Sydney storms 16 December 2010
During my lunch break today, I was able to go up to the top level of the Auburn Council car park and photograph some storm activity over Auburn. The two photos provided are looking north from Auburn. During this time, a reasonably heavy rain shower was occurring and thunder was audible so I had to be careful of not being on the car park roof for too long.
Not long after I took these, a much more significant thunderstorm occurred over Western Sydney although the core largely missed Auburn. The worst affected areas included Blacktown, Penrith and Richmond. I am aware of marble sized hail at Blacktown, flash flooding being reported around Penrith and Richmond and power loss in some areas from lightning strikes.
The most intense part of the storm occurred over Penrith where 50 mm of rain fell. Box Hill received 43 mm of rain and 34 to 39 mm of rain fell around Blacktown and Baulkham Hills. My two photos are provided below.
At Auburn rainfall was much lower being in the 9 to 13 mm range only because the more intense cells passed to the west or just to the north of the suburb.
Harley Pearman
