Hello
Around 2 to 2.30 pm, I watched a small isolated LP (Low precipitation) thunderstorm move across the southern parts of Sydney from where I work at Auburn. While the anvil of this cell was spreading outwards, a small area at the rear of the storm sustained some reasonable structure for a while and new convective updraft towers sustained it as it moved south east.
There was not allot of rain falling from the base of this cell. Another storm cell trailing it merged with it before moving over the Sutherland area then out to sea.
The second storm cell was larger and sustained more moderate rainfall. I understand hail was observed in the Sutherland area. I noted for a brief period that the anvil at the