Lightning Show last night

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Did anyone else happen to see the lightning show over Wollongong last night? It was spectacular. I was outside from about 8.30 to about 9.15 (when the rain started) and the flashes were near-continuous all that time. Most were only seen as flashes within the clouds but there were a significant number of long forks, especially at the leading edge of the storm cell. It was the best lightning show I can remember outside the tropics.


PS We didn't get much rain but a college who lives about 4km away recorded 27mm

[multiweb (Marc)]

Had a good rinse in western sydnay as well around 22:30. Lot of noise and lights and bucket loads of water. It's got to be good for the dam again.

[skysurfer]

Here in Mt Victoria (15km NE or Katoomba) there was also a spectacular lightning show between 21:00 and 22:00. Almost continuously. At 21:30 there was heavy rain for half an hour.
At 5:00 I got awake and saw a nice starry sky, so I set my telescope outside the AirBNB where I stay.

[gregbradley]

Yes stunning light show here at Kurrajong which was close to the storms epicentre. A huge storm that was several times the width of Sydney.
Lightning in the clouds about 2-3 times a second some of which was very bright and hard to watch.

Several very bright solid looking blots that hit the ground. Hard and wind for about 20-30 minutes. Power, internet and mobile phone out until this afternoon.

Wow, most amazing storm I have seen except once at my dark site we had a similar storm at 2am that had continuous lightning and heavy rain.

Greg.

[LewisM]

It was weirdly tense here in Canberra. People still traumatised by the prior smasher running around putting cars in parking garages and underground...covering windscreens with blankets and such.

Biggest fizzer storm I've yet experienced. 3 minutes of rain, maybe 4 flashes and bangs and gone.

Apparently the BZoM downgraded it after everyone had run around like chooks. From Severe super-cell - damaging winds and 5cm hail to simply storm.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by LewisM

It was weirdly tense here in Canberra. People still traumatised by the prior smasher running around putting cars in parking garages and underground...covering windscreens with blankets and such.

Biggest fizzer storm I've yet experienced. 3 minutes of rain, maybe 4 flashes and bangs and gone.

Apparently the BZoM downgraded it after everyone had run around like chooks. From Severe super-cell - damaging winds and 5cm hail to simply storm.

You would have been near the edge of it. It was one of the most intense storms I have ever seen. Mesmerising. It was centred more over my area and came from the west.

Greg.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

Amazing light show in Newcastle started about 1.30 am for a hour very little rain but incredible light show got some shots video on my phone but I don't think I can put them up

[jwoody (Jeremy)]

I was at the TOOL concert last night in Sydney. Didn't even know about it until Maynard told the audience that "It is raining "jolly" hard out there" after there encore break.
TBH the whole world could have been blown away and I wouldn't have cared one bit while that concert was on

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Hi David
Certainly wasn't going to stand outside last night during the storm , breaches my Health & Safety regulations. Saw plenty of flashes looking out the window and heard enough thunder and lashing wind and rain to know there was a storm happening, Bellambi weather station says 8.6mm of rain last night.

[RyanJones]

Driving home over the westgate bridge last night I saw the storm come though. As usual the traffic over the bridge was incredibly slow. From where I was sitting on the outbound rise of the bridge I could see the curve of the peak of the bridge to my right. I saw what looked like smoke coming from under the bridge. Next minute there was intense rain, lightning and thunder. What has appeared to be smoke would have been the intense rain being whipped around the bridge by the funnel of wind. By the time I got to the other side of the bridge I could see blue sky in between the white fluffy clouds. Wouldn’t have been raining for more than 5 mins or so but it was really heavy.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

From the reports it seems that there must have been many storms within the system. Down here the rain started 20 minutes earlier in Albion Park than at Bellambi, even though the storm seemed to come from the north west. And the rainfall was patchy too.

Originally Posted by Saturnine

Hi David
Certainly wasn't going to stand outside last night during the storm , breaches my Health & Safety regulations. ....

Oh, I dunno, I reckon it's better than sitting inside with the snakes.

I know what you mean though but neither of us felt unsafe. The cloud was high and all the flashes were within the cloud - except perhaps one ground strike over towards Mt Keira on much higher ground. Once the rain started we were inside and I think that there were more ground strikes then. Of course there was the time I got caught bushwalking across a grassy swamp when a good storm hit. I saw a ground strike within a km on one side and another close on the other side and realised I was the highest point within a few hundred metres. Exit stage left.

[MortonH]

I see a lightening show every morning when the sun rises

[Kirthgersen]

Originally Posted by jwoody

I was at the TOOL concert last night in Sydney. Didn't even know about it until Maynard told the audience that "It is raining "jolly" hard out there" after there encore break.
TBH the whole world could have been blown away and I wouldn't have cared one bit while that concert was on

I was there too. It was a fantastic light storm inside the stadium! And the thunder was mesmerising...