Severe thunderstorms are set to lash the ACT and eastern parts of New South Wales on Tuesday afternoon, bringing heavy rainfall, large hail and damaging winds.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued the weather warning about 11.30am on Tuesday morning.
The alert has been issued for Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra, while thunderstorms near the Victoria border are also a high possibility.
Sky News Australia’s Meteorologist Rob Sharpe has played down threats of the storm, although he warned the state’s south could cop the worst of the wet weather.
“There’s a lot of cloud cover – the cloud is going to keep a bit of a lid on those temperatures and reduce the severe thunderstorm threat for this afternoon for anywhere that’s cloudy through this morning, such as Sydney,” he said.
“It’s sunnier further south towards the ACT and southern NSW so there’s a bit more heat developing there and more potential for explosive thunderstorms this afternoon.
“At the moment nothing is severe because we haven’t had that heat of the day to provide the nasty, stormy weather.”
Sharpe said the north-east corner of NSW and the nation’s capital were at the highest risk of stormy conditions.
“There’s potential in the atmosphere from eastern Victoria all the way up into the far southern range of Queensland for storms but I think the target zone is probably going to be the ACT and surrounds and up near Port Macquarie and Tamworth,” Sharpe said.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for damaging wind gusts on Monday across the North West Slopes and Plains, Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of NSW.
The state copped a battering from heavy rain on Monday, with Dorrigo on the Northern Tablelands copping an enormous 83mm.
Port Macquarie on the Mid-North Coast was also hit hard with 38mm in the gauge.
News Source: www.skynews.com.au
