Looking forward to some storms in NSW eastern parts over next few days. A broad Low pressure trough once again moving through the state on Wednesday. Should see a cool change at least to the 34 deg day Bathurst had today.

BoM storm forecast indicates probability of strong downdrafts in any storms that develop today (mainly in the south). Willing to put money on Canberra getting their nightly storms again tonight.

Looking forward to being part of the action when I arrive in Northeast Victoria and Southeast NSW later today, hoping massive thunderstorms will be raging over the Snowy Mountains when I arrive in Corryong!

I'm cowering in the office today. Outside the sky has that dirty heat haze thing going. Can't see any significant development but this is good, when stuff develops too early it often fizzes. Desperately hoping for storms or something to cool us down or at least entertain us this evening!

Some nice development starting over the ranges. The Wagga sounding looks a little more unstable today than yesterday - mostly due to higher lower level temps and DPs for southern inland NSW that are holding into double figures (just).

So very good chance of more storms in the ACT this pm and Ant sorry but tonight will be warmer than last by quite a few degrees... Enjoy the office air-conditioning!

The cap hasn't yet broken yet, drying out a little with the dp's which should hold off development for a little longer. Coastal parts are more moist however, so if some of the easterlies kick in a little, there's plenty of moisture to tap into later on. I'll be heading down to a little further south today where both ACCESS and GFS predict better chances. I've still got another week off, yay!

Lots of scenic things in the sky to the south of Canberra, but that dirty heat-haze is everywhere else.

Hotter tonight, damn, I was dreading that. How foul.

....aaaand the scenery is still to the south. Unless it suddenly starts marching north, we're in for nothing but a hot NW wind from the jaws of hell tonight. The western horizon is just a hazy hot expanse of nothing and by now you'd be expecting to see something.

Greg was right, yet again.

Wow what a stinker, instability looks to be hanging around until late evening however hard to see a trigger. Uppers not cold enough and without an easterly this evening might be confined to southern ranges.

Tomorrow's conditions look far more favourable. Colder uppers, late easterly inflow, good shear profile.

argh. they're going to turn the alarm on soon and shoo us all out into the furnace! There's nothing on the western horizon, zilch. radar shows some gorgeous stuff down Bredbo/jerangle way, and south of that too, pink cores. There's even a little thing hatching around Captains Flat, I'll no doubt get to admire that as it's only about 20 km from me.

And the incoming line near the western border looks awesome, but both sets of weather might as well be on the moon for us tonight. We rarely get an easterly the night before a front arrives. I closed the house up this morning, expecting epic storms before I got home. It will be like an oven.

30.9 at 6pm in Bathurst.. damn air cond struggling a little, will get a slight relieft from tomorrow lets hope.. Going on an early morning flight around Bx before weather comes in, also before heat hits too.

M Bath : thanks for picking up my error mate, we sure are in 2012.

Hope you got a piece of that flash flooder just east of Nimmatabel Greg!!!! there would've been some nice cgs with that im sure!!! Nice convergence down there. Chance of storms in the forecast for tomorrow, though when 39c is predicted,you have to imagine RH will hover between 10-20% meaning high based. Given we're in the worst storm season in 1000years , im not expecting anything more than two rumbles, maybe a few fat raindrops,and of course an evening scum/mizzle fest. High cloud is buliding this evening, though a clearing around Wagga indicates a possible nice sunset, though these sunset chases are out numbering storm chases 10 to 1 at the moment...

Models are not showing anything of note for the CT's until Thursday. Just perfect summer weather now, finally can sit out on the deck in the late afternoon and evening without having to wear 3 layers of woolies, just lovely 26 atm. Still only top of 28.8 here, not a heatwave until I reach 30 by my definition.

Ant you must nearly have some of those storms on your door step atm. What is your temp around now or sunset?.

I'm looking forward to a mizzle event !!!.after 3 weeks of no weather.

Slight bit of middle level development to Cbr's NW as the surface winds drop out. Whilst not a high likelihood - I wouldn't totally rule out the possibility of some storms developing overnight to our west as the trough approaches.

Amazing amount of lightning to my north west for the past hour - don't forget, I'm 12 k's south of Batemans Bay.
Was originally very distant, but rumbles now being heard.
Looks like the Canberra radar is having problems again, annoyingly.
Last frame I saw had some deep red colours in it.

Really annoyed that I've just gone looking for my digital SLR. I've got the battery, and charger but not the freakin camera. I hate packing for holidays with kids. I always forget MY things.
Anyway, had a screaming nor-easter for most of the day today here at Malua Bay. Annoying, but very cooling.

