Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are possible across much of New South Wales today as our cloud band moves east. Taking a look at our satellite imagery, we can see the cloud band arching back into parts of northern and central Australia, but really starting to bunch up across those eastern parts of New South Wales. Now the cloud band is being pushed eastwards by this low pressure system and cold front you can see moving through those inland areas of New South Wales.

Now we've seen a lot of lightning activity, rain and showers associated with both the cloud band and the cold front and low over the past 24 hours, and we expect more wet and unsettled weather from these systems today.

Starting with a look at our thunderstorm forecast for today: storms are possible underneath that cloud band, stretching back across northern parts of the country. But our storm focus is really going to be through New South Wales, where large parts of the state are not just possibly going to see storms, but may see those severe thunderstorms today. That's indicated by these yellow and red areas on our map. So it covers much of central and eastern New South Wales, pushes up into southern parts of the Darling Downs of Queensland as well.

Now, any severe thunderstorms today could bring us the risk of damaging winds, heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding and large hail. We are likely going to see Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued through the course of today for this risk. So make sure you stay on top of the Bureau's warnings page.

Taking a slightly closer look at those storm areas now, we can see that our severe storm area – our yellow area – does push across the east coast. It includes the Hunter district, the Sydney Metro and northern parts of the Illawarra. So those highly populated areas along the east coast may see those severe thunderstorms through the course of today, most likely in the afternoon and evening.

Severe thunderstorms are likely across some inland areas – this red area you see here on this map. So the Central West Slopes and Plains and the Central Tablelands are likely to see severe thunderstorms today. And they may impact locations such as Dubbo, Parkes and Orange.

Taking a look at the driving force behind these storms, we can see a low pressure system and cold front pushing towards the east coast through the course of today. Through the later part of today, we are likely to see conditions starting to ease off across areas further inland, but that wet and stormy weather will continue through the east and across southern parts of New South Wales as well.

Late in the day, we're going to see a low pressure system moving off the coast and starting to pull significant moisture and winds around that system. That is going to produce an acute risk of severe weather from later tonight, continuing overnight into the early hours of tomorrow morning, particularly across that central and southern coast of New South Wales.

It's also worth noting that we've got some strong winds across northern parts of the state barreling over those northern ranges and potentially producing a damaging wind risk there. As a result, we've got Severe Weather Warnings current for two parts of the state – those two areas I've just mentioned.

In the south, that Severe Weather Warning is for both heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts. Damaging winds are most likely along the coastal fringe, but heavy rainfall is possible throughout our warning area – so clipping southern parts of the Illawarra, northern parts of the south coast and the Southern Tablelands. Again, the heaviest rainfall is most likely from Wednesday afternoon and evening, overnight into early Thursday morning.

Further north, our Severe Weather Warning is just for damaging winds. It's those westerly winds pushing over the northern ranges and producing that risk of damaging wind gusts through the day on Thursday.

Taking a look at how things will play out from around mid-morning on Thursday, we can see our low pressure system starting to move away from the coast. Now we're still likely to see strong and gusty winds continuing about parts of the New South Wales coast through quite a lot of the day tomorrow, but rain will start to ease back. The low pressure system essentially is drawing a lot of the moisture with it. By the later part of the day, and certainly going into Friday, we're looking at much drier conditions across the mainland.

The other hazard we do need to be aware of, though, is the potential for large waves pushing up the east coast from around tomorrow with the potential for hazardous to damaging surf as well. So certainly we are in for some more eased conditions through the later part of the week, but it will be a busy, active thunderstormy day today.

Taking a quick look at the rainfall totals, we've got fairly low to moderate rainfall totals over the next two days for much of our cloud band areas, certainly through the north. Some moderate falls for parts of South Australia, northern Victoria and southern Queensland. The focus for our heavier falls, as we've discussed, is really through New South Wales. Now the highest falls are going to be tied to thunderstorms apart from where we're seeing that rain ramping up about parts of the central and southern coast overnight.

In those areas of highest rainfall accumulations for today, we're looking at another 50 to 80 mm with isolated falls more than 100 mm through those coastal areas there. Wherever you live in New South Wales, it is essential to stay on top of this risk as it unfolds today, particularly with those storms developing.

Now you can always find the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website, the BOM Weather app and via our social media. Stay safe and we'll catch you next time.