Significant rain spreading across the southeast to begin the weekend

The leftover moisture from Cyclone Fina is meeting up with a trough over the centre of the country and it is set to spread significant rain across much of the southeast this weekend.

Southeast SA, much of Victoria, southern NSW and parts of Tasmania will see the most from this - and it is followed by another cold outbreak on Sunday to Tuesday. In total we are looking at 10 to 25 mm for the majority of the southeast, with large areas seeing 25 to 50 mm.

Meanwhile, the storm triggering troughs are taking a break over southeast Queensland on Friday, but it is set to return for Saturday. This is another outbreak of severe storms, but the activity should slowly contract northwards from Sunday into early next week. Then there is a lengthy stretch of settled weather, without the extreme heat.

Satellite and radar on Friday morning.

Potential rainfall over the next week.

The weather pattern has a shake up mid next week, and for the next two weeks there is a dry signal over much of the country.

The focus of wet weather shifts to the west during the week, while high pressure covers the east encouraging drier than average conditions. BoM's outlook suggests that drier than average is likely for the majority up until mid-December.

BoM's outlook for 2 - 8 December is drier than average for much of the nation

The dry trend continues the following week, 9 - 15 December

Our temperatures are a different story.

A cold outbreak arrives in the southeast early next week, putting the southeast into a chill, and relieving the heatwave conditions further north. Instead the heat heads west, as high pressure moves through.

Milder conditions across much of the east and central parts from 2 - 8 December