By Ben

Sydney North Shore Storms 2

More links to other stuff about the north shore and everything and below are thunderdays recorded at my house, Heres the link back to my original site. www.freewebs.com/benns/index.htm

My new site is at http://northshorestorms.0catch.com/Home_page.htm

The third site will be deleted eventually as a transfer occurs.

* = thunder at my house ** = thunderstorm at my house (extra * for another storm on the same day) (?) = unknown 

~!2004 thunderdays!~

JANUARY- THUNDERDAYS 9 THUNDERSTORMS 11 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 6 (equal highest storm days on record in the city for January)

On the 4th, we got the first signs of thundery activity in nearly a month. A weak storm developed on the Upper Blue Mountains and moved east, dying in the Sydney basin (it was green over Katoomba), only giving some brief rain to Katoomba, and some impressive lightning, but not all that frequent. Meanwhile a severe multi-cell developed on the Southern Highlands of the Illawara district, and on radar it was pink. This cell was being watched closely by Illawara chasers at Shell Harbour, and it gave off intense lightning, which struck a tree just metres from them. Some pictures can be found at http://www.weatherzone.com.au/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=001021;p=5 . A possible waterspout (tornado) emerged from the wall cloud which was lit up by lightning. It is not confirmed as of yet. A weak cell developed nearer Sydney towards mid-night, with msome thunder in it, and my brother said he heard some. *

On the 7th, widespread severe thunderstorms developed the Hunter and northwards. Gusts to 122km/h were reported at Tocal, and gusts to 116km/h reported from Scone. Damage was also reported at Singleton, Muswellbrook, Nambucca Heads, Wauchope, Near Tamworth, Moree and South-west rocks, where 2 waterspouts were reported off the coast with 5 hours of lightning. Later as the night progressed, more storms developed in the Hunter, moving further south down to Terrigal, which then moved offshore and produced flickering of lightning out to sea. I of course, slept through it.....

On the 13th severe thunderstorms developed inland. At night these moved into the metropolitan area, mainly southern areas. The Illawara got the worst of it. Gusty winds and heavy rain were reported in the west. As they extended east, they somewhat turned into patchy rain, with people in my area saying only occasional distant thunder, and alot of distant lightning (I was away at the time). *

On the 21st widespread storms developed across NSW, the most severe on the Southern Tablelands and South Coast of NSW, with golf ball hail being reported at Jindabyne for 10 mins 118km/h winds were recorded at Montague Island too. Coonaboldin reported damage also, and Batemens Bay also got severe damage I belive after a severe squall line lashed it, likely dumping strong winds, heavy rain and large hail. It recorded 26mm to 9a.m this morning. Some cells from the Illawara eventually made it up to Sydney. I only recorded 4mm but other areas in Sydney recorded up to 20mm. There were frequent CG's and some close strikes. A few gusty winds in it also, and tiny hail being reported. At night storms formed offshore and gave near constant flickers of lightning. Report can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/benns3/jan21st2004cgfest.htm . ***

On the 22nd more storms developed across Sydney, but later in the day. Earlier a cell droped 7mm at my house, and 91mm/m rain rate. Another electrical storm followed that night, with near constant flickering. More info can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/benns3/22104electricalstorms.htm .***

On the 23rd an early morning storm around 3a.m started off the day, lasting around 1 hr. Overcast conditions remained, but showers and thunderstorms developed in the night and produced the best lightning display in AGES!!! Constant visible lightning with anvil crawlers, CC's and CG's! More info can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/benns3/23104electricalstorm.htm ***

On the 24th more widespread, but more severe in lots of places, storms developed.  4 hailstorms were reported at Shell Harbour, with hail to Golf Ball size. Albion Park also got Golf Ball hail, and Barraba recorded a hailstorm. Newcastle and Williamtown got gusts to 98km/h and a likely hailstorm. Badgerys Creek got 96km/h winds with 1cm hail. Hail was widespread in Sydney's SW Suburbs. Only 4mm at my house from 2 storms.  Rain rate to 56mm/h. I also saw a possible funnel cloud with reports of gustnados and funnel clouds in some parts of Sydney. Report can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/benns3/24104storms.htm ***

On the 25th some storm formed early around 11a.m Not too much rain out of it, about 0.8mm. Not very frequent thunder either, but some were quite close! Another storm moved through shortly after, giving off far more frequent thunder but less rain. 0.2mm. Up N this storm produced heavy rain and 1cm hail S of Gosford. ***

On the 26th some distant lightning was observed offshore during the early morning. Reports of it being very good!. I slept through it. A pulse storm tracked through Singleton in the afternoon and dropped 14mm.

