‘Trail of carnage’: Wet weather ravages NSW as hail hits Sydney

Residents have been left bewildered by an icy blast which has brought hail and bitter winds to Australia’s most populated city.

Winter-like conditions have blasted NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, bringing strong winds and even hail to add to the misery, with more cold weather on the way.

Sydney has been hit by a barrage of hail, with some claiming the mass of ice made Sydney look like an ice rink or snow field.

A fast burst of heavy rain and hail fell over Sydney, drenching the city and its surrounds in the space of just minutes, as the state deals with a ‘trail of carnage’ left by heavy rains and flash floods. Picture: Weatherzone

The hail dump was centred over Sydney’s inner west with residents in Marrickville and Stanmore sharing images of the short, sharp burst of harsh weather.

Australia’s southeast is in the grips of cold weather which is bringing the icy conditions, according to Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe.

Family sent me this video from Marrickville, Sydney. Freak hail storms wrapping the city 🥲 #ClimateCrisis “summer” is around the corner… pic.twitter.com/fIRGdXJTWj

— Mia Castagnone (@CastagnoneMia) November 16, 2022

Sydney weather has people sweeping hail off the roof pic.twitter.com/TIv2eyZNnK

— Issy Phillips (@issyphillips_) November 16, 2022

“For Sydney and along the NSW coast this afternoon is the peak, with showers and maybe a couple of thunderstorms in the mix, as well as a chance of a severe storm on the NSW north coast this afternoon,” Mr Sharpe said.

Newington College in Sydney’s inner west this arvo - covered in a blanket of hail. The old oval looks more like an ice rink ⛷ pic.twitter.com/4Rhqc5mTY4

— Cam Reddin (@CamReddin) November 16, 2022

Felt like this came out of nowhere! Insane hail in Enmore. pic.twitter.com/GnC2K6shiR

— Eli Green (@greeneli_) November 16, 2022

Canberra was also hit by shock winter-like conditions, which are unusual for November, with some residents convinced snow fell across the city today.

The icy snowlike phenomena was in fact something called graupel, a “very close cousin of snow”, according to Weatherzone.

“Graupel is a type of hail which falls as tiny pellets’ it’s caused by supercooled water droplets in the atmosphere which freeze onto snow crystals suspended in the air,” a representative said.

Spring in #canberrapic.twitter.com/y6yFyp2wiC

— Fran Marshall (@thefoodmarshall) November 15, 2022

Graupel is often mistaken for snow, as it’s softer than normal hail, however Weatherzone says they are not the same thing.

“Graupel is graupel and snow is snow,” Weatherzone said.

Sydneysiders will only get a small break from the cold weather, with another blast of icy temperatures on the way.

“There are signs of another cold change coming through, notably colder through the south west on Friday and Saturday and that will materialise into the south east on Sunday and particularly Monday; that’s the next peak for the cold there,” Mr Sharp said.

Winter-like temperatures and wet weather have been seen across NSW. Picture: Sky News

“It’s going to be windy too and there could be some severe weather warnings in the mix.

“It will feel colder than the mercury suggests, so definitely don’t put away the winter Woolies yet.”

The winter-like conditions are far from the worst of the weather affecting NSW, with towns in the state’s Central West currently being ravaged by floods which have left a “trail of carnage” in their wake.

The flooding is still at its worst in NSW’s Central West, particularly around Forbes and the Lachlan River, according to Mr Sharpe.

“It‘s been sitting at around that 10.67m level, which is the same peak we saw two weeks ago; the same as 2016 and only 13cm shy of the flood level in 1952,” Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe said.

Those high river levels are expected to peak into the weekend, with warnings it could reach the record of 10.8m set in 1952.

The township of Eugowra in NSW suffered a very major and overwhelming flood catastrophe earlier this week. Picture: Toll Ambulance Rescue

Five out of six Toll Ambulance Rescue Helicopters from Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, and Orange were deployed to Eugowra. Picture: Toll Ambulance Rescue

Nearby Eugowra has been hit by floodwaters which residents have said were “like a tsunami”, ripping homes from their foundations.

“It was basically a small tsunami of water, but it had a heck of a lot of force,” resident Don Taylor told the Today show.

“By the time I managed to get my gumboots on, the water was up to my thighs.”