The Illawarra is bracing itself for a wet and windy few days, as emergency services and weather forecasters alike monitor the development of a coastal low.
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After the region basked in above-average August temperatures last week, a forecast three-day drenching will be a soggy reminder that winter’s not done just yet.
The Bureau of Meteorology says a broad low pressure trough, situated over northeastern NSW on Tuesday morning, was expected to deepen over the next 48 hours.
A low is expected to develop within the trough off the NSW coast later on Wednesday.
Forecasters are yet to pinpoint where the looming low will form – a large determinant of the places to be hardest hit by potential heavy rain, damaging winds and flash flooding.
Wednesday is tipped to be the wettest day, although the intensifying system will bring the prospect of heavy falls each day until the weekend.
At this stage, rainfall maps suggest Wollongong will cop the brunt of the system, although the bureau’s forecasts predict the area around Ulladulla would pick up the most rainfall on Wednesday.
Meteorologists are not dubbing the system an east coast low.
Even though the low is expected to move quickly away from the coast, Wollongong can expect 8-25 mm on Thursday and 3-15 mm on Friday before conditions improve by Saturday, the bureau said.
“There's not much chance to get the washing done, other than today [Tuesday],” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.
The NSW SES has urged people living in flood-prone areas to act now and prepare their homes.
The wet weather will bring with it cooler conditions, with a top of 15 degrees forecast in Wollongong, Kiama and Nowra on Tuesday.
The mercury is only expected to climb to 14 degrees in Wollongong and 13 at Nowra on Wednesday.
- with Peter Hannam
WET WEDNESDAY
Illawarra forecast: Cloudy. Very high (90%) chance of rain. Light winds becoming southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h in the middle of the day then tending southerly 15 to 25 km/h in the evening.
Predicted rainfall:
- Wollongong: 25 to 70 mm
- Albion Park: 20 to 60 mm
- Kiama: 30 to 90 mm
- Nowra: 20 to 60 mm
- Ulladulla: 30 to 100 mm
- Batemans Bay: 25 to 70 mm
- Bega: 1 to 4 mm
- Eden: 0 to 1 mm