Weather warnings have been issued across south-eastern Australia as a cold front roars in, bringing the strongest spell of wild weather in winter so far this year.

The front was expected to push north from the Great Australian Bight toward Tasmania and the mainland on Friday and Saturday, bringing chilly temperatures and even snow.

It has prompted weather warnings for NSW and the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

On Thursday, the South Australian government issued a rare “code blue” as Adelaide got nearly three-quarters of its July average rainfall in a single day.

The code blue activation covered all of South Australia and provides extra support for the homeless.

It came amid a week of wet and wild weather for the state, with storms bring rain and lightning. InDaily reports there were 50,000 lightning strikes across SA on Wednesday, with up to 15 millimetres of rain.

Forecaster Weatherzone said that was backed up on Thursday.

“Adelaide had its wettest day July day in 10 years with 33 millimetres in the city’s main West Terrace/ngayiradpira gauge in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday,” it said.

“It was also the city’s wettest day in any month since January 26, 2024 … The SA capital now has 340 millimetres for the year to date – a healthy running total considering January was completely dry.”

There was also heavy rain in northern and central Victoria on Thursday. Weatherzone said more than 50 millimetres had fallen in some areas, while there have also been wind gusts of 100 km/h or stronger in the ski resorts of Falls Creek and Mount Hotham.

The weather bureau has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds for parts of the East Gippsland, North East, and West and South Gippsland forecast districts.

“We’ve got some really cold air …  moving in behind our cold front at the moment. That’s likely to deliver some snowfall to alpine parts of Tasmania, Victoria and southern NSW,” Angus Hines from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“We could see between 10 and 30 centimetres of snow up in alpine areas in the next 36 hours.

“Alongside the snow, we’ve also got the potential for some really hazardous conditions on the water, some big, big waves hitting the coastline of South Australia, also western Victoria, pushing towards western Tasmania as well.”

Hines said waves of up to 10 metres were expected to coincide with particularly high tides along the eastern South Australian coastline.

“That will make for some really hairy conditions on the water out there,” he said.

There has also been heavy rain in NSW and the ACT. Weatherzone said the heaviest was at the “tiny western NSW map speck of Mount Hope”, which had 51.4 millimetres.

A station in Canberra’s south lodged 35.8 millimetres – its highest July daily total in 21 years. Canberra Airport got 22.8 millimetres, its heaviest July fall in 16 years.

“As with Victoria, the most extreme weather is heading for elevated parts of NSW … with a severe weather warning issued for damaging winds for the South West Slopes, Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory,” Weatherzone said.

Blizzard conditions were possible during Thursday in the Snowy Mountains. They will ease on Friday morning.

It has also been wet in Tasmania, where snow as low at 600 metres is expected by Saturday.

Hines said conditions were likely to ease into Friday.

“There will still be some further showers through the day on Friday, cold conditions as well, but we’ll see those winds slowly dialling back,” he said.

“It will be a brighter, calmer and clearer few days from about Saturday onwards.”