On the 27th storms developed on the ranges, one of the earliest ones around Penrith, it eventually fizzed itself out and only let out occasional rumbles to my house. Nothing much. Singleton got smashed by two nice storms int he afternoon/evening. Golf ball sized hail was reported. Later a small weak storm tracked through S Sydney and let out the odd CG. *

On the 28th the day was looking very promising. However, little turned out. In the evening a storm developed around Richmond and tracked in from the NW, and intensified as it moved towards the coast. I got some massive drops, and 2mm of rain. As it intensified towards the coast it developed a hailshaft and let out some awesome CG's. Hail to 1.6cm was reported, but it was generally below 1cm. Report at http://www.freewebs.com/benns3/28104nicestorms.htm**

On the 30th storms developed virtually right on the coastal fringe. A supercell exploded offshore Sydney, and had an awesome overshoot and beautiful updrafts!!!!! It was simply amazing. At night some lightning occurred offshore, with flashes every 20-30 secs. A weak storm developed in the W Suburbs also.Pic below of the storm offshore.. simply spectacular!

FEBRUARY - THUNDER DAYS 3 THUNDERSTORMS 6 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 3

On the 2nd a squall line formed near a sharp upper trough, and despite thick jetstream cloud, storms developed, severe in some parts. An embedded possible Supercell moved across Sydney's N Suburbs and Northern Beaches (roughly a line from Mount Colah to Berowra). 5cm hail was dropped at Windsor, and golf ball hail at Richmond. Strong winds 80-90km/h were experienced, some gusted 100km/h in Windsor, and an estimated 95km/h at Terrey Hills (done by me, as I was at school when it hit, thank goodness apart from the fact I had no camera). Golf ball hail also hit Shell Harbour and Albion pak and Buxton. I was sitting in class when the first rumbles occured, slowly the storm moved over, and from the classroom I could make out a very nice wall cloud. It was rotating significantly, it could have dropped out a funnel, but I doubt it. As the bell rung it started pouring, reaching 100mm/h+ at times, and finally the winds kicked in, only around 60-70km/h gusts though. It poured for 10 mins or so, I was getting soaked and freezed by the rain and wind. Winds picked up to gusts atound 80-90km/h, and then hail hit!!! Some extremely isolated stones reached 2cm, but most were pea sized. It came down like it was going to cover the whole grass, but it didn't. A strong gust I think around 95km/h nearly blew me over, and snapped off a large branch at the back of my school. The hail only lasted 5 mins or so. Heavy rain persisted until it finally eased to moderate rain, then stopped. IMO around 30mm or so fell from it, possibly more. On radar I got hit by pink/red, but I saved no radar due to a virus that attacked our computer. Here at home we got 4mm of rain, no wind or hail. Per usual.**

On the 11th it was a scorching hot, partly cloudy day, humid as well! A SE change thankfully brought relief during the afternoon, bumping temperatures down around 10c!!!! Humidity however got higher. Widespread heavy storms developed in the Illawarra during the afternoon. Some showers in Sydney too. Some storms developed in Sydney when the cap broken, and alot moved in from the CT's. The first storm brought little rain and thunder, and moved away very quickly!! 2nd one hit in the evening, bringing magnificant lightning and bursts of heavy rain!!! This lasted around 2 hrs and 30 mins before it cleared. Then another storm struck at around 11p.m, bringing heavy rain and awesome lightning with it too! A weaker storm moved through after that bringing only infrequent thunder and little rain! A good night definetly. I got 16.4mm from it... surrounding centres included Turramurra 24mm, St Ives 20mm, Frenches Forest 21mm and Gorden 9.4mm (I didn't get the lowest rainfall yay! :D) *****

On the 12th, storms persisted well into the night, one moved through the Sydney CBD area around 4a.m, and lasted till 5a.m. Once again nice lightning! Very frequent. But it only produced a few rumbles here and no rain. Later in the day a squall line developed on the CT's and eventually moved into Sydney, but weakened majorly, and we didn't even get 1mm from it, but we got a bit of thunder **

On the 15th an unexpected cell developed off Randwick and move N/NE. Lightning started off infrequent, but increased dramatically and then it started letting out CG's! It did this for a while, but my parents prevented me seeing most of it! I got one pulse CG though. It gave off some nice rumbles. Lightning was constant at times.

