A flurry of dry lightning has ignited new fires in NSW during the last 24 hours, although some welcome rain is on the way.

A pool of cold upper-level air passing over eastern Australia on Thursday caused thunderstorms to develop in northeast NSW and southeast Qld.

Some of Thursday’s storms caused dry lightning, which refers to lightning strikes that occur with little or no rainfall reaching the ground.

The animation below shows lightning occurring across northern NSW and southeast Qld on Thursday.

According to the NSW Rural Fire Service, there were over 110 fires burning across NSW at 3pm AEDT on Thursday, with 55 of those yet to be contained.

Earlier this week, several large fires produced their own thunderstorms by causing large pyrocumulonimbus clouds above the fire grounds, including the one pictured below to the south of Grafton.

Image: Pyrocumulonimbus cloud over the Glens Creek Rd Fire south of Grafton on Wednesday, October 25. Source: NSW RFS

Fortunately, rain will become more widespread across northeast NSW on Thursday night and Friday, which should help to extinguish or reduce some of the fires.

You can keep track of the fires burning in NSW by visiting the Fires Near Me website.