Weather bureau issues warning for Sydney drivers amid gusty winds, rain, snow
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning drivers in Sydney's east to take care as wild weather hits the city, while Blue Mountains residents have woken to a dumping of snow and have been advised to exercise extreme caution on icy roads.
A bureau road weather alert issued at 5am on Tuesday warns "gusty winds will make driving conditions dangerous during Tuesday in [Sydney's] eastern suburbs". Heavy rain has also caused roads across the city to become inundated.
At 7am, Live Traffic tweeted that Blue Mountains drivers should simply avoid travelling to Sydney due to the treacherous conditions, with the Great Western Highway closed at Katoomba and Mount Victoria due to ice and snow.
It has since reopened, but drivers are still warned to exercise extreme caution, slow down and drive to the conditions.
Ambulances have responded to two separate single-car crashes on the Great Western Highway since about 8.30am, with one car hitting a pole and another hitting a concrete barrier. It's not believed the drivers sustained serious injuries and the highway remains open.
Trains are running between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, but there are significant delays with snow blanketing stations and tracks.
Parts of the Southern Tablelands also received unexpected snow as a storm hit the region overnight.
Several centimetres of snow fell across the Goulburn area, catching many residents off guard as they woke up on Tuesday morning.
In an updated severe weather warning spanning 1000km of NSW coastline, the bureau on Tuesday said "an intense Tasman low and associated cold front will produce a strong and gusty winds along parts of the coast today.
"These winds will whip up heavy surf conditions, making coastal activities dangerous, and bringing the potential for coastal erosion."
The warning is for damaging, locally destructive wind and damaging surf. Damaging winds averaging 60 to 70 km/h with peak gusts in excess of 90 km/h are already hitting the NSW south coast, extending north to Sydney around sunrise and are expected in the rest of the warning area in the early afternoon.
A gust of 130km/h was recorded at Ulladulla earlier this morning, the bureau tweeted.
Between 20 and 40 millimetres of rain is also expected to fall in the city on Tuesday – the likes of which have not been seen in Sydney since March.
NSW Police are warning drivers to take care on the roads this morning and in coming days as the rain continues.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said as it hadn't rained for some time, "the roads will be covered in grime which will become slippery to drivers as well as bicyclists and pedestrians.
"Visibility is important – that means headlights on and if you are on foot or a bike of any kind – this is the week for your brightest coat and/or umbrella."
Assistant Commissioner Corboy stressed it was important to allow for more travel time during wet weather as traffic would be moving slower and normal routes could have changed unexpectedly.
"Wet days are recipe for rear-end collisions as people don’t leave enough room between their vehicle and the one in front," he said.
Search for 'missing' surfer at Illawarra beach
A helicopter is currently scanning the waves at Warilla Beach, Barrack Point, after emergency services received a report at 9am that someone on the shore had seen a surfer go under waves and not surface.
Waves between five and eight metres are currently battering much of the coast south of Sydney.
A spokesman for NSW Ambulance said they could not confirm that a surfer was definitely missing, but paramedics are on standby and a Toll Ambulance Helicopter is overhead.