Two ‘supercell’ storms hit Sydney’s north and south
Sydney has been hit by two supercell thunderstorms, bringing down trees and causing power outages across the north, south and southwest suburbs after Canberra was pelted by damaging hail.
NSW
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Suburbs across Sydney have been hit by destructive “supercell” thunderstorms which brought down trees, caused power outages and blew over shipping containersjust hours after a hailstorm lashed Canberra.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning for two storm systems just before 5pm with southwest Sydney and southern suburbs copping the brunt of the wild weather.
Hail bomb hits Cobbitty #SydneyRain #Sydney pic.twitter.com/y5vKgWzGP6
— Soraiya Fuda (@SoraiyaFuda) January 20, 2020
“Supercell would be an appropriate term for these storms,” Meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse said.
“We have seen 4.5cm hail at Campbelltown and Oran Park.”
Wattle Grove resident Liam Hudson-O’Farrell, whose area was one of the suburbs that received the heaviest hailstorm severity rating from the Bureau of Metoerology’s rain radar, said that the storm was ‘one of the worst’ the suburb had ever seen.
“The sky was pitch black, there was this massive wall of darkness coming from the west,” Mr Hudson-O’Farrell said.
“The trees were bent over from the wind, and when the hail hit, it was a total whiteout. It was an absolute mess, the roaring of the wind, the pagola was spewing water and my dad’s lawn looks like it’s been hit with bullets.”
Residents also reported hearing banging noises during the deluge, which was later discovered to be shipping containers at the nearby Moorebank Intermodal which blew over from the sheer force of wind gusts.
In the south, wild winds ripped the roof off a Caringbah building and dropped it onto train tracks, causing chaos during the evening transport peak.
Commuters on evening peak hour services between Bondi Junction and Cronulla were told debris had fallen onto the train line at Caringbah station, closing the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line between Sutherland and Cronulla.
An inventive motorist valiantly came to the rescue of local drivers and directed traffic at the intersection of Sylvania Rd and Kingsway with a pool noodle after traffic lights blacked out.
Two people were struck by lightning in the Blue Mountains about 2pm as the storm tracked closer to Sydney.
A 16-year-old boy and 24-year-old man were taken to Nepean Hospital with injuries after being struck at Echo Point near the Three Sisters tourist attraction.
The storm reached Sydney’s west and south west just before 3pm when large hailstones began falling on outer suburbs.
ACT Emergency Services received more than 1200 calls for help after a destructive 15 minute hailstorm pelted Canberra.
Residents reported roof damage, electrical threats and localised flooding while two people suffered minor injuries.
Power lines were brought down leading to outages while the grounds of Parliament House were left looking like a winter wonderland.
Car windscreens were smashed at Old Parliament House, the Australian National University and other parts of the city.
The wild weather follows huge dust storms swallowing up large swathes of the Central West slopes and plains on Sunday afternoon.
A severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds, heavy rain and hailstones was issued for the region by the Bureau of Meteorology around 6:20pm before the dust storms impacted areas including Tottenham, Tullamore, Dubbo and Parkes.
Damien Garro who manages the Station Motel in Parkes said that the approaching wall of orange cloud looked ‘apocalyptic’ before it hit the small town for almost 30 minutes.
“It was like 3am in the morning, it was so dark,” Mr Garro said.
“We had a guest check in where mud had rained all over the vehicle. We’ve had a few storms lately but it was so thick we couldn’t see across the road to the mobile phone tower across from us.”
Mr Notara said that strong wind activity had stirred up parched topsoil from the drought-affected area, ‘ingesting’ the dust into thunderstorms in the area.
“The main reason we have exacerbated dust storms at the moment is due to drought conditions,” Mr Notara said.
“Once topsoil gets deficient in moisture it crumbles more easily. Gusty winds allow for dust to be lifted into the clouds, which may then fall as mud.”
Parkes recorded 14.4mm of rain due to the wild weather, but without more rainfall dust storms like these may continue, Mr Notara said.
“Until we see adequate rainfall in large areas inland, we will see dust events continue to feature,” he said.
Originally published as Two ‘supercell’ storms hit Sydney’s north and south
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