South Australians are being warned to prepare for damaging winds of up to 100km/h as a strong cold front moves across the state overnight.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a Severe Weather Warning for damaging winds at 9:08am on Friday, covering the Mount Lofty Ranges, Mid North, Kangaroo Island, Upper South East, Lower South East and parts of the Flinders and Murraylands districts.
Conditions are expected to deteriorate from early Saturday morning as a strong cold front moves across southeastern South Australia.
Strong northwesterly winds are forecast to develop ahead of the system tonight, before shifting westerly behind the front around sunrise on Saturday.
The strongest conditions are expected across the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges, where damaging westerly winds averaging 60 to 70km/h are likely, with peak gusts reaching around 100km/h.
Those winds are expected from early Saturday morning before easing during the late afternoon.
Kangaroo Island and parts of the South East could also see damaging gusts exceeding 90km/h, particularly around showers and thunderstorms.
The Bureau expects the damaging winds in those areas to contract to the Lower South East by midday Saturday before easing later in the afternoon.
Locations that may be affected include Mount Gambier, Clare, Murray Bridge, Kingscote, Naracoorte and Keith.
Forecasts for individual regions reflect the rough conditions ahead. Kingscote is expecting showers and windy conditions on Saturday, with damaging winds possible and northwesterly winds of 30 to 45km/h turning west to southwesterly at 35 to 50km/h. Clare is also forecast to see a windy Saturday with an 80 per cent chance of rain, while the Mount Gambier area is expecting further showers and potentially stormy weather.
Adelaide itself is not listed among the locations in the Severe Weather Warning, but the city is still in for a windy and wet start to the weekend. Saturday is forecast to reach just 17°C with a 90 per cent chance of rain, while northwesterly winds of 30 to 45km/h are expected before easing later in the day.
Conditions should settle considerably from Sunday, with Adelaide heading into a cooler but mostly dry stretch through next week.
The State Emergency Service is urging people in affected areas to move vehicles under cover or away from trees, secure loose items around properties and stay indoors away from windows while conditions are severe.
The Bureau says the next Severe Weather Warning will be issued by 5pm on Friday.
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