Severe storms strike eastern states
Ben Domensino,
Thursday October 26, 2017 - 16:53 AEDT
Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued in Queensland, NSW, the ACT and Victoria this afternoon.
A low pressure system over NSW and a trough extending north into Queensland are causing the widespread storms.
One of the afternoon's first severe thunderstorms in eastern NSW produced 4cm hail at Coopernook, on the Mid North Coast at about 2:30pm. Within the next hour, a number of intense storms were towering over the Lower Hunter Valley and threatening parts of the Central Coast.
There were also reports of hail measuring 3-5cm in diameter at East Gresford and Brunkerville in NSW this afternoon, while the streets of Newcastle were covered in white shortly after 4pm.
A large mass of thunderstorms in western NSW has been producing lightning since this morning. Wilcannia Airport registered a wind gust of 95km/h shortly before 3pm, while locals in Pooncarie noted that the storms were producing near-constant thunder as they rolled across the outback.
Condobolin Airport registered a wind gust of 91km/h at 4:17pm and there were reports of a dust storm in Cobar as blustery winds whipped up the dry topsoil in western NSW.
Air traffic ground to a halt at Sydney Airport when lightning from a fast-moving storm struck close by at around 4pm.
The latest severe storm warnings are available at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp
- Weatherzone
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2017