Severe thunderstorms are forecast to move through Canberra and Queanbeyan this afternoon. Image: BOM.
People in the north of Canberra through to Queanbeyan are being warned to take appropriate precautions as a line of severe thunderstorms, with damaging winds and large hailstones, is headed for the capital this afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology warns that severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Boorowa, Jugiong and Burrinjuck.
“These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to the south-east,” said Bureau meteorologist Alex Majchrowski.
“They are forecast to affect Belconnen, Canberra Civic, Hall, Gungahlin and Canberra Airport by 4:15 pm and Queanbeyan, South Canberra, Weston Creek and Woden Valley by 4:45 pm.”
Evoenergy is also reporting an outage affecting approximately 2274 customers in Latham and Macgregor. An outage has also been reported in Ainslie, Braddon, City affecting approximately 944 customers.
A further outage has occurred in Belconnen, Flynn, Fraser, Gungahlin, Gungahlin District, Hall, Nicholls, Springrange, Sutton, affecting approximately 955 customers.
Crews are working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.
Timelapse: severe thunderstorm arrives in #Canberra city centre. pic.twitter.com/DTA8S0GGfh
— Adam Spence (@AdamSpenceAU) December 1, 2020
The storms are being caused by today’s heat mixing with a strong cold front moving across western and southern New South Wales.
Severe thunderstorm warnings have also been issued for areas west of Canberra in parts of the Central West Slopes and Plains, South West Slopes and Riverina districts.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Condobolin, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Young, West Wyalong, Griffith, Narrandera, Lockhart and Darlington Point.
The storms will arrive ahead of vigorous west to north-westerly winds. Winds are expected to ease as the front moves further north early on Wednesday morning.
Wind gusts in excess of 90 km/h have also been recorded in the Alpine areas above of the Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory districts from late Tuesday morning.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should move their cars under cover or away from trees, and secure or put away loose items around their houses, yards and balconies.
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