Thousands of homes are still without power across New South Wales after rain and damaging winds hit the state last night, with 589 calls for emergency assistance recorded.
At its peak 20,000 Essential Energy sites were affected, with an additional 2,000 Ausgrid sites in Sydney still impacted.
The majority of those affected have been on the Mid North Coast where winds reached up to 80 kilometres per hour.
"In Gloucester we've got approximately 3,400 customers affected. We've lost the two main powerlines that get power into the area," Essential Energy spokeswoman Raylene Myers said.
Ms Myers said the damage was similar west of Coffs Harbour.
"Crews are out there assessing the damage. Trees are on powerlines, powerlines have come down from the strong wind, poles have been damaged."
Ausgrid also said on its social media sites power was slowly being restored to homes and businesses and restoration would continue throughout the day.
Lindfield, Lane Cove and Berowra in Sydney's northern suburbs were among the areas hardest hit by the storm, along with Cessnock and Muswellbrook in the Hunter region.
State Emergency Services (SES) Deputy Commissioner, Daniel Austin, said the worst-hit areas extended from the Hunter up to Armidale, Tamworth and the New England areas.
“The worst of the winds we've seen so far and what we expect through the rest of today is not expected to impact on the worst flood-affected areas that New South Wales has had for the last few months,” Mr Austin said.
“So there's a level of good news in that story.”
He said more than 500 volunteers assisted overnight in “pretty horrible conditions”, and many more would continue today.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds was issued at 5am today by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for almost the entire coast of the state, with a deep low-pressure system set to bring "vigorous" winds.
Gusts of 90-100 kph could hit, with saturated soils bringing an increased risk of toppling trees and powerlines.
Locations most likely to be affected include Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Taree, Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Nowra, Armidale, Canberra and Goulburn.
Rain and storms were expected to continue during the week, from a low-pressure system that made its way to the east coast after forming in South Australia.
A top of 17 degrees Celsius today has been forecast for today in Sydney.
By Wednesday — the first day of winter — it's predicted there will be a top of 15C in the inner city and 14C in Penrith, Richmond and Campbelltown.
"Much of southern and eastern Australia is currently being impacted by a strong cold front and associated low-pressure system," the BOM said.
Over the next two days, a dusting of snow is set to fall along the Snowy Mountains, with snow forecast as low as 700 metres in central west NSW on Wednesday.
The BOM has warned of potential blizzard conditions around alpine regions in both NSW and Victoria.
For the rest of this week, temperatures won't get past 19C in Sydney's CBD and will drop as low as 7C on Friday morning.
"Temperatures will drop significantly in the wake of the front," the BOM said.
"Strong winds will make the temperature feel much colder during the day."
