As though in a thrill of anticipation for the Christmas holiday approaching, storms erupted across almost all of NSW today, in many cases with much potential for severity. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued by the Bureau this afternoon, with flash flooding, damaging winds and large hail a chance with any of the storms. Although falls across the state were not as high as might be expected in such moist conditions (most falls have been below 10mm) there have been reports of golf-ball sized hail just north of Tamworth, and significant gusts. Bathurst even picked up its strongest gust in five years, 104 km/h, enough to start damaging houses and break branches off trees. The most notable event with the storms, however, was the unexpected genesis of a tornado near Nimmitabel in the Southern Tablelands. Although tornadoes in Australia are not as uncommon as widely thought, an onlooker managed to capture what is thought to be one of the best photos of such a system in Australia ever. Tomorrow, storms will contract to northeastern NSW, with more potential for large hail.