MARCH - THUNDERDAYS 2 THUNDERSTORMS 0 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 0

On the evening of the 15th a cell developed W/NW of Hornsby, starting out with no lightning or thunder, but eventually started spitting out some. This gave off some rumbles towards here, but I could only make out flashes, no actual bolts from this storm due to a poor view. We got a bit of moderate rain also. *

On the morning of the 18th an upper trough moved up the coast, and storms developed offshore Hornsby around 5a.m, giving some lightning and thunder to the coast, and some possible precipitation. I slept through it unfortunately. Cells in the Hunter on the morning were very powerful, giving 96km/h gusts to Norah Head from a storm offshore, which was a Supercell.It produced a Tornado or two off the The Entrance, taken by a photographer. It further later in the day moved up the coast and produced a hook echo and probably dropped further microbursts at Nelsons Bay and Seal Rocks. Tornadoes were also possible too. It was a giant. *

APRIL - THUNDER DAYS 0 THUNDERSTORMS 0 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 0

This month was so stormless, it is quite sad. Even the faintest things were added.

On the evening and night of the 17th storms offshore produced lightning for ages, quite frequent at times, and could be visible up to 300km away. It was every 2 seconds or so 300km offshore, pretty nice.

On the 18th lightning lasted until 1-2a.m then eased off as the storms moved too far offshore to be seen.

MAY  - THUNDER DAYS 1 THUNDERSTORMS 0 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 0

Another poor start to the month

On the 7th unexpected storms developed in the Northern South Coast and Illawarra districts. Lack of shear meant they moved virtually nowhere so heavy falls were likely. This was the case with Ulladulla, a stationary storm sitting over it for about 40 mins dumped 66.6mm in a relatively short period of time. Hail was also possible in this. East of Nowra also experienced some heavy rain and thunder. Shell Harbour though was by far the worst hit as a severe HP Multicell passed over it. It dropped 3cm hail and 90mm in under an hour. Woolworths was partially destroyed and there was flooding to 1m. No one was killed thankfully. Nothing up here though.

On the 8th storms from the previous evening stayed offshore for the day and didn't move onshore. This led to a lightshow off the coast here, which was relatively infrequent and uninteresting. I was fooled by this though. It picked up to about 3 per second and the structure was evident with it, but my camera couldn't pick up the lightning that far away. To my surprise a beautiful storm line developed from a line from Wollongong to Randwick. The cell from my house looked beautiful and I was amazed when I went outside to see a CC shoot straight through the cloud top! What a site. This led to my starting to film and I got about 10 lightning strikes out of it from 8 minutes (lightning was infrequent but good). My camera doesn't like darkness as you know so the pictures didn't turn out as great as planned! It gave off a few audible rumbles of thunder. Nice to hear that sound! I later learnt the storm dropped a tornado roughly off Kurnell. Two reports of that funnel. A picture below also (the one with no funnel is mine. *

JUNE - THUNDER DAYS 1 THUNDERSTORMS 1 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 0

On the 10th unexpected storms developed on the coastal fringe in the Illawarra, as a pre-frontal trough moved up the coast. Most storms clung to the coast, apart from one that developed near Camden and moved NE over Seven Hills, then died before it hit Hornsby (my house). Some powerful lightning was seen to the east, and some very strange sounding thunder cracks, but all it suceeded in doing was making me even more storm starved (Seeing as thr storm didn't go over me). Eastern Suburb areas (particularly SE), got very heavy rain, such as 55mm at Kensington, 52mm at Rose Bay, and 51mm at Randwick. I received 1.4mm. These places also got small hail, and Sydney Harbour AWS got 85kmh gusts from outflow winds. I got 60kmh gusts frm the outflow winds. I suppose this is technically got a thunderstorm, but it is included as one anyway, seeing as it was the day that has come closest to a storm being over me. Being technical - it is not included as a thunderstorm day.

