The Matildas play England in the semi-final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the evening of Wednesday, August 16 at Stadium Australia in Sydney, but will the weather be kind?

This is important not just for the state of the football pitch and for the comfort of fans at the game, but for people attending two other stadiums that will be open with big screens, as well as other live sites.

So here's the latest Sydney weather situation:

In brief, there will be a slow clearing trend in Sydney this week and the match is looking very likely to be played under rain-free skies.

Heavy showers moved across the whole Sydney metro area on Sunday night into Monday morning, as you can see on the three-hour radar loop from midnight to 3 am.

Rainfall totals between 10-24 mm were widespread across Sydney as you can see on the map below, with one or two heavier falls exceeding 25 mm.

Image: Even in what has been a relatively dry winter for Sydney, the city can still be a rain magnet. Source: BoM.

The good news is that the heaviest showers had cleared the Sydney metro area by lunchtime Monday, however there's still a strong likelihood of on-and-off showers for much of Monday and Tuesday.

While Sunday night's rainfall totals were fairly uniform across the city, the Sydney weather is now set to do a typically Sydney thing: as winds swing around to the south and southeast, rain will be more likely along the coast than in inland suburbs.

That's why predicted rainfall totals for Tuesday are in the 1-5 mm range for the CBD but just 1mm or less at Sydney Olympic Park, about 15 km west of the city.

So showers are definitely more likely near coastal fringe than at the Matildas match, but even coastal showers shouldn't be too heavy.

The final word

• On Wednesday, there's still the slight chance of a shower at Sydney Olympic Park, but the likelihood drops off to 5% around the 8 pm kickoff.
• You should also get lucky if you happen to be watching the game at the Sydney Football Stadium in Moore Park (next to the SCG) with only a slightly higher likelihood of rain in the 8-10% range.

Go the Matildas!