Sydney weather: NSW bracing for severe storms, large hailstones and heavy rainfall
INCREDIBLE cloud formations off the coast of Sydney sent social media into overdrive this afternoon as more wild storms swept across parts of Sydney, the Hunter and the South and Central Coasts.
INCREDIBLE cloud formations off the coast of Sydney sent social media into overdrive this afternoon as more wild storms swept across parts of Sydney, the Hunter and the South and Central Coasts.
Warning for severe thunderstorms producing large hailstones, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and damaging winds were initially only issued for the Hunter and Central Coast regions but forecasters became concerned when storms started to develop south of Sydney near Camden.
Bureau forecaster Mohammed Nadi told The Daily Telegraph the storms were popping up across the greater Sydeny area and were short and sharp.
The apocalypic shelf clouds that were seen up and down the coast were a result of the turbulent weather system hitting the city.
“That is created by a cold outflow from a thunderstorm lifting the moist air very abruptly, it is an outflow feature from a thunderstorm,” forecaster Christopher Webb said.
“When the rain from the thunderstorm comes vertically down it drags the air with it, it spreads horizontally and forms a gust front, you get the humid air being lifted abruptly from the outflow of the thunderstorm.”
GALLERY: INCREDIBLE CLOUDS FORM OFF COAST OF SYDNEY
“We can expect that to continue into the afternoon,” he said.
“We’re getting the occasional thunderstorm pop up - they will be quick short bursts with the possibility of large hail and damaging winds.
“There’s a similar situation over the South Coast with a fair few storms there.”
The weather pattern is expected to stick around into the evening but Saturday is expected to be less volatile.
Passengers at Sydney Airport, meanwhile, were forced to sit in a landed plane for almost an hour as a storm raged over Mascot.
Travel photographer Andrew Peacock said his Jetstar flight was stranded on the tarmac for at least 50 minutes, until it was safe for ground crews to tend to the plane.
The flight, which landed 25 minutes late at 1.35pm was among many backed up, he said.
“It was really just related to the fact that our flights on the Sunshine Coast took a while to get pulled into the gate… there was a major storm in the area and it became difficult for airport staff in terms of people landing, because the thunderstorm was so close,” he said.
“It wasn’t safe for them to de-plane us.”
But Mr Peacock said most people understood the importance of airport worker safety.
“When I landed there was an arrival form the Gold Coast that had been cancelled - at least we got here.
“The captain was great, he explained what was going on, there was one passenger who decided to get annoyed but you have got to hand it to the professionals, they know what they are doing. It was a bumpy ride in and I am just amazed every time they land us on the tarmac.”
A Sydney Airport spokeswoman said the decision to send out ground staff was at the discretion of individual carriers.
“It is up to the airlines and importantly it is about staff safety... it is not great to send people out into an open airfield during a thunderstorm,” she said.
Emergency power crews are currently on site working to get power back to 2,900 homes in parts of Seaforth and Balgowlah Heights on the Northern Beaches.
Tomorrow, Sydney can expect light showers and a significant drop in temperature, with a maximum of 22C expected.
Bondi. Photo credit: 7 News viewer Cain Barnes. #Bondi #7News pic.twitter.com/O9FHQHKEdU
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 6, 2015
Landfall. Unexpected storms make for longer flights #Sydney #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/y0PgrFL7iw
— Allan Regan (@allanregan) November 6, 2015@dailybailey10 @Bondi right now ! Marco .... pic.twitter.com/B0y5ewcVDX
— Sonia (@s74_sonia) November 6, 2015Storms a-brewin' #Bondi pic.twitter.com/rOP4fBSnwL
— Parker Mason (@parkernow) November 6, 2015Originally published as Sydney weather: NSW bracing for severe storms, large hailstones and heavy rainfall
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