Millions in firing line as large hail, damaging winds smash NSW

Residents in NSW are facing large hail and intense lightning as storms ravage the state, with more severe weather expected this weekend.

Severe weather became widespread across much of northern and eastern NSW overnight; Heavy hail and storms ravaged the region.

It was driven by a cold front that swept through the state, along with hot and humid conditions.

The cold front also caused wind gusts of up to 50 km/h and dropped temperatures by at least 10°C in a short period of time.

Nearly 400,000 lightning strikes were recorded within a 500 kilometer radius of Dubbo between 2pm and 7pm on Friday.

“We’re seeing this trough system and cold front moving across eastern Australia,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said.

“Combine that with a really warm, humid, humid air mass, and that’s the perfect ingredients to deliver this widespread storm outbreak that triggered yesterday.”

The first hail was reported by residents of Sutherland Shire in Sydney’s south shortly after 3pm on Friday.

As hail ravaged Moorland on the Mid North Coast and Molong, north-west of Orange, residents shared images of unruly conditions online.

Some of the largest hailstones were seen in the midwestern and northwestern parts of the state; some of these were 3 cm wide or the size of a 20-cent coin.

A particularly severe storm also caused heavy hail around the Coonabarabran area.

“We’ve also seen large hail in some of the suburbs of Sydney and we’ve also seen some pretty large hail around Dubbo,” Mr Narramore said.

“So it was a big storm day across NSW and a sure sign that the spring storm season is well underway now.”

More than 1,200 residents were without power in the Engadine region on Saturday morning. The outage is expected to be restored around 09.30.

Another 112 people were left in complete darkness at Waverton Park in North Sydney, with power cut off at around 9.30pm on Friday.

The outage is being repaired by crews who did not provide an estimated restoration time.

Wild weather isn’t going anywhere yet either.

On Saturday storms will shift towards the north-eastern parts of NSW and south-east Queensland, focusing on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and much of north-eastern NSW between Coffs Harbor North and Moree.

“Once again, severe thunderstorms are likely in these areas where we could see large hail and damaging winds,” Mr Narramore said.

“We’re likely to see huge hail and damaging winds, with our most intense storms particularly around the NSW and Queensland border.”

While large hails can reach up to 2 cm in width during storms, the bureau predicts that giant hails exceeding 5 cm will tear apart parts of the region on Saturday.

Damaging winds are expected to continue on Saturday, reaching speeds in excess of 125 km per hour and causing damage throughout the day.

“These winds and large hail are enough to cause quite a bit of damage to our homes, properties, businesses and agriculture,” Mr Narramore said.

Storms are expected to move offshore on Sunday, although unstable conditions will continue on Saturday.

“(This) means much calmer, drier weather for much of Queensland and NSW on Sunday and early next week,” Mr Narramore said.