WINTER WEATHER LASHES SYDNEY. AUSTRALIA

[tropicana]

THUNDER AND HAIL LASH SYDNEY
Tue Aug 15 2006
5:45pm

It turned black, then white as Sydney was hit this afternoon by one of the first thunderstorms of the season.
Some city streets were covered in ankle-deep hail and callers to talkback shows were reporting the Anzac Bridge covered in "snow".

"There's hail stones all through the street and the cars are finding it hard to drive because it's incredibly slippery. It's about four inches deep - it's close to ankle deep," said Forest Lodge resident Elissa Blake.
"It's totally [like] snow. My little boy is saying, 'Snowman, snowman,' and everyone is out in the street taking photos," she said.

The storm hit inner-city suburbs and the CBD shortly after 4pm.
Neale Fraser, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the hail would pass within about 20 minutes and all of the storm activity would be over - at least around Sydney - by about 6pm.

He said thunderstorms usually did not arrive in Sydney until early September.
"It's quite a decent thunderstorm but not what we classify as a severe thunderstorm.
"We tend to get our first thunderstorm in September. That's the general rule of thumb. They've come a couple weeks early this year."

He said the hail was only "pea-sized" and, unless it was larger than two centimetres in diameter, it was unlikely to cause much damage.
However, the build-up of hail on the roads might cause dangerous conditions for drivers, he warned.

He said the forecast was for a fine night tonight and a fine day tomorrow, although heavy fog could be expected in the morning.

[bob rulz]

Ooh, that sounds like my kind of weather.