Parts of Sydney experienced their wettest day in more than two years on Friday after a thunderstorm struck the city, bringing hail and flash flooding and causing delays for flights and trains.
The rain is expected to linger over St George and Sutherland Shire on Saturday with a low risk of thunderstorms but cool conditions.
At Kurnell the top temperature struggled to reach 14.8 degrees at 1pm but a 20km/h south-westerly wind made it feel more like 10 degrees.
At the height of the storm on Friday night, lightning was striking the Sydney basin at a rate of about 1000 strikes an hour.
A hail storm made conditions treacherous on the M1 Princes Motorway from Waterfall to Helensburgh late in the afternoon
Deborah Sharp was on the highway at Waterfall when the storm hit.
“It was crazy,” she said. “Cars were sliding in the hail as they tried to stop and the hail pelted the windscreen so hard it felt like it was going to break.”
The bulk of the rain fell in the south-west with the Canterbury-Bankstown area copping the brunt of the storm.
In the hour from 5.20pm, 58 millimetres of rain fell in Bankstown, including 18 millimetres in just 10 minutes.
A total of 67 millimetres fell in the suburb over 24 hours.
Nearby suburbs including Canterbury, Liverpool and Milperra also received a drenching, but further west, Penrith recorded nothing in its rain gauge.
Sydney Airport registered 30.4mm by 11pm with the bulk of that rain falling between 5pm and 6.30pm. Over at Lucas Heights 6.7mm of rain fell by the same time
Craig McIntosh, a meteorologist with Fairfax Media's Weatherzone, said the figures made Friday the wettest day for Bankstown since June 2016 and the wettest September day for the suburb in 12 years.
"These type of storms can completely drench one suburb and totally miss the next," Mr McIntosh said.
The storm caused chaos for the transport system, with train services delayed after lightning strikes damaged equipment at Campsie.
Heavy rain brought flash-flooding to roads including near Sydney Airport.
The State Emergency Service received 162 calls for assistance, mainly for leaking roofs and localised flash flooding.
Sydney Airport's domestic terminals experienced "significant delays" as a result of the weather, a spokeswoman for the airport said. Qantas cancelled four flights on Friday night.
Mr McIntosh said the storm front had mainly moved offshore by Saturday morning and was heading east over the Tasman.
The remainder of the weekend will be sunny, with clouds clearing on Sunday and a top temperature of 21 degrees that may feel a degree or two cooler.
