Windy day in Sydney

Strong winds picked up this afternoon in Sydney dropping temperatures and affecting transport throughout the city.

There was a brief shower earlier in the day, but it warmed up afterwards topping 25C around midday and reaching the daily maximum of 27.5C at 2:21pm. Winds were gusting around 50km/h for most of the morning before the gusts increased to 70km/h by 2:30pm. That's when the temperature dropped.

Three westerly gusts between 3:18pm and 3:25pm measured 95km/h, matching the yearly record set on October 29. At that time it was the strongest gust in over a year. At 4pm the temperature was reading only 15.8C. The strong westerlies have continued for the last few hours and shouldn't die down until tomorrow morning.

Traffic and transport throughout the city was affected this afternoon as the winds brought down trees onto roads and rail lines. Several sets of traffic lights were blacked out also as a result of widespread power failures.

The cooler temperatures are the result of strong southerlies as part of a low pressure system which moved east over Victoria today. Cold air has been pushed from south of Tasmania, and as the southerly winds have moved further north they have eventually turned westerly.

Alpine regions in Victoria and southern New South Wales received snow today. This article has some webcam shots of the slopes at the ski resort of Thredbo. Another good example of the cold was seen at Melbourne Airport today where it was only 9.1C at 1:30pm. All I can do is ask, it's supposed to be summer, right?

Showers might affect parts of Sydney in the coming hours as some rain moves across the Blue Mountains. Temperatures tomorrow should only reach a top of 21C after a cool overnight low of 13C.