After getting home from work, I travelled up to the Hunter Valley, as the storm cell moving SE from the Muswellbrook area was more easily accessible than the ones to the south of Sydney. On approaching the Singleton area, I discovered that the storm had not continued SE down the valley but instead had veered NE and was now heading over area difficult to access by road. As a result I was unable to intercept the storm.





The 2 graphics above courtesy of "The Weather Company" Australia

The first 2 pics below were taken looking north from the main highway ~ 10k short of Singleton. The 3rd pic was taken on a country road NE of Branxton. These pics all show the tail end of this very large cell, the anvil stretched out to the right of the picture.

Click on images below for full size pics



Travelling back down the F3 towards home I spotted the leading edge of another anvil, nicely lit up from behind, coming in from the west. This storm would later intercept the coast near Gosford - Wyong area. The 2nd pic was taken from Morriset, shows the earlier cell, now over the coast north of Newcastle, being lit up by the last rays of the setting sun.

As I got closer to Sydney, I could see there was a major lightshow over the city and region. The cells to the SW of the city were now also moving to the NE. I didnt get any lightning pics of this activity. Between the rain and most of the zaps buried in the clouds, it was too difficult to photo.

I was home for about an hour, then I drove out to Penrith where I was met with torrential rain and a lot of surface flooding. Sheltering under a shop verandah, I did manage to see a couple of good CG's. I finally arrived home again around midnight.

copyright Dave Nelson 2005