Australia -- Victoria Weather Update

MELBOURNE - Mar 17/03 - SNS -- The current forecast for the state of Western Australia was released by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

Warnings
CFA has declared a day of Total Fire Ban for the North Western, North Eastern,
South Western and Central Total Fire Ban districts for Tuesday 18th March 2003.
Fire weather warning: Fire danger will be extreme in the Mallee, Wimmera,
Northern Country, North Central, Western and Central districts today.
Strong wind warnings are current for all Victorian coastal waters and for Port
Phillip and Western Port.
Weather Pattern
A cold front south of the  Bight will continue moving eastwards, reaching
southwest Victoria tonight and moving through the rest of the state during
Wednesday. A low pressure system will develop near Tasmania by Thursday then
move slowly southeastwards during Friday.    
Victoria
Tuesday:   Fine apart from morning fog patches in Gippsland. A generally hot and
sunny day. Northerly winds freshening generally but winds shifting cooler
southwesterly about the west coast this evening.
Fire danger: Generally very high to extreme.
UV Index: 7 [high]  
Wednesday: Patchy rain and local thunderstorms developing. Fresh to strong
northerly winds shifting cool west to southwesterly from the west.
Thursday:  Showers, mainly on and south of ranges. Hail and thunder in the
south, mainly near coast. Cool.
Friday:    Scattered showers on and south of the ranges. Fine in the north. Cool
to mild.
Forecast for Melbourne
Tuesday
Fine. A mostly sunny day with freshening northerly winds.             
Max 33
Wednesday
Showers developing. Becoming cooler.        Min 23    Max 29
Thursday
Showers.                                    Min 13    Max 17
Friday
Few showers.                                Min 12    Max 20
Trend for Saturday, Sunday and Monday
Showers clearing. Becoming warmer.
Forecast for Port Phillip and Western Port
Tuesday:   Northerly winds of 10 to 15 knots increasing to 20 to 30 knots this
morning. Waves rising to 1 to 2 metres. A strong wind warning is current.
Wednesday: Northerly winds of 25 to 30 knots shifting westerly at 15 to 25 knots
during the day.
Thursday:  West to southwesterly winds of 15 to 20 knots.
Friday:    Southwesterly winds of 15 to 20 knots.
Headline Melbourne: Fine. 

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STAT News Service

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