Homer

Friggin Canberra radar has gone off! i'm watching a big flashy thing to my east (got some photos of the lightning, too, yay) and according to the radar, it's not there.

And wonder of wonders, we have an easterly. A SE actaully, and quite blustery. Awesome. 23.3c outside, 27.8c inside but at least that cooler air is getting in.

Off to photoshop these piccies. The structure of the cell is interesting, lots of detailed ice cream CU, with a fat anvil blossoming out above it.

I hope Mr Keene is on to the stuff a little to his south...certainly better then nothing...surprised me to see the tracker light up this close to me (still ~50kms away from me though :()

Well, not great. Still getting the hang of this stuff and the storm was flashing off very fast lightning. The sunset was reflecting off the cloud too. Very scenic though.

I was lying in my driveway, quite mellow and enjoying the residuale heat from the pavers after the hot day and watching the distant lightning and hearing the thunder walk and talk. The cats were keeping me company and so was a nice glass of wine.

I was NOT expecting the massive BOOM CRACK SMASH overhead at all and I spilled my wine everywhere and scuttled inside like a scared little girl.

My husband thinks it's funny.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more spilled wine:)

Pretty slim pickings for me tonight. Got one relatively nice CG, pretty distant lightning so I had to up the ISO to 400 and shoot at f/5.6. Looking forward to shooting a more lightning active storm. So much easier now I have the right equipment.

Good shots Ant, not easy to click right on the lightning, amazing how those storms keep tracking down south, seems to be some sort of convergence zone down there, very quite on the CT's this summer.

Finally something to break this boring weather. Some flashes,rumbles & a few spits of rain from a couple of surprise cells that just moved through.
Most of the action was to the south of us, but still managed my first spark shot from the front yard.

Some fairly nice lightning about tonight as others have noted.

I was desperate to see any sort of lightning,so I made a trip to Nowra Hill on sunset in the hope of seeing the Araluan storm. I saw heaps of flashes from this storm, but only a handful of bolts. I noted that the sky looked rather unstable overhead,so I waited patiently at Nowra Hill for another half hour. I then drifted back to Bomaderry towards home,but noticed a towering cu about 20kms to my south that was beginning to anvil out. Sure enough, it started flashing. I headed south again, to South Nowra and it seemed I was in between two cells which refused to put out a bolt. Finially it chucked out a few within 3kms,but these were weak bolts,with very unimpressive thunder .Then it started hammering down,so I retreated to the eastern parts of town. By this stage I was thinking how useless the Nowra area was with its weak scud infested lightning. Thankfully the storm started to punch out some much better bolts with genuine house shaker booms.





After this shot a couple of cgs started to hit within the 2km zone,so cracked the f-stop up hoping for a flanger, but then the heavy rain started so I retreated up the road a few kms out of the rain. Unfortunately the bolts had completely dissapeared by this stage,and it was back to a cc fest.

Another storm briefly got going near Callala, putting out an impressive amount of staccatos. One of these made a nice transformer flash!!

Great shots Pingtang!!! Bet you are stoked with that. Nice to know someone is getting some storms... Haven't had a chance like that to get lightning pics in around 3 years now. Here is hoping our turn comes tomorrow

Cheers Ben!! Yeah quite happy. I'll take anything! My chances of a lightshow are slim tonight so im happy I got my opportunity.Might see something during the day, but the southerly should be through too early for a lightshow(for me)..

Good to see some storms at Nowra, nice shots.



Hey Dave, not sure how early you were flying but I might have seen you at 7am this morning flying over my house.

I was def going to go south Michael, but i got a god awful migraine, my first in prob 4 or 5 years. Dunno why it happened, but i had to stay home unfortunately and hit the sack. Feel good this morning though, so here's my second chance. Nice cg's mate btw, glad you got a piece of it!

Good chance for a couple active lines to come through today - first the prefrontal trough, then the front itself. Both will be moving at some speed though, except i expect that the trough will stall a little once it comes over the ranges, so need to set up camp in the right place to get the best of the imbedded cells. Not as much convergence on the cards today, however i feel that with some extra uplift with the ranges, and that there is some coastal convergence further east, there could be some action just to Canberra's east, aka Braidwood to Captain's Flat line. Today is more about forcing with the approaching front, so there will be plenty of grunt.

Nice shots, Pingtang. It was a nice surprise to see the Nowra area get something. I think you're right about today though, I also think the change will come through too early for us here to get anything really good going.

I had a go shooting from the headland north of Jones Beach. Too far away from the action but I wanted to get some practice in. Managed to get this photo-

Afterwards I zoomed further in but failed to get a CG in the frame. There wasn't many good bolts to be seen from my location/time so it's not suprising.

