Sydney is set to be lashed by another storm – just a day after the city was struck by 7,000 lightning bolts in an hour.
Weather experts said Thursday morning’s clear skies and warm temperatures were simply ‘the calm before the storm’.
Weatherzone senior meteorologist Jacob Cronje said the storm could hit Sydney about 4pm.
‘It’s quite likely there will be some severe thunderstorms over parts of Sydney today, very similar to yesterday,’ he said.
Forecasters predict Sydney will be lashed by another storm on Thursday afternoon – a day after the city was struck by 7,000 lightning bolts in an hour (pictured: Dashcam footage of Wednesday evening’s storm)
The Bureau of Meteorology said they are expecting another storm in a tweet on Thursday morning
Weatherzone senior meteorologist Jacob Cronje said the storm could hit Sydney at about 4pm (pictured: Wednesday’s storm)
‘No warning has been issued yet, but it is quite likely and some of those cells will be severe.’
Sydney was struck by a severe storm Wednesday evening in which at least one plane was grounded after it was hit by lightning as it approached the airport.
Mr Cronje said Sydney Airport could be in the firing line again this afternoon.
‘It looks like the forecast for the airport, they’re expecting thunderstorms from around 3pm possibly, or possible thunderstorms from then on,’ he said.
‘It looks like mid-afternoon we’re going to see some stuff bubble up and warnings issued.’
Mr Cronje admitted the conditions felt ‘unrelenting’ but said the recurring storms were not uncommon for the season.
Mr Cronje admitted the conditions felt ‘unrelenting’ but the recurring storms were not uncommon for the season
The Bureau of Meteorology also predicted another storm would hit the NSW capital this afternoon.
‘Another stormy day expected across parts of NSW today with the possibility of severe thunderstorms,’ the bureau said.
Sydney, the Hunter Valley and the NSW mid-north coast were pummelled by Wednesday evening’s storm.
Large hailstones, heavy rainfall and damaging winds were forecast for the state’s north coast and west to Walgett, the Bureau of Meteorology warned at 8.45pm.
Passengers on-board a flight which was reportedly struck by lightning took to social media to express their terror as the plane was rocked by the bolt.
Severe storms lashed NSW’s east coast on Wednesday evening (pictured)
Large hailstones, heavy rainfall and damaging winds were forecast for the state’s north coast and west to Walgett, the Bureau of Meteorology warned at 8.45pm on Wednesday
‘Our plane got hit by lightning on approach to Sydney just then,’ Nicolas Rakotopare tweeted.
‘Loud bang and lightning hitting the left wing.’
Another passenger wrote: ‘Our plane was hit by lightning on approach, much louder than I would have thought.’
Air Services said they did not receive any reports of lightning striking a plane.
According to estimates from the Bureau of Meteorology, there were a staggering 7,000 lightning strikes per hour in a 50km radius around Richmond throughout the evening.
There were around 100 strikes within 10 kilometres of Sydney Airport.
Sydney was one of the cities to be worst hit by the storms with Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Armidale, Tamworth and Narrabri also receiving a lashing (Pictured: the Wednesday storm rolls into Sydney’s Bondi Beach)
A house on Tulipwood Drive in Colyton in Sydney’s west was also struck by lighning during the storm, NSW Fire and Rescue confirmed.
About 1,000 homes lost power around Hornsby in northern Sydney and a further 500 homes in Dural in the city’s west were also affected.
Sydney was one of the cities to be worst hit by the storms with Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Armidale, Tamworth and Narrabri also receiving a lashing.
Scone, in the upper Hunter, recorded 36mm of rain in half an hour on Wednesday night and winds up to 114 km/h were recorded at Merriwa.
Dust was also whipped up by thunderstorms at Dubbo earlier in the afternoon.