Large hail hits Sydney’s north as storms sweep NSW

Large hailstones and damaging winds have hit Sydney’s upper north shore, as severe thunderstorms sweep across NSW.

Large hailstones and damaging winds have hit Sydney’s upper north shore, as severe thunderstorms sweep across NSW, with more carnage expected tomorrow.

After a hot, humid day in the mid-30s in much of the Sydney basin, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Gosford, Wyong and northern Sydney areas on Thursday afternoon.

Mona Vale, Terrey Hills, Palm Beach and The Entrance were all in the firing line, with the weather hitting Palm Beach, Wyong and waters off The Entrance by 5.50pm and waters off Norah Head, Palm Beach, Toukley and Gorokan by 6.05pm.

Detailed TS warning for thunderstorm cells over Northern Suburbs and the Central Coast. Check the warning at https://t.co/Ab3LqePkZB pic.twitter.com/9k7wohjiMj

— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) January 14, 2021

BOM forecaster Neale Fraser said 2cm hailstones fell at Normanhurst, there was “pea-sized” hail at St Ives, while Terrey Hills copped 14mm on torrential rain and trees were reportedly down in the Northern Beaches.

Mr Fraser said today’s heat and moisture created the “perfect” unstable conditions for dangerous cells to develop.

“The storms took quite a while to develop today over the ranges but there’s moisture and humidity so the air’s quite unstable … we could see more showers later tonight,” Mr Fraser said.

A more general severe thunderstorm warning for similar large hail and damaging winds is also in place for parts of the Metropolitan, Mid North Coast, Hunter, Central Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains, Upper Western and Northern Tablelands districts.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning
for DAMAGING WINDS and LARGE HAILSTONES
for the parts of Mid North Coast, Hunter, Metropolitan, Central Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains, Upper Western and Northern Tablelands Forecast Districts. Latest warning at https://t.co/uOLDR9s9ua pic.twitter.com/dLwtj9PxxO

— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) January 14, 2021

Newcastle, Gosford, Cessnock, Maitland, Penrith, Mudgee, Tamworth, Gunnedah and Dubbo are the areas expected to see the most of the weather in “isolated” storm events.

Mr Fraser said while the southerly would “push away” the storms in Sydney for the rest of the night, more was on its way tomorrow.

“We could see more damaging winds and large hail tonight before the southerly hits but that will cool things down for the rest of the evening,” Mr Fraser said.

“Tomorrow we’ll still be under threat of storms in the afternoon, more likely to the north of Sydney but the Mid North Coast, Hunter and Tablelands will be in for big storms.”

Tomorrow’s conditions are predicted to be slightly cooler, with a top of 29C in the city and 35C in the west.