Heatwave temps plummet as winds and hail roll in
Australia's east coast has sweltered through one of its hottest days of summer, topped off with an evening hail and thunderstorm.
Weather
There's heatwave alerts for most of Australia while forecast dry lightening has sparked fears of "uncontrollable" fires on the final day of the long weekend.
A man is dead and several others have been left injured, with crews working to address storm damage and restore power following a severe storm.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for large hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rainfall, moving towards the east of the ACT.
Weather
Wild weather slams tennis, as fans brace for more rain
A sudden downpour wreaked havoc on the roads and caused chaos at the Australian Open, as storms lashed eastern Australia with more wild weather still to come.
Weather
Heatwave scorching vast swathe of Australia
Multiple states and territories are sweltering through a summer heatwave, while some of the eastern states can expect a wet weekend.
Weather
States on fire alert amid extreme heat and gusty winds
Heatwave conditions across large swathes of eastern Australian have prompted extreme fire danger ratings, with people urged to vigilantly monitor conditions.
More than 100 interstate personnel are headed to Victoria, where blazes have been burning for days, to help manage forecast catastrophic fire conditions.
Threats of floods, storms, bushfires and heatwaves are making summer holidays difficult to plan and navigate for tourists.
Australia's bushfire season is off to a worrying start with out-of-control blazes burning in multiple states and a barrage of high temperatures incoming.
It may be the hottest day of the year for one state as others prepare for extreme fire danger with a heatwave bearing down at the start of summer.
Canberra has been issued with a severe heatwave warning from Saturday, December 14 to Tuesday, December 17.
Widespread thunderstorms are forecast to develop on Sunday and Monday over the ACT and a large area of southern NSW.
Wild weather is set to continue across large tracts of the nation into the weekend as a huge weather system makes its way eastward.
A severe thunderstorm brought heavy rain that caused ceilings in businesses to collapse and hail that coated the ground like snow north of Brisbane.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds has been issued from the Victorian border north to Newcastle and inland to the Snowy Mountains and the ACT.
At its late morning update the Bureau of Meteorology has affirmed its earlier severe weather warning for damaging winds across the ACT on Monday.
Tasmanian officials are warning residents living near the River Derwent to consider evacuating, as severe weather causing serious flood risks.
As Queensland swelters through the last day of an unseasonably warm winter, severe winds and flooding are causing headaches in southeast Australia.