BOM saying we have 30% chance of 0-0.2mm today, yay another fizzer to look forward to!!

I saw that one too, unfortunately from Black Head at Geroa, just too far away to capture any decent bolts. I was also too late to hook onto the Nowra bolts, just a poor shot or two, haven't even looked yet.

The transformer one lit up all the rain curtains.

As soon as the sun popped up this morning, the high overhead cloud was onto it, smothering it. So it's warm, but not hot and the cloud is thickening. Tracker shows the incoming doesn't have any storms at the front of it yet, but maybe with all that moisture from last night's surprisingly strong easterly, we'll get downpours and violent storms. Looks wet, at any rate.

This one is a cropped image. It was the first picture I took and the last CG in that area....

Quite surprising that today is running 1-2 deg down on yesterday, I think BOM have done it again as every day forecasting too high, will they ever learn. With this cool change and another next week starting to increase the odds that this will be a 30deg free, heatwave free summer up here.

Doubt any rain will reach the CT's until late tonight and tomorrow, Canberra will do better today.

On a Current Affair last night they had a BOM person suggesting 28C for Sydney's January average maximum. Bear in mind that that interview could have been conducted anytime, and ACF most probably omitted what they wanted and rearranged the rest to tell" their" preferred story.

That aside I cannot see by looking at the models 28C as an average maximum for the first two weeks of January.

Yes it will be struggling to get there, just so dependant on the balance between East/West winds for Sydney.

I think models are converging for a big storm event for the CT's for this Sunday 8th. Hot day with a very solid storm build up that is driven by a much stronger change to the south, rain models going crazy for the CT's late Sunday. Anyone care to change add the 8th day to this thread?.

Personally I am quite disappointed with the latest GFS model runs. Today was never looking great but Thursday and Friday were looking much better. Friday in particular was looking like a very big day in NE NSW/SE Qld but now looks rather ordinary. Hopefully there are a few good storm days in the next week though.

Ozthunder, your lightning photo looks much better than mine. It seems Pingtang was in the best spot though, good shots!

Currently running approx. 2 degrees above the temperature for the same time yesterday morning here in Penrith, currently 29.8c. Should reach the 39c forecast for today as I doubt any shower activity will move into the basin until later this evening. Good to have a few days of summer and then back to reasonably mild conditions for the next week or so. If we can squeeze a storm or two out of the next 48 hours then we may even be able to call it summer!

Must be the day for it....
I have one today too...
Good luck to those chasing this afternoon...
...and thanks to Pingtang for the fab images, yet again....

I'd be tempted to extend it to the 9th, looking at the high CAPE in the Hunter on Monday.

It's so warm outside, loving the heat. A few patches of cirrostratus/cirrocumulus but none of it has been covering the sun yet, although it is beginning to cover more of the sky. Currently 34 degrees, DP at 21.

Hopefully the GFS models do continue suggesting what they are for the Hunter on Monday. It would be a great day if so, hopefully it won't get downgraded (and if it does, only by a tiny bit). They're also suggesting some strong mid/high level shear. *Fingers crossed*

The incoming line of moisture is shrinking at a great rate, maybe it doesn't like that coast air the easterly brought. The wind is shrieking in from the NW, I think the airport Ws is under-reading the gusts. Very dull and the air is filthy with sneezing stuff, rain should start pretty soon. No pyrotechnics though, judging by the NSW radar.

A very lge top on a cell near Gosford at the moment, I can see it from here out to my south,very lightning active by the radar too.

Got some nice convection going on out to my west. Cumulus towers have begun to pop up all around there with one cumulus tower building very nicely. We did have a short amount of time where the cirrostratus was only along the horizon and not above us but now it's covering a fair bit of the sky a small bit of and only a small bit of sunlight is getting through. Still a great amount of heat with the temperature at 35 and DP at 21 degrees, with a light easterly. Lake Macquarie AWS reached its forecast max, at 36.3 half an hour ago but has since cooled down to 31.8.

A small storm cell has developed around Wisemans Ferry but is now weakening, taking an E/NE direction towards Wyong. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued:



New South Wales Severe Thunderstorm Advice 1

Yes, that storm has weakened,but they look to be back building here south of Cessnock.

Everything seems to have fizzed here. That rain band was a mirage I think. Perhaps something will build, but so-far it's looking really ordinary out there.

Yep, that cell has either re-developed or another cell has developed from it. Currently got that cell to our south-west at Dora Creek and the radar suggests it's moving to the north-east. We are beginning to get some rumbles from that cell now

Yes mostly fizzled, Sunday will be the main event.
Some major blunders again by BOM with max temps forecast being way too high all over NSW some big errors this time, most between 2 and 5 deg too high. Why oh why will they not learn.