JULY - THUNDER DAYS 0 THUNDERSTORMS 0 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 0 HAIL DAYS 1

On the 6th a front moved up the coast, and storms developed offshore and gave a distant light show, wasn't all that spectacular.

On the 17th a severe cold front moved up the coast with the help of a developing ECL. The air was so cold that it gave us one very light hail shower just before 4p.m that lasted 1 min or less. Then another unexpected heavy hail shower than lasted about 3 mins. The hail was grain sized. The cold air brought the best snowfalls in 3 years to the Central Tablelands, and the best in 10 years on the Southern Highlands. Lightning was observed offshore also as storms fired offshore.

 

~!2003 thunderdays!~

JANUARY- THUNDERDAYS 3 THUNDERSTORMS 1 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 1

6th January- Some night lightning from a decayed storm. 5 rumbles thunder heard.*

8th January- Bad lightning few rumbles heard. Very strong winds from a southerly buster *

21st January- Weak storm not much rain at all. Like all other January storms.Alot more thunder though.**

FEBRUARY- THUNDERDAYS 4 THUNDERSTORMS 3 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 3

10th february- Awesome gust front. 10mm of rain dropped and some reasonably strong winds.** (SEVERE at Bankstown, 2cm hail)

12th february- Rumbles heard from a thunderstorm that was just north of me. A CC strikes and 4 CG strikes were seen.*

15th february- A weak storm and rotation heard from some places. Very little rain.**

22nd february-Early morning thunderstorm. Bad lightning as thanks to the cloud cover but 44mm dropped. Very much needed.** (Severe, very heavy rain)

MARCH-THUNDERDAYS 5 THUNDERSTORMS 3 THUNDERSTORM DAYS  3

On the 8th lightning was visible to the west with some nice anvil crawlers.No thunder heard.

On the 9th some weak lightning activity was spotted out to sea . No thunder heard.

On the 10th slow moving thunderstorms that had developed in the hunter moved south and dumped rain up to 57mm at west pennant hills and 32mm around hornsby. Flooding was visible at monavale and 92mm+ rainfall reported at gosford. The occasional rumble was heard and visibility was decreased to 2m.** (Severe in some N suburbs)

On the 11th conditions remained unstable and storms out to sea developed and decayed over land bringing a little light display and some rumbles of thunder.A weak storm occured around 8:30 p.m giving a few nice CC's and a nice CG.**

On the16th there was a great light show out to the east.. SPECTACULAR! Millions of CC's , great anvil crawlers and some distant rumbles. Lightning ranged from each flash to half a second to 4 seconds. It was definetly the best this place has seen in a long time! The storms out to sea were most likely supercells making it even greater with people watching the radar very amazed.*

On the 29th weak embedded thunderstorms were associated with a rainband. There were a few nice glows of lightning and some nice rumbles.**

On the 30th a severe thunderstorm occured around liverpool/parramatta areas and dumped heavy rain in some areas, hail was reported up to 2cm. * (SEVERE)

APRIL-THUNDER DAYS 3 THUNDERSTORMS 1 THUNDERSTORM DAYS 1

On the 4th at 2:40a.m to 3:00 a.m lightning was seen out to sea from isolated embedded thunderstorms. Several close strikes gave several rumbles of thunder, but not loud.*

On the 12th at 2:20 a.m in sydneys north-eastern suburbs around avalon there were CG's dropped nearly every 10 seconds.. No hail was reported and no significant rainfall was produced. Large drops occured  (I myself was alseep, only got a report of this) (?)

On the 27th heavy showers and rain affected eastern NSW. Some decent totals were recorded during the day, but it no one was expecting what happened that evening. In the evening heavy torriental rain developed with thunderstorms developing in the sydney region which formed in moist humid NE winds. The storms headed SW. Storms first developed around hornsby. Heavy rain , some CG strikes and parts of the sydney region experienced flooding, like my backyard absolutely flooded and water was all on the paving with the pool overflowed. Known totals were 132.5mm at eastern wahroonga to 115mm at homebush which 96mm at homebush fell in 3 hours, a 1 in 20 year event! ** (severe)

May- Thunder days 2 Thunderstorms 1 Thunderstorm days 1

On the early morning of the 4th, lightning was sighted offshore with the distant rumble of thunder from a heavy thunderstorm.I once again slept through it. *

On the 13th thunderstorms in the morning which developed in unstable E'lly winds with a trough offshore produced local flash flooding. 20+mm was recorded in 10 mins.** (Severe)

On the 24th Showers and thunderstorms developed thanks to an unstable airmass from a trough offshore and in the west. I observed some offshore lightning and some nice deep rumbles. They are mostly thought of thundery showers though. Another deep rumble occured around 4. *

June- Thunder days 1 Thunderstorms 0  Thunderstorm days 0

On the 4th a thunderstorm moved in from the NW and causes power outages in some western suburbs, with a gustfront , and heavy rain associated with this.

