James Casey, 03 Sep 2015, 1:58 AM UTC
Thundery start for NSW and southern QLD
A band of thunderstorms swept across NSW and QLD late last night and into this morning, bringing a thundery alarm.
Early this morning the radar lit up like a Christmas tree as over 50,000 lightning strikes occurred across northern NSW and southern QLD. Check out the GIF we posted of the radar loop here
https://twitter.com/weatherzone/status/639208408093208580
These storms have now cleared NSW with sunny blue skies leaving no trace of what was a wet and stormy night. For QLD the storms are just beginning to move offshore.
These storms brought widespread rainfall across NSW and southern QLD distributing a general 5-10mm. For NSW, the heaviest falls occurred in the Riverina, Snowy Mountains and Northwest Slopes and Plains with 18-23mm. The Darling Downs recorded the heaviest rain for QLD with a touch over 10mm.
These storms were caused by a low pressure trough and associated frontal system. While the trough has now moved offshore a low embedded in this trough will slowly move east towards the coast today
Later today an East Coast Low will form causing winds to increase and showers to return along the coastal fringe of NSW. Thunderstorms could also make a second appearance although they are unlikely to be as widespread as this morning. For southern QLD showers should persist until the middle of the day while gusty winds continue into the evening.
Tomorrow will be a much calmer day across the eastern states as a ridge of high pressure builds, pushing the East Coast Low further out to sea. Inland locations will remain mostly dry while coastal areas see the odd shower.
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