‘Incredible’ storms smashes major city ADELAIDE WEATHER READER PIC. Lightning bolt at Modbury. Taken from Encore Apartments in Modbury. Picture: Jessica Murdoch.
Adelaide has been hit by a major storm, which delivered golf ball sized hail and left thousands without power. It’s now hurtling towards other states.
Adelaide has been smashed by severe storms in what could be a taster of things to come for much of the country south and east.
During Thursday morning and up until lunchtime, several storm fronts ploughed through the city delivering golf ball sized hail. There are reports that more than 6000 homes are without power, 2500 of those in the Adelaide Hills. Several schools have been closed.
Social media users have called the sudden pelting of the city with hail as “incredible” and “crazy”.
Meteorologists, who had been warning for several days of severe weather across many states, have said further storms could hit the city later in the day.
Pictures are coming in from the city of a multitude of lightning strikes and hail so numerous it resembled snow. Cars and building are thought to have been damaged by the hailstorm.
The cause of the weather drama is a low pressure system that strengthened over South Australia’s west.
“That deep low pressure system has made its way into South Australia with a series of trough and fronts”, said Sky News Weather meteorologist Alison Osborne on Thursday.
“These troughs and fronts could lead to very strong winds over South Australia and then eventually Victoria and even parts of western New South Wales by the end of the day.
“There’s also a slight chance of tornado activity with these storms.”
Winery Seppeltsfield, in the Barossa Valley close to Adelaide, has reported that its office has been flooded. A school in the city has also seen flooding through the rood, reported the Advertiser.
“We’ll get a bit of a break now, but there are still further storms out west which may come through later in the day,” Senior Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Simon Timcke told the Advertiser.
Storm hurtling towards Victoria and NSW
A severe weather warming for storms remains in place for much of eastern SA with the exception of the region around Mt Gambier.
The rain radar shows those storms careening towards the south west and into Victoria.
Almost all of Victoria, with the exception of the state’s north has a severe weather warning in place for damaging winds as the low pressure system comes through on Thursday and into Friday.
Storms could hit eastern Victoria, including Warrnambool and Ballarat, later in the day with Melbourne also potentially in the path.
A severe storm warning is also in place for western NSW including Broken Hill for this afternoon. Severe weather is expected to reach the NSW coast including Sydney on Friday.
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