Sydney was sweltering through a day of deadly heat before it quickly turned into a thunder and lightning spectacle.
While parts of the city reached into the 40s on Wednesday, there was a rapid cool change when a number of fierce thunderstorms hit the region.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse told Daily Mail Australia the rife temperatures dropped ‘pretty quickly’ on the coast.
The powerful thunderstorm which hit Sydney Wednesday afternoon was captured piercing from the grey sky right towards to Sydney Opera House (pictured)
While parts of the city reached into the 40s, there was a rapid cool change when a number of fierce thunderstorms (pictured) hit the region
One photo shows an electric purple bolt of lightning light up the grey sky right above the Sydney Harbour Bridge (pictured)
‘Near the airport it dropped about 10 degrees in a few minutes,’ Ms Woodhouse said.
‘Further west it took maybe one to two hours [to drop].’
As many Sydneysiders would have left the house this morning dressed in skirts and shorts, they would have needed a brolly at hand later in the afternoon to cater for the wild storms.
The intense flashes of lightning were captured by keen onlookers, with some impressive photos showing bright bolts lighting up the harbour city.
One photo shows an electric purple bolt of lightning light up the grey sky right above the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Another photo captures the moment a powerful purple bolt pierces down from the dull sky right towards to Sydney Opera House, resembling a scene from a Hollywood movie.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse told Daily Mail Australia the rife temperatures dropped ‘pretty quickly’ on the coast
‘Near the airport it dropped about 10 degrees in a few minutes,’ Ms Woodhouse said
While tomorrow will offer some cool respite for many exhausted by the summer heat, it won’t hang around for long
Ms Woodhouse said the thunderstorms began to come through the city just after lunch, forcing temperatures to drop to low to mid 20s.
The forecaster told Daily Mail Australia the thunderstorms lasted about four hours, bringing with them winds of up to 40km/h in some parts of the region and 19ml of rain.
‘The last few nights have been fairly humid nights, minimum temperatures remained quite warm and extremely sticky and the humidity combined with the system generated a fair amount of thunderstorms across the state,’ Ms Woodhouse said.
While tomorrow will offer some cool respite for many exhausted by the summer heat, it won’t hang around for long.
There is a ‘slight risk’ of thunderstorms Thursday morning in the Hunter Region before the hot weather comes back in time for Christmas.
‘Over the coming days the heat will start to creep in again, it’s the story of summer,’ Ms Woodhouse said.
‘We have a heat wave, then a few days break then start to see temperatures climb again.’