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Severe storms and wind threaten SE Australia

Severe thunderstorms and damaging winds are carving their way across Australia's southeast this Sunday, prompting multiple warnings in at least three states.

The thunderstorms are generally too fast-moving to bring a huge amount of rain, but have the potential to produce damaging wind gusts.

Storms kicked off in earnest on Saturday evening in South Australia's north and east and near midnight in far western parts of both Victoria and New South Wales. The area of the main storms is moving east ahead of and near a cooler change.

Image: lightning, radar, satellite, rainfall observations and synoptic pattern at 6:30am EST Sunday 7 September.

By this evening, it should reach central and eastern Victoria and stretch in a line through southern and western NSW and into SA's far northeast and central Australia. The thousands who've gathered in southwest Queensland for the Birdsville races should also be alert.

The strongest winds are in the northerlies, ahead of the cooler wind change brought by a front.

Up until sunrise on Father's Day Sunday, some of the strongest gusts recorded have been -

• 96km/h in Victoria's Dartmoor (strongest in 14 years)
• 95km/h in SA's Mount Crawford (strongest in 12 months)
• 93km/h in Victoria's Nhill (strongest in 9 months)
• 85km/h in SA's Kuitpo (strongest in 3 years)
• 80km/h in Victoria's Mildura (strongest in 20 months)

The greatest risk of flash flooding from storms is in Victoria's northeast, mainly in elevated areas where the extra uplift will provide a boost.

By Monday, the offending low pressure trough will contract to the interior, gain tropical moisture and evolve into a broad rain-and-storm event that does bring a significant risk of flooding Northwest cloudband to soak Australia 

Stay tuned to warning updates via https://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings or the weatherzone app.