Wild weather across Australia by Susan Powell
The weather has been causing problems across several Australian states recently, but in different ways.
Troughs of low pressure have been throwing thunderstorms across parts of South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, western New South Wales and Tasmania. A tornado struck the Victorian town of Lake Bolac on Thursday night, downing power lines, hundreds of trees, and tipping over grain silos. To the east, ahead of the storms, play at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne was halted under the “extreme heat policy” when temperatures exceeded the 35°C (95°F) mark. The slow-moving troughs are expected to give further severe storms across parts of eastern Australia this weekend, including Melbourne. The Open tennis could see disruption from thunderstorms on Saturday and from the heat again on Sunday as temperatures exceed 38°C (100°F).
Meanwhile, in the northwest of the country, Cyclone Daryl was buffeting the town of Broome with gales and heavy rain. The Category 2 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale was just 75 miles (120 km) from the Western Australian coast at 9 am GMT, and is expected to strengthen further as it makes its way southwestward. Daryl is forecast to head towards Karratha on the Pilbara coast, the same stretch of Western Australia that Cyclone Clare struck just last week.
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