East Coast residents told to holiday in WA for school break to escape wet weather

Cold and wet weather could prove to be a washout for families making a break for the school holidays.

The mercury is set to plummet in many of the nation’s capital cities on Saturday, a week into the Autumn school holidays in many states.

Bureau of Meteorology Senior Meteorologist Dean Narramore said the drop, driven by southerly winds coming across the southeast, could come as a surprise.

“We’ve started seeing the colder fair heading into autumn which isn’t record-breaking, but coming out of summer those cold bursts always feel that much colder,” he said.

Mr Narramore said those heading north were also out of luck, adding: “Southeast Queensland is also looking pretty wet this weekend and even into northern NSW”.

In Sydney, temperatures were set to reach just 23C on Saturday – down from 25C the week before – with a 90 per cent chance of between 3-15mm of rain.

The likelihood of rain is set to lessen into the evening, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, despite coastal areas facing up winds of up to 45km.