Asia

Weather Underground Forecast for Friday, January 09, 2009.

A low pressure system over Japan will be the main weather event for Asia on Friday. The storm will be very weak to start the day, and will only produce light rain and snow over Japan and the Korean Peninsula, with a few areas of moderate precipitation. However, the system will strengthen very quickly throughout the day, and areas of heavy precipitation will develop over Japan by the end of Friday. The Korean Peninsula will remain in the outskirts of the storm, and will generally only see a little rain and snow during the day. Strong winds associated with the storm are expected across Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and northeastern China during the day.

Meanwhile, moisture from that system will drift up into eastern Russia, and the coastal areas will see light snow showers on Friday as a result. A weak trough over central Russia will trigger snow showers across the region during the day, while high pressure over most of the central part of Asia will keep skies mostly to partly clear. Southeast Asia, from Malaysia southward, can expect seasonable heavy rain and thunderstorms.

In Australia, low pressure will fire up heavy downpours and thunderstorms across parts of the Northern Territory and Queensland, and flooding will continue to be an issue as a result of the heavy rainfall. A few clouds will develop across New South Wales and Victoria, while a weak trough might produce a few clouds over parts of West Australia. The rest of the continent can expect mostly sunny skies on Friday.