On the 25th I was woken by thunder at 7:04 a.m then heard a second rumble at 7:06a.m. It was obviously a very weak thundery shower, never the less it is a thunder day. *

On the 30th, thunderstorms developed offshore, most of it in the hunter, however and shower that passed through before gave small hail near penrith then moved offshore around avalon and turned into a thunderstorm and gave a CC light show, not very active, no thunder heard.

JULY- Thunder days 1 Thunderstorms 0 Thunderstorm days 0

On the 2nd a thundery shower approached at around 5:30p.m . It rumbled a few times then died. Hail was reported from alot of coastal areas , parts of the north shore and in the CBD. Wahroonga, St Ives, Hornsby, etc missed out but Roseville got something. Later that evening a storm developed off avalon and gave a decent lightning show (only glows cause of scud) and that went on for an hour or so and gave some nice rumbles. Shortly after that another storm developed SE of the North shore and became nice and lightning active and gave some nice very deep rumbles. Sydney does get some lovely weather sometimes! *

AUGUST- Thunder days 1 Thunderstorms  0  Funnel Clouds- 1 Thunderstorm days 0

On the 5th  widespread thunderstorms developed on the southern and central ranges in a trough. STA's were issued and Canberra got hail. As storms moved onto the coast we got the odd rumble of thunder and very light rain. We had a blackout because of strong winds earlier before the light rain, with the rumble or two.*

Well the 18th was the day where I saw my first funnel cloud. More pictures than just this one though, this was just the clearest. There were many congestus offshore today, at in the evening Sydney's Northern Beaches and North Shore were greeted to a lightning show, strikes infrequent I have reported this to the bureau. Pic was taken from my roof.

SEPTEMBER- Thunder days- 1 Thunderstorms 0 Thunderstorm days 0

On the 10th storms formed on the South coast and moved up the coast slowly producing 12mm at Moruya. This moved offshore and produced sheet lightning offshore, which wasn't very frequent. No thunder heard.

On the 12th severe storms developed in SE NSW (SW slopes, Southern Tablelands and South Coast)with large hail reported near Batlow (Snowy Mountains). This was the first sign the severe thunderstorm season had started. Plenty of red and pink cells, the South Coast and Tablelands were repedively hit. These later reached Sydney in the evening, producing a CA and a rumble of thunder here. I do not class this as a storm. However, down south around the Sutherland Shire intense lightning and thunder was reported and quite heavy rain fell. These later moved offshore and produced the occasional flash of lightning. It rained quite heavily for a while here. The radar loop is here http://www.bsch.au.com/sydney_loop.gif , big thanks to Ben Quinn from the BSCH. Later storms developed in NE NSW, but were not as severe. A radar loop of this is here http://www.bsch.au.com/grafton_loop.gif  thanks again to Ben. Unfortunately Ben doesn't have a loop to the activity that happened in Canberra.*

On the 22nd/early 23rd storms came in to the Wollondilly area and Central tablelands areas from down SW. Some of these could have reached into Sydney (reports of lightning in Campelltown area). Some strong winds in western Sydney too. Very little rain. A roof was blown off in Goulburn from around 55kt winds and 95km/h winds were reported from Buxton.

