It's going to be a windy start to spring in southern Australia, with a cold front likely to cause damaging gusts in multiple states during the next two days.

A front passing over Western Australia today will move over South Australia tonight and then across southeastern Australia on Wednesday and Thursday.

Image: Forecast surface wind speed on Wednedsay afternoon, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

Damaging winds are likely to develop ahead of and near the front as it moves from west to east, with warnings issued in parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, NSW, and the ACT.

In Western Australia, the front will produce cold, wet, and windy conditions over a broad area of the state's southwest today. Perth is only forecast to reach 16 degrees, which would be the city's coldest first day of spring in five years. Further east, today's wind will combine with dry and hot air to create catastrophic fire danger ratings in the Eucla and South Interior fire weather districts.

As the front moves further east, dry and gusty winds will spread over South Australia and cause areas of raised dust today and tomorrow, particularly in the west and north.

Strong and potentially damaging winds will also develop over parts of Victoria, Tasmania, southern NSW, and the ACT on Wednesday and persist in NSW on Thursday. These winds should also kick up dust over some inland areas of southeastern Australia.

Keep track of the latest severe weather warnings during the next few days for the most up-to-date information on this front.