A severe thunderstorm is barrelling toward Sydney, bringing with it the possibility of huge downpours, life-threatening flash flooding, damaging winds and hailstones.
The large weather system was passing over the Blue Mountains and western Sydney by late morning and is set to hit the city about midday.
The Bureau of Meteorology warns the storm could bring deluges of up to 40 millimetres of rain in just half an hour. Early on Monday, one weather gauge west of Newcastle recorded 45 mm in 30 minutes.
“We are expecting to see those thunderstorms bring the potential for heavy rainfall in a short period of time,” BOM meteorologist Helen Reid said.
“People should be mindful of damaging wind gusts, which could be above 90 kilometres per hour, and the possibility of hail greater than 2 centimetres.”
The weather system is large and is likely to cover most parts of Sydney. The thunderstorms are forming on a surface trough in a moist, unstable air mass in inland NSW, with an upper trough moving them across the state towards the east coast.
“I think everyone will be copping a bit of weather today,” Reid said.
The bureau warns that Gosford, Sydney, Orange, Katoomba, Dubbo and Parkes are of particular concern.
Further thunderstorms could hit Sydney into the late afternoon and evening, and the bureau is predicting the chance of less severe thunderstorms on Tuesday before things ease off on Wednesday.
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