Updated ,first published
Beachgoers, boaties and fishers have been urged to stay away from the NSW coast amid a one-in-100 year swell warning for the weekend, with waves as big as two-storey buildings predicted as severe winds whip up dangerous surf.
Dozens of flights in and out of Sydney have also been cancelled as the wild weather hits NSW, while a cold snap blanketed ski resorts in snow. Winds have been forecast to reach up to 110km/h in parts of the state, which could bring down trees and damage properties.
Conditions on Sydney’s beaches are expected to deteriorate on Friday evening and into Saturday, and southerly swells up to 10 metres offshore and exceeding five metres on the coast are predicted in some parts, with risks of coastal erosion and infrastructure damage. The warnings for damaging surf and gale force winds stretch north to the Mid North Coast and south to Victoria.
Southerly storms hit Sydney about 5pm on Friday, bringing more heavy rain and strong winds.
Surf Life Saving NSW told anyone thinking of going to the beach, heading out on their boat or going fishing to “forget it”.
“Change those plans now,” said Brent Manieri, the public safety and emergency management general manager.
“The size and conditions that we’re going to experience over the next 36 hours is potentially one-in-50 to one-in-100 year event.
“We had similar size surf 12 months ago; over the course of a weekend, we lost six lives.”
He said the dangerous conditions forecast for the coast would hinder the ability of surf lifesavers to respond. Rescue boats and jet-skis might be hampered by the conditions, and helicopters could be grounded by strong winds.
Marine Rescue NSW acting Deputy Commissioner Dan Duemmer said too many deaths had occurred off the coast in the past few months.
“It’s avoidable by making a simple decision: Don’t go,” Duemmer said.
“This weekend is a no-go zone on our coasts.”
Some surfers took advantage of the growing swell at Maroubra in the city’s east on Friday. Others paddling out on the northern beaches had their sessions cut short after a shark sighting forced the closure of North Steyne beach about 8.45am. It is the same beach where South Coast musician Andre de Ruyter was bitten in January during a spate of shark attacks following severe weather.
“By sunrise tomorrow [Saturday] we may see wave heights still elevated, but on a decreasing trend as we move through Saturday. And we are transitioning away from damaging surf warnings to hazardous surf warnings, which is a slight tier down,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jordan Notara said.
At Bondi Beach, swell-breaking barriers have been erected from sand ahead of the predicted surge. A Waverley Council spokesperson said they were designed to divert water away from storage facilities that house surf lifesaving equipment.
The large swell forced the cancellation of F1 Manly Ferry services from 8pm on Friday until Sunday morning. Other ferry services are expected to run, although Transport for NSW did not rule out further suspensions.
Commuters will have options to catch limited replacement buses between Circular Quay and Manly Wharf, as well as B-line bus services.
The strong winds also caused flight disruptions. At least 40 domestic flights scheduled to land at Sydney Airport had been cancelled by 5pm on Friday, and about 25 planned departures were also grounded.
“We encourage passengers to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.
“Possible blizzard conditions” in alpine parts of the state’s south are also possible on Friday, but are expected to ease into the weekend as the vigorous low-pressure system driving the wild weather moves offshore.
Ten to 20 centimetres of snow fell in the Perisher Valley in the 12 hours to 10am on Friday.
Snow was also falling at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, but temperature data was not available from the Bureau of Meteorology. Notara said there was a low chance of any more snow across the state, as it “peaked earlier this [Friday] morning, and residents [are] more likely to just see very cold temperatures for the rest of today”.
It was snowing in the Central West on Friday morning.
“We’ve got a bit of snow falling at the moment, intermixed with the rain, but it’s unusual to see, in beautiful Orange, snow this early in the year,” Jeff, a caller, told 2GB.
Temperatures in Orange were just above freezing, but the apparent – or “feels like” – temperature plunged as low as minus 6.6 degrees.
Sydney is heading for a top of 21 degrees, with a low of 13, but the apparent temperature is considerably lower.
The wild weather began on Thursday afternoon, when a storm whipped through Sydney, downing trees and prompting hundreds of calls for assistance.
The NSW SES responded to 591 incidents around the state in the 24 hours to 2pm on Friday, with 284 in Sydney.
SES intelligence and warning officer David Pedersen said about a quarter of those calls came from around the city’s northern beaches and were mostly for downed trees, with no reports of flooding.
More than 2400 Ausgrid customers remained without power on Friday afternoon after the storm knocked out electricity, primarily on the northern beaches and Central Coast.
On the Endeavour Energy network, covering parts of western Sydney, the Southern Highlands, Illawarra and South Coast regions, almost 1000 customers were without power due to unplanned outages.
The storm drenched Four Pines Park at Brookvale on Thursday night and knocked out power ahead of the NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters, but the match went ahead when conditions cleared.
Chaos on public transport followed as commuters faced major delays on metro and train services from the storm that hit during peak hour.
Severe winds kicked up a dust storm and partially collapsed a crane on a building site in Dubbo on Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a total fire ban is in place in the north of the state in the New England and North West Slopes regions amid high to extreme fire danger.
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