More stormy weather hits Australia

10,000 homes in the west of Sydney were left without power as a severe thunderstorm caused chaos [AFP]

It may be the start of summer, but for parts of eastern Australia weather conditions are anything but summery. On Sunday, more than 10,000 homes in the west of Sydney were left without power as a severe thunderstorm caused chaos. It was the eighth consecutive day of thunderstorms across New South Wales. Now the brunt of the storm activity has transferred northwards to Brisbane. Less than two weeks after being battered by a supercell storm, the city has again experienced damaging weather.

Although not as serious as the November 27th outbreak, northern Brisbane and central Queensland have been hit by a very large thunderstorm.  The country’s Bureau of Meteorology reports that 80mm of rain was recorded at North Burnett. A separate storm caused problems south of the city, and extended into northern New South Wales. 105mm of rain fell in just one hour at Carbrook, south of Brisbane. Damage to property was reported and trees were blown down. More than 10,000 homes and businesses were left without power – almost half of those were along the Sunshine Coast. Parts of central Australia have also experienced unusual weather conditions. A low pressure system, the like of which is usually only seen across the Top End of the Northern Territory has brought thunderstorms to Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Yulara in recent days. 

An active weather front, some 300 to 400km in length, developed to the west of Alice before heading across the town. The first six days of December have yielded as much rain as would typically have been seen during the entire month of December. Although central Australia will see drier weather in the coming days, southeast Australia will experience further unsettled weather with the risk of thunderstorms for several days. 

http://www.aljazeera.com/weather/2014/12/more-stormy-weather-hits-australia-20141289819523805.html