OCTOBER- Thunder Days 4 Thunderstorms 4 Hail days 1 Thunderstorm days 3

On the 2nd a storm developed just N of me and moved across Avalon hitting it rather hard with green and pink bits. Heavy rain and maybe some hail was experienced in this. Pic of this from Boris http://www.boomspeed.com/invinciboli/avalonstormboris.JPG *

On the 5th thunderstorms developed early on the ranges these eventually moved across the Sydney metropolitan region and dumped 12mm at my house. Rain rates were 14mm/h. Nothing severe but there were a few powerful CG's and flangs. Some nice CC's too. It was interesting to see how they intensified as they neared the coast. Core of the storm when it here is this link. http://www.boomspeed.com/invinciboli/radarimage5oct.png . No pictures because I was bowling. **

On the 18th a severe storm developed (a possible supercell) early in the day at Bowral dumping heavy rain and small hail for 5 minutes. Storms were not forecasted on this day. This moved first towards the east, then more north-east then to the north then to the north west before a squall line formed. The storm cell was red for 2-3 hours and moved in strange directions. This pushed into the western part of the Sydney basin producing moderate rain and thunder. I went up to the oval and saw some anvil crawlers to the south-west. The strong cell quickly died SW whilst other green bits and pink bits developed SE of Penrith. This lasted a short time before the squall line turned into showers. I recorded 5.2mm of them. *

On the 19th a squall line developed on the ranges on a trough and moved east. Dubbo recieved hail and strong winds. This did some wind damage in its path, the squall line stretched pretty much from Moree to Yass. However, when it moved off the ranges the western suburbs got some thunder, but it virtually just turned into a line of squally showers. A squally shower and strong winds and heavy rain accompanied this, but it moved offshore quickly after becoming heavier rain near the coast. I observed some lightning to my North-west.

On the 24th a hailstorm occured at Penrith. Only small stones. This storm weakened rapidly as it moved east and did little as it neared the coast.

On the 25th some drizzle started off the day for a big storm day. By 11a.m storms were already popping on the ranges, a particular large one. This built into a supercell and produced a tornado and tennis ball sized hail in NW Sydney suburbs. I got the storm and had very heavy rain, some hail (max size 2.3cm, spiky rock shaped)  I recorded 24mm. Lightning was very frequent and flangs were awesome. It was definetly an awesome day, the best storm since December 22nd 2002. Radar image can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/bennsradars/Sydneysupercellloop.gif . Courtesy to the BoM. 2 storms were recorded all up for the day, even though it seemed like 1! It was from 2 seperate cells. Many places had hail cover that looked like snow, absolutely spectacular. Many other severe storms occured in NSW also, the tracker was crazy. Sydney's sounding was decent also. The thunder lasted 2 hours. *** (SEVERE) A picture of some of the largest hail (around 2cm) we found on October 25th.

On the 28th a deep low (988hpa at Griffith) tracked across NSW, but had a major lack of moisture. It produced little of any storms during the day. However, at night as the low ran into more moisture the ACT had a few lines of storms go through producing hail (pea sized). A storm developed SE of Mudgee around 9 and tracked SE into Sydneys Northern Suburbs and produced some rumbles, one flang over my place. I only heard 5 rumbles or so, this was because the storms (like many others) were moving at 100+km/h. It moved off to the CBD then out to sea. No more thunder was heard at my place after that but some was heard at Nowra early next morning. Green was on the radar as the cell approached, but this died out. There was dust in the air so when the rain fell it fell with mud, which made things very dirty... **

NOVEMBER - Thunder days 5 Thunderstorms 4 Hail days 0 Thunderstorm days 4

On the 2nd unexpected storms developed on an upper trough and cold front which started in the ACT and spread northwards. When these made it to Sydney heaps of suburbs reported pea sized hail in the NW , W, SW and Southern Suburbs. Most eastern and Northern Suburbs missed out (like me) I heard some thunder to the west and north several times as thunderstorms passed west of me and intensified which was really annoying. 2 hailshowers and thunderstorms were reported at Mount Colah. Eventually some moderate rain affected me but didn't produce much rain, but the temperature dropped to 13c from 21c and cold S'lly winds were experienced gusting to 70km/h at times. This calmed down after a while and skys became clear. How the storms dodged my area really pee'd me off. *

On the 16th it was very warm early morning before a S'lly change moved though around 10a.m. I thought it pretty much ruled off the storms. However, it was a shallow change and took ages to move inland, and this triggered a massive squall line across the state, stretching from around Walgett down to Merimbula on the S coast. This moved across, having severe features on the ranges with lots of red etc and moved onto the coastal plain, but weakening consistantly. I heard some massive flangs and very close strikes, got some big drops and some nice lightning, and the squall line type of feature (only saw a bit of it cause it was cloudy from the S'lly). A STA was issued for the Central tableands and Slopes. No radar as the radar had, of course, crashed.**

