Severe thunderstorms for parts of eastern NSW
Wild weather returning to parts of the east coast.
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00:00Severe thunderstorms may bring damaging winds or large hail to parts of the central NSW ranges later this afternoon,
00:08with the severe storm risk moving into northeastern parts of NSW from tomorrow.
00:13Let's start by taking a look at today's thunderstorm forecast.
00:17Now, our green areas show us where storms are possible,
00:20and we can see that today they cover parts of southeastern central NSW,
00:24including the Sydney area, the Illawarra, parts of the Hunter and the Southern Tablelands.
00:30Our yellow area shows us where severe thunderstorms are possible.
00:34We can see that that's mainly about the ranges to the west of Sydney.
00:39Storms in these areas today are being triggered by a gusty southerly wind change
00:44that is moving up the coast, bringing some breezy conditions
00:48and extending those showers and thunderstorms through those eastern districts of NSW.
00:53If we take a closer look at our storm risk for today in those areas,
00:57we can see that our severe storms area, the yellow area, doesn't quite extend to the coastal fringe.
01:03So areas like Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong are less likely to see the severe thunderstorms,
01:09but more likely to see the everyday thunderstorms.
01:12They may nonetheless bring some heavy downpours and gusty winds at times,
01:16but they're unlikely to have the strong severe weather impacts that we'll see about the higher ground,
01:22including the Blue Mountains, parts of the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra.
01:26Now in those severe thunderstorm areas, we may see some large hail or damaging wind gusts
01:32with storms through this afternoon.
01:35Communities in these areas should keep a close eye on the radar through this afternoon and evening,
01:40but also keep an eye on the Bureau's warnings page in case we do need to issue
01:44severe thunderstorm warnings for any of these phenomena.
01:48As we go into Saturday, we're going to see that southerly wind change moving up the northern coastline of NSW,
01:54showers and storms across northeastern NSW and southeast Queensland.
02:00Storms, as I said, once again possible on Saturday.
02:03If we look at our storm forecast for Saturday afternoon and evening,
02:07we can see that our possible storm areas, our green areas, cover the far southeast interior of Queensland,
02:14the northeast of NSW, including the northern ranges and northwest slopes and plains.
02:20Our severe thunderstorms possible area, the yellow area, is mostly about the ranges,
02:25but does include the border ranges and parts of the Granite Belt.
02:29Now severe thunderstorms on Saturday may bring us damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall,
02:35which could lead to flash flooding.
02:37If we see these phenomena occurring through Saturday, or if we expect them,
02:41we will issue severe thunderstorm warnings for these parts once again.
02:45Now this type of severe weather can have an incredible impact.
02:49We could see trees and branches brought down by strong winds,
02:53falling across roads and creating dangerous driving conditions.
02:56Hail and heavy rainfall can also decrease visibility, making things even more dangerous on the roads.
03:02And of course we may see some minor property damage thanks to the hail, winds and rainfall that we're expecting.
03:09The good news is though, as we go into Sunday, thunderstorms will start to ease back.
03:14We're mostly just expecting patchy showers across northeastern NSW and southeastern Queensland.
03:20We do have a little bit more shower and thunderstorm activity developing inland,
03:24but those coastal areas will escape the storm risk on Sunday.
03:29Through the course of today, as storms start developing, keep up to date with the radar,
03:33forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website or via the BOM weather app and social media.
03:38Stay safe and we'll catch you in the next update.