Severe storms hit NSW and SE Queensland with hail and outages

Severe storms driven by a cold front and an unstable, humid airmass battered large parts of New South Wales and southeast Queensland on Friday and Saturday, bringing intense lightning, large hail, damaging winds and widespread power outages. The system produced storm cells that swept from central NSW into Queensland, striking suburbs north and west of Brisbane and across much of northern and eastern NSW.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the outbreak was triggered by a trough and cold front colliding with warm, moist conditions. Between 2pm and 7pm on Friday, about 400,000 lightning strikes were recorded within a 500 kilometre radius of Dubbo. Hail and wind reports were widespread. In NSW, central west and northwestern communities reported hailstones around 3 centimetres wide, while in southeast Queensland several locations including Samford, Caboolture and Ipswich recorded hail up to 5 centimetres in diameter. Forecasters also recorded a particularly severe storm near Coonabarabran and large hail in suburbs of Sydney and around Dubbo.

Bureau senior meteorologist Dean Narramore described it as a broad event. "It was a huge storm day right across NSW and a sure sign that the spring...