Residents across large parts of New South Wales are being warned to batten down the hatches as a volatile thunderstorm system lashes the state, bringing large hailstones, damaging winds and sudden temperature drops.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said a warm, moist and unstable atmosphere was colliding with a surface trough on Friday afternoon, creating ideal conditions for severe storms across eastern and northern NSW.
Severe cells have already been recorded in several regions, with hail up to 3cm wide reported at Moorland near Taree about 3.15pm, and hail around 2cm at Engadine in Sydney‘s south about 4.20pm.
‘The main hazards with these thunderstorms are set to be large hailstones bigger than 2cm across, which can damage crops, cars and roofs,’ said the Bureau’s Angus Hines earlier on Friday.
He warned that the dangerous conditions were far from over, with storms expected to persist into the evening as a southerly wind change pushes north along the coast.
‘(There is also) the risk of damaging wind gusts over 90km/h, which can lead to property damage, power outages or take your rubbish bin on a trip over to the neighbours,’ Mr Hines said.
The Bureau said severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones and damaging winds across the Hunter, Metropolitan, Central Tablelands and parts of the Illawarra, North West Slopes and Plains, Central West Slopes and Plains, and Upper Western districts.
Areas that may be affected include Sydney, Gosford, Orange, Dubbo, Scone and Mudgee.
Further north, the Mid North Coast, including Taree, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Urunga, Bellingen and Nambucca Heads, faces an even greater threat, with storms expected to bring heavy rainfall capable of triggering flash flooding.
Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast are among the areas set to be hit
Heavy rain falls and large hail are expected to sweep across the region on Friday night
The system began firing up from early afternoon, with inland regions hit first before the storms moved east towards the coast.
Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast are all in the firing line for late afternoon and early evening activity.
Temperatures across Sydney are forecast to plummet from around 30°C to the high teens as the southerly front sweeps through between 4pm and 8pm, dropping as much as 10 degrees in half an hour in some suburbs.
‘Storms around the city could tend severe, bringing large hail and damaging wind gusts anywhere in the city metro area,’ Mr Hines said.
While the storms are moving rapidly, he said residents should not be fooled into thinking they pose little risk.
‘Rain associated with the standard storms could briefly be heavy, but the storms won’t linger in place long enough to produce big rainfall accumulations before moving on to the next suburb.’
The Bureau has urged residents to take shelter, secure loose items and avoid driving through floodwaters as the dangerous weather continues to move across the state into the evening.
