potential for heavy rain and severe thunderstorms for large parts of Australia this weekend, do make sure you have the latest information and warnings, you can get that on our website and app, follow us on social media and, as always, please stay safe.