A noisy little storm just went through here at Malua Bay. Not having the Canberra radar is reaLLY ANNOYING.
A few very close cg's and heavy rain for about 15 minutes from just before 3 pm.
The southerly roared through Batemans Bay at about 1.30, blowing over signs and cafe umbrellas. Gusts estimated at around 60 km/h.

Homer

As I said last night, Im pleased I atleast got something last night, because its looking increasingly likely I will get very little today( though I never liked the look of it) ... Gusty Southerly arrived 5minutes ago,and the temp is plunging. Also a few light spits of rain. Still not ruling out a few rumbles here, but anything even half worthwhile looks slim.

Peter,

Isn't it the case that the computers are doing all the work for them now and there is very little human input?
It seems obvious just by reading the forecasts and having the same thing repeated almost everywhere.
Sydney centres all have exactly the same forecast even though temperatures vary widely and wind conditions are markedly different.

Homer

The southerly was certainly quite strong initially with gusts around 70km/h.Lots of bark,twigs,small branches flying around the place. If anything it will increase in strength as it moves up the coast, so Sydney could cop something like 80-90km/h...

That cell has redeveloped heading NE towards Newcastle red and a bit of purple on radar.

I agree with you there, but I think its even worse than that, computers doing the work but with the formula used wrong as well. The chances to get one sided errors on all the forecasts for every location every day are almost incalculably small unless the programs are wrong. I think they must have a + correction for a warming climate in there that just is not happening. A computer error should produce errors both ways unless someone has stuffed the program.

The Lake Macquarie storm looks severe to me. Nice V-notch and moving to the left of the mean flow. I would guess the storm is tracking along the boundary laying just inland from the coast.

Heavy rain with gusty winds and slightly larger than pea size hail just hit Speers Point on the northern shores of Lake Macquarie. Hail stopped around 4:03pm.

Rain fluctuated here on that Lake Macquarie cell with a max rain rate at 54.8 mm/h but that died down pretty fast. Rainfall from the storm only reached 3.6 mm and the wind maxed out at 23 km/h. Unfortunately, we got the weaker end of the storm over here at Belmont, unlike Jaysee and Dali (missed out on the hail ). However, I'm glad I finally got a storm before work instead of missing out on all of them because I was at work.

Gday everyone, how are you all?

Currently in Corryong, Northeast Victoria, very disappointing weather... the trough seems to have been and gone, only a couple of light showers this morning, now a blue sky overhead with mostly fair-weather cumulus... over the Murray River I can see just mid-level and high-level clouds as a result of the trough, not a single cumulonimbus hugging the NSW Snowy Mountains or even in the Canberra direction! Looks like most of the action has headed for the coast. On the plus side, a much milder, drier 30C here, way better compared to the scorching heat and bushfire risk across much of Southeast Australia during the last few days

Anyone been watching the weather around Albury/Wodonga late yesterday? My family, my girlfriend and I drove up from Melbourne during the afternoon, stopping near Wallan (off the Hume Freeway between Melbourne's northern suburbs and Seymour... near where some of the Black Saturday Bushfires of February 2009 started btw), Euroa, and Wangaratta before arriving on the Border at approx. 6:30PM. Just prior to having dinner at around 7PM I was watching the development of a shower/thunderstorm cell to the north towards Culcairn. I grabbed a few pics of it, including a possible hailshaft and a gorgeous 'partial' double rainbow!

The Albury/Culcairn cell crossed the Murray River at around Lake Hume approx. 7:30PM. Took a few more pics of it as the sun was going down while heading along the Murray Valley Highway towards Tallangatta and Corryong, by which time it was on its last legs but had some lovely mammatus to finish off the show. Wish I could share my pics, but I'm on dial-up Internet and haven't downloaded the camera yet, plus I'm reserving them for my future website. Anyone know if there was any lightning from this cell?

Yarrawonga radar sequence from 11AM Tuesday January 3rd 2012 until 2PM Wednesday January 4th 2012...

http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-loop/IDR493-yarrawonga/2012-01-03-00/2012-01-04-03

Frames 44-59 show the progress of the Albury/Culcairn cell.

I am over it, south of me one day, north the next. Where's the tiddly winks set?

Storm was a cracker here in Charlestown.

Had a few bolts drop within 50-100m and pea size hail.

The Bureau of Meteorology seems to be calling for at least the chance of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms for much of Southeast NSW (excluding the ACT) tomorrow... not too sure about that, but I would love to be proven wrong though!

