Here's what you need to know today:
Man pleads guilty to 'torturing' seagull
The actions of a 21-year-old Tasmanian man who hooked a seagull on the end of his fishing line and encouraged his friends to "torture" the bird have been described as "opportunistic, calculated and targeted" in a Hobart court.
The Magistrates Court in Hobart heard Molesworth man Connor James Churchill was the "principal offender" in the group of four people, who allegedly baited and hooked the silver gull while fishing at the Midway Point causeway near Hobart in April 2018.
The court heard Churchill "forcibly restrained" the bird by the neck as another member of the group tied fishing line around its foot.
Crown Prosecutor Simon Nicholson told the court the bird was released and flew off before being reeled back onto the causeway.
Churchill has pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty and a charge of aggravated cruelty to animals.
Magistrate Reg Marron adjourned the matter until February.
Fatal crash in north-east
A 24-year-old man has died in a car crash near Scottsdale.
Police said it appeared the man failed to negotiate a right-hand bend on the Tasman Highway just before 9:00pm last night and crashed into several large trees.
Ambulance personnel tried to revive him but he died at the scene.
Anyone who saw the crash is asked to contact Launceston police.
Tas Water unable to determine cause of Lauderdale shut down
TasWater has been unable to determine the cause of contamination that shut down water supplies to thousands of people on Hobart's eastern shore last month.
A boil water alert was imposed on residents in Lauderdale, Seven Mile Beach, Roches Beach and Acton in early November after TasWater said routine testing found E.coli bacteria in the Lauderdale reservoir.
But a recent investigation has had inconclusive results.
TasWater's Fran Smith said a recent water sample returned a result that didn't confirm E.coli but did identify the presence of an environmental organism.
"Some of its properties are similar to E.coli but not necessarily an indicator of faecal contamination," Ms Smith said
"As a means of tracking down the source of the organism, we will try to replicate the conditions at the Lauderdale reservoir in an attempt to achieve a similar result."
TasWater said the water continued to meet national drinking water guidelines.
Weather
Today's forecast is for gusty west to south-westerly winds and showers in the west, south and central areas, and Bass Strait islands.
Snow is expected down to 600 metres in the south this morning.
A full and updated list of warnings can be found on the Bureau of Meteorology's Tasmanian Warnings summary webpage.
As of 6:30am the Pinnacle Road to the summit of Hobart's kunanyi/Mount Wellington was closed at The Springs.
Check the council website for the updated status of Pinnacle Road.
| Forecast * all temperatures in Celsius | Maximum | Minimum |
| Burnie | 15 | 5 |
| Cape Bruny | 12 | 5 |
| Devonport | 16 | 7 |
| Hobart | 15 | 6 |
| King Island | 15 | 10 |
| Flinders Island | 16 | 10 |
| Launceston | 17 | 6 |
| Liawenee | 8 | -4 |
| Port Arthur | 15 | 5 |
| Smithton | 14 | 9 |
| Swansea | 17 | 5 |
| Queenstown | 11 | 4 |
Source: Bureau of Meteorology
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