Adelaide has a forecast maximum of 11 degrees today, with 8 to 15 millimetres of rain expected to hit the city.

Mount Barker and Stirling have forecast maximums of 7 and 5 degrees respectively.

At noon, the temperature in the city was 7.2 degrees while just 2.9 degrees was recorded at Mount Lofty.

Senior meteorologist at the BoM Simon Timcke said temperatures will “really struggle to rise” today once the rain moves in.

“On Thursday, many places across South Australia will potentially experience their coldest day of the year, especially those areas where it will be raining,” Timcke said.

“In the early hours of Thursday morning, it’s not out of the question we could see some snow flurries due to the cold air mass about the higher peaks in the Mid North and Flinders Districts.”

Rainfall ranging from 5 to 15 millimetres was expected in the agricultural areas south of Woomera in the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas.

“Strong winds will also be about north of the state on Thursday,” Timcke said.

He also cautioned that the cold blast will continue well into to the weekend, with a severe weather warning expected in the south for damaging wind gusts.

“This weekend we are forecasting potentially damaging winds, gale winds for the waters, showers and thunderstorm and we’re also looking at the potential for abnormally high tides.”

-with AAP