On the 20th a broad trough was moving across NSW. Eventually, storms moved off the ranges onto the coastal plain, intensifying in the basin to pink (which it would have hit my house with pink if it hadn't weakened nearer the coast). This moved over me as yellow and produced very infrequent thunder and some big fat drops of rain. I got 5.6mm out of the storm. No reports of damage.**

On the early morning of the 21st (1a.m) a massive band of thundery rain moved in from the W/NW and produced 55mm at Richmond and 32mm at my house (which brought the total 37.6mm to 9am). Some extremely loud rumbles of thunder, it woke me up scaring the life out of me. Very very bright flashes too, some of the brightest I have seen. What can I say, spectacular! Unfortunately this did not last long and the band weakened into rain, but stayed heavy.It lasted around half and hour or so. **

On the 23rd a weak storm developed in Sydney's west. I spotted a shelf cloud and a CG. No thunder heard though. It moved off the Blue Mountains.

On the 30th a great storm occured, the best of the month.. A nice big area of red developed on the lower Blue Mountains and moved into the Sydney area and producing a nice wall cloud and spectacular lightning. Very close CG's and near consant thunder. Hail to 1.5cm, squally winds and very heavy rainfall reported in some suburbs. No pics due to crappy computer. I managed to take a few pics of the wall cloud which dropped scuddy funnels and some lightning on film which turned out crap. I only recorded a tce of rain. ** (SEVERE in some suburbs) Report http://www.freewebs.com/benns/nov30thand3rddec2003.htm 

DECEMBER - Thunder days 5 Thunderstorms 10 Funnel Clouds 1 Thunderstorm days 4

On the 1st weak storms developed on the eastern ranges and moved into the basin producing a few rumbles to my west. These died as they moved east however. *

On the 3rd a freaky lightning active storm occured. Got me scared, heaps! Some moderate rain in this, around 18mm at Penrith from it. Some of the closest lightning strikes witnessed in my life. Flash flooding in the west. Report  at http://www.freewebs.com/benns/nov30thand3rddec2003.htm .** (Severe in the west) Pic of a distant shelf cloud.

The 4th of December was an interesting day. Suprisingly I awoke to Blue Skys, excellent!. Shortly after midday tcu became extremely active everywhere, with some storms overshooting the Hunter!! (where a small tornado was sighted at Lake Macquarie, destroyed 4 homes). A beautiful storm line pushed in from the W/SW later in the day, magnificant structure and all, beautiful leading guster etc. As the guster was over me I also spotted a Rain free Base (RFB) 102km/h winds were reported at Badgerys Creek, 91km/h winds at Sydney Airport, Hail at Warragamba Dam and rain rates to 165mm/h at Roseville! I myself got only 3mm. The main feature of this storm was structure and lightning. The lightning was even better than the 3rd! Several CG's extremely close, extremely loud, with one striking a tree 100m away from me! Scaring the life out of me, and causing me to limit lightning photography to my backyard. There will be pics etc up later when I can get them on the comp. ** (SEVERE) (A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS OBSERVED THIS DAY, REPORT AT http://www.freewebs.com/benns2/thursdec4th2003.htm )

On the early morning of the 5th a storm that didn't contain much thunder moved in from the Blue Mountains. Thunder was reported for 1 hr and 30 mins, but only a rumble every 5 mins or so. I am not sure if this occured here, but it is likely it did. **

Around 5a.m on the 12th, a electrical storm ripped through, dropping brief heavy rain, and alot of lightning. As the sun was rising, colours filled the sky with lightning in it, it was beautiful! I'll put some video stills up if today is worth a report. After this another storm came through, but turned to thundery rain. I went back to bed again after this, but yet again 1 hr later I was woken by another storm that lasted 2.5 hrs, eventually clearing. After this cleared, shortly after, another storm occured, but only brief. Very briefly after that one, another storm occured! Then again a few more storms passed through, with me getting hit by pink on the last storm, with rain rates to 91mm/h.  Pictures can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/benns2/dec12thmcs.htm with radar being up there shortly also. Thunder lasted around 12 hrs today, seriously awesome! ******** (SEVERE)

Year 2003-

Thunder days:  35

Thunderstorms: 27

Thunderstorm days: 18