This southerly change is sure packing some big gusts. More excitement than we've had here all summer! Really should have chased north today, but didn't really think the stuff was going to do much. Sounded like a good storm, hopefully someone got pics.

Well that southerly here is weak, the trade NE sea breeze yesterday had more punch around here Ben.

radar is not looking good for even a mill atm, hope I'm wrong!

Our house was struck by lightning last night (South Nowra). Fried the phone, A/C and some melted a couple of light fixtures.

Southerly blew a bit strong and gusty here for a short while about 7pm, than stopped only a very light S now,no sign of any storms,just a few small ones N of the Hunter,might see one tomorrow hopefully.

Southerly is spinelesss once again.Dam I hate this weak stuff.

Nothing is going to happen. This is as weak as it comes!!!!

Very surprising Marts. Was very windy here, and driving into work there was a LOT of debris, and a couple of decent size branches down on the upper north shore. Would have thought the Beaches would have copped it more!

Looking at Obs - Lucas Heights (144m asl) which is about the same distance inland as here (175m asl) copped higher gusts than Bellambi and Kurnell. Terrey hills read 48km/h but I have always believed the site doesn't estimate winds very well. Perhaps gusts were stronger at higher elevations for this change, would explain the difference.. I would have guessed at least 70km/h in these parts.

Not even a rumble here. common ground with this stuff theses day's.I will stay quiet from now on, cheers all !

There is not even the hint of weather happening. Sweet dreams all.

Cooler and overcast this morning with middle to low cloud bought in by the change last night, humid,winds are calm.

The southerly was fairly gusty here at Wolli Creek (SYD AP shows 60-69km gusts).
Shops had trouble keeping the doors closed to keep the dirt/leaves etc out.

Amm off to Greenwell Point for a week tomorrow morning.
Hopefully something happens whilst I am down there.

Mick

Based on models there is a chance of a rumble or two right on the Illawarra / Sydney basin western margin. I expect some cells to get going over Oberon - Taralga. The steering winds may just be strong enough to get a cell or two into places like Mittagong, The Oaks, Penrith, and of course Richmond. Any eastwards from there will be a miracle.

What an epic fizzer that line was yesterday. Got zilch, the temperature didn't even change. A nice SE cut in during the evening, a classic one, with cloud pouring over the Talleganda ranges which means cool air to come and it did, with a nice salty tang. So a cool night and it was 13c at my place this morning with lots of low coasty cloud.

storms? Ha. I figure Saturday evening, maybe.

I agree with you 100% ant! That trough was a near-total failure here in the Upper Murray area yesterday, very disappointing

Unless a surprise thunderstorm pops up in the region later (I doubt it will though), I'll just be waiting until at least this weekend. Hopefully some action will hit the NSW South Coast over the next fornight!

Hope you get some good photographic action AT! The south coast is always nice so it shouldn't be a total loss, but I sure have my fingers crossed that you get something.

I can't remember a big trough line like that passing through and delivering nothing, not a storm not a rumble not a drop.

I managed a whole 1.0mm from the little storm yesterday, low 12.2 this morning with the fog so a little cooler than Ant's. Sunday is still the day to watch, looking quite juicy for the CT's and Sydney, bit earlier for the ACT so will lack the developement there. The storms may in fact peak for the Hunter/Newcastle late Sunday and be best there.

All I’m seeing is another cloud fest for Sunday, so again the coast will probably miss out! This season is nothing short of a joke, seriously!

Do not worry CS22, I feel confident that Sunday will be the most interesting day this week, southerly does not reach Sydney until well into the night, it will be hot and the storms will build big. Models do look quite good.

Its building up nicely to the west of Bathurst now, works lightning tracker showing many strikes near Manildra, Molong, Cudal and Cargo.

Well my fingers are crossed PD! I'm going to be out at the Upper Colo Reserve this weekend, so hopefully something rolls through at some stage.

Plenty of action to the far west at the moment moving east might reach the Hunter later on.

Maybe add Nowra onto that list as well Ozthunder.... The cell to my west could give me one rumble.

On Sunday, beware of warm upper level temps, possiblecloud, more train tracking soundings compared to today.Dewpoints have been good in inland areas today, hovering around the mid teens,and Gfs nailed that! However they're predicting 20-21c dewpoints on Sunday which is always an ask except for maybe the coast.Even if dews were similar to today cape would get slashed to under a thousand. Still cape isnt everything, and with plenty of shear theres always the chance of something nice. But I just get the feeling sunday will be another letdown. Gee I hope im wrong...

Cheers Ant! And likewise mate, hope you can get some good storms closer to Canberra!

Northeast Victoria, Southeast NSW and the ACT may not necessarily be as well-known or as active as Northeast NSW and Southeast QLD in terms of severe weather but nonetheless the region unleashes some great storms, especially in the summer! Fingers crossed for the weekend, especially Sunday, but in the meantime, all the best to those further north who are enjoying the action that I'm watching on radar! Take care and stay safe fellas!

Thnuder and lightning has started here with spitting wind has increased a little all from the west direction and is black as.

It's all happening up north of Goulburn, that's for sure. Lot of high level haze here, and a few forlorn Cu stooging about aimlessly.

Ok, well 00z GFS is out and it's telling me there's going to be a cloud fest right from the start on Sunday, so i'm not going to expect anything.

Yep Coastalstorm, it certainly looks that way. Sunday will be a letdown again, way too cloudy, with, as Pingtang said, traintracking soundings. I would have chased today but alas work has got in the way. Looks like the first real possibility of a supercell now out west of Mudgee, but should run into that rain area and die pretty fast I'd imagine.

I can just barely see the storms raging towards the north around the Cowra/Crookwell/Gunning region I believe (250-300km north/northeast of Corryong)... made a bit of an attempt to photograph them, better than nothing I suppose

Agreed Ben , that was looking like a real supercell suspect but collapsed rapidly, indicating a huge dump of torrential rain and large hail as well!!!

This coming Sunday sort of reminds me of the potential storm day we had two weeks ago, when Dubbo got that nice storm but every where else struggled due to thick cloudcover.Shear looks very simlar to that day, but inland areas had drier air in the mids compared to whats predicted on Sunday.... also the 500mb temps were 3-4c cooler. Anyway, I guess we'll see.. it could happen, but going off almost every setup this season, its shaping up to be yet another letdown.

A couple of scrappy storms on the southern highlands this afternoon. I didnt bother as it was too close to the stable coastal air. The am tracker was going every 5-10seconds at one stage,but going off the tracker I would've seen a couple of bolts at best. The tops of those storms looked weak and fibourous as well. Stoked I didnt bother...

Reports of up to 10 boats missing on Lake Burrendong after a small tornado hit the lake this afternoon according to the Central Western Daily.

This is a whopper of a storm. Currently at work and reports of floods around Molong, Cudal, Manildra, staff cannot access areas to restore power. Many reports of poles hit by lightning in a large area. Most of NW areas of NSW, eg , dubbo, Wello, Narromine , Nyngan, Walgett.. This is just part of the mess that energy company cleaning up at the moment.

Geez that storm heading for Gulgong looks strong!!! It would be difficult to chase though with so much rain around it, but surely it would contain some nice HP structure. Given the mess around it though, in all likelyhood it will die in the next couple of frames.

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/fierce-storms-whip-western-nsw/19902 They are right, its fierce and has caused so much damage, a long time cleaning up this mess.

Argh, Weatherzone bringing out the term 'mini tornado' again

TheAnt, don't worry about the mini tornado term. As has been discussed before, its not that bad of a term anyway. Not ideal but fine, really.

Look forward to any pics that folk might have taken out that way. Sounds nasty.

I am watching that storm SW of Katoomba,it looks to be intencifying to me,looks good on radar,and it maybe moving north.

Hi folks, update from Wee Waa, it built and built and.... ran around us! 6mm total rainfall and a few good cloud pics but nothing else of much interest. radar showed it all going to the north east :-( Our last day in town and I thought we were in for a good show..
Any advice on uploading pictures and I will post a couple of the formations up :-)

Some nice CGs landing off the coast here. Heavy rainfall, managed to get a time lapse up until the rain started. Only got one CG photo I think

Edit: Yup, only the one:

The storm near Jenolan is quite lightning active. It seems to be moving NE towards Katoomba. Most of the strikes are obscured though, from Blackheath anyway.

The BoM haven't really included Katoomba in the warning area but we'll see...

Blizz, looks to be turning directly toward Blackheath to me... Quietening down a little though....

Looks to be headed to somewhere between Katoomba and Blackheath...

Finally after my stupid rant yesterday, lots of lightning out to sea and even a few distant rumbles.
Look's like you could be in for the goods Blizz.

A fair bit of lightning on the southern highlands in the last hour or two it seems, most of it over no-mans land. Usually I would be able to see flashes from this,and also the stuff off the coast, but nup cant see jack, due to the heavy scud fest...

Distinct feel that I am going to be skunked here, all to the north and complete low cloud overcast anyway. I would be happy with a rain shower.

Wow, been getting the odd flash and rumble here for the last hour now, lovin it!

At best, the only storm excitement I got today was distant anvils and a few overshoots from the cumulonimbus clouds bubbling away in the Cowra-Goulburn region. Otherwise, a lovely sunset.

Frequent (but distant) thunder with some distant lightning and light rain at Artarmon (Sydney North Shore).

Yes, near constant thunder here, with random lightning flashes coming from every direction, though like others have pointed out, obscured by low marine cloud.
Looking at the radar, it doesn't seem like there is any organized or intense thunderstorms. Hopefully there is not another windstorm like yesterday afternoon, as this area received some minor environmental damage, have never seen so much tree debris around here.

How has no-one posted about this yet? A heap of lightning and thunder in Normanhurst with extremely heavy rain!

One of the CGs were pretty damn close and made my screen flash. Might be time to turn the computer off.

EDIT: And EXTREMELY loud thunder!

Its too funny that SYD did not see any storms during 2 strong trough passeges the last 2 months but is seeing storms tonight.

Ah what a great show, I'm sure the camera is going to run out of batteries soon...

major thunder & lightening show incoming into Wee Waa as I type :-) will try for pics

how power hasnt been lost on the northern beaches is beyond me... Flang after flang, even I jumped out of my skin a minute ago!

STORY OF MY LIFE: Both Cameras are at work..... Fully charged

Half the northern beaches in my Line of Sight (Bilgola facing south to Manly and beyond)is now currently in a power out My balcony gauage has recorded 21odd mm in 35mins, house is rumbling on its stilts, cat & dog are now located on the ceiling along with house mates! Oh thank you Sydney Weather Sheild! It hasn't blown up like this in atleast a year

Might turn the PC's off as the UPS is getting low, Hope you all have a great night and looking forward to some epic pictures tomorrow morning.

Ouch, these storms sound as bad as the Melbourne storms christmas day.

Well I was not expecting this. A flang fest, I jumped a few times as well corsto.
It's still hammering down with lightning and thunder.
Will post some pics later.

Hey the ant.

The Melbourne storms would rank 10/10. These perhaps a 2/10. Still a nice noise and lightshow, abit more than the mizzle we are currently getting...

My first lightning photo about a year.. thats how pathetic Sydney storms have been. Also my first real flanger in about as long......

Main bolt hit just to the left of this image(right on the edge) and hit a telegraph pole with sparks flying and the usual big blue glow filling the sky afterwards.



Matt

Awesome... a pretty good storm considering nothing was forecast, 'except for the far west'. BoM got this one slightly wrong i'd say - and i wish they would more often! Had to host a bbq but after the guests left scored a few little CG shots on the camera, nothing like Greg and the rest but still happy just to see some, let alone get some on camera.... One bolt came down right overhead and went off like a gun shot!

Awsome shot Matt, still getting the odd flang here, that last one I has not ready for. This is insane!

any hail in any of these storms...hope they make it to the central coast...lightning to the south now and very still and quiet

Should be ok Munga, no hail here, just rain and a good light show, Enjoy!

Some lucky bastard is in Terrigal on the leading edge of this line, nailing some great lightning shots... Wish I could teleport up there somehow. Nice shot Matt!!

Focus appears to be a super-power that I lack. This was nice and close, very noisy!



After I fixed my focus it seemed to mostly be moving out to sea, still managed a couple of alright shots:




Looking at the satellite I hope that's round two creeping up the coast.

Can see the light show in a huge storm top from here to my south over the watagan range.

Wicked shots here already! So wish the storms could've extended their influence a few hundred kilometres south/southwest, or that I could've been a few hundred kilometres north/northeast lol Great job fellas! Keep 'em coming, keep 'em coming!

Heres a couple of shots from the storm tonight looking towards Mona Vale headland from my balcony.
Not as clear as I hoped, having a bit of a fight with the focus and other settings.





Cheers Marty

Just home from work after an extremely busy shift, which will continue on for a couple of days from all reports of the damage!
I think people might of not realised how bad this storm out west really was!
If you had been storm chasing , starting at Parkes, then moving NE, Dubbo < Wellington, Molong, then further north to Gilgandra, even coonabarabran..

I wish i had pics to go with the amount of calls coming in for power blackouts, storm damage, poles and wires on ground! 90km/h winds will tend to cause havoc. I always seem to be working whrnn these massive storms hit!

Shame we also dont have more people on Wz, who can report and give us pics, instead of everyone being in Sydney .. Central NSW gets some amazing storms and i hear about them every year due to my job! The guys in the field are way to busy repairing then taking pics. Although, i have asked to see some this time!

I have 5 more days of work , so lets see what these storms can bring, somehow it wont be as severe as today.. lord help me if they are.. haha

Great shots guys. I was stuck at #@Q&$ work and missed it all, bar a 15 minute period in my break where there was some nice thunder. Glad Sydney got something but I'll continue to whinge until I get something I'm afraid! Headed down to Mona Vale headland after work but all I got for it was a few distant bolts and plenty of mosquito bites.

That tornado report actually was also from the supercell storm Pingtang and I noted earlier - radar loop here. The Goolma road would have been fantastic for that storm, though it was in tough chasing country. Seems like it started west of Orange, and weakened near Cumnock before regaining strength again before dying in the rainy mess. Hoping someone out there got photos!

I would be whinging too Ben,I certainly am as well. I just cant nail a really good chase this season.

Yeah,much of thats storms life occured in no mans land. However as you said, Goolma road would've been ideal towards the end of the storms life! Yesterday sort of reminds me of the storms that occured in this reigon almost exactly a year a go( January 3 2011) . The storm of the day tracked in a very similar direction, however this one actually initiated just east of Wellington. WE made the fatal mistake of going 20kms down Twelve Mile Road. Whilst this gave me excellent timelapse of the rotating RFB at first, we were trapped on this road and had to backtrack the 20kms before being able to chase this storm again. That cost us, we completely missed the supercell that went of to clock the Dunedoo sort of zone with 6cm hail( but you nailed it Ben!!!!)

RE: last night's Sydney storm - Because there was a bit of distant lightning to the SE out to sea and i saw on the radar that nothing much was actually happening near the CBD I thought 'here we go again another Sydney fizzer' but to my surprise it all changed pretty quickly. As those small scattered cells tracked NE over Sydney they merged and became quite organised, turning into one of the most lightning active cells i've seen in a long time! Hardly a second went by without a flash.... just haven't had a chance to download the CG shots from the camera to have a closer look.

A lot of lightning here last night but it was mostly obscured stuff in the murk. Only 7.5mm here in town. Will be interested to hear how aslaws and others fared in Katoomba and Medlow last night?

It was pretty late in the evening so the storm was weakening a bit but when it first hit the escarpment, it may have been a bit stronger.

This from my place, on dark last night:

http://www.blackheathweather.com/generalphotos/storm5-1-12smalla.jpg

Agree Ocean Thunder, phenomenal lightning show, one of the best i've seen. Also recorded heavy rain from the storms, 52mm was completely unexpected.

Has anyone got any more info about the tornado at Lake Burrendong? Might try and do some intrepid reporting later, if time permits.

I got to watch a giant mound of cloud at sunset, it looked like it was around Goulburn, puffing up and hitting the cap and flattening out, but then the next lot puffing up would get a bit further each time. As the darkness fell, it was going on and off like a police light, lightning everywhere.

Wow!

What a great night for the Northern Beaches - it was going insane for a while there! - agreed there was sooo much lightning... it seems like a few people managed to see the show (bummer about work ben!)

I was running around like a headless chook all night trying to get shots which meant i missed a lot of good up close flanges.

Once again it seemed like storms came out of a pretty unusual setup for Sydney? no real heating, South/South Easterly winds all day... Any thoughts??

I've gotta run off to the cricket today but here's a few shots to wet the appetite (note all the rubbish on Manly beach in the foreground)


IMG_4757 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4752 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4641 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr

Yes very strange 6DBTH, you can have all the ingredients there and nothing then a day like yesterday comes along.
One thing i noticed is that a NE seabreeze started up just as the storms started to fire around the Northern Beaches which generally helps storm development around here. Apart from that, we weren't supposed to get anything!


Here's a few shots from last night. There was one that landed so close that it whited out the display screen on the camera! Bummed cos if my settings were a bit different it could've been my best lightning shot so far.

I saw more CGs yesterday here near Cumnock than for the entire 2 years in Nimbin. No heavy rain, but the sky during the evening was spectacular.

One of the best storm cells to hit the Southern end of the Central Coast in a long time. I went out looking at about 10:45 and didnt return home till after 12:30am. During that entire time the lightning flashes didn't stop. It really started hammering the Woy Woy / Umina region till about 11:45 but WOW. I have several shots to download from my camera that I know have multiple strikes.
At one point I had to retreat under better cover due to 5 VERY close lightning strikes in quick succession (2 minutes at most).
Hope for a few more like this...

Here are a few images

Great shots OT and Andrew! - Some nice close flanges!!

Thought id post a few more shots for anyone interested as this really was an impressive show!

Fingers crossed for some more action tonight...


IMG_4762 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4770 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4650 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4785 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr


IMG_4775 by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon, on Flickr

Great shots all !! in the years I have been looking at lightning pics the quality just gets better..helped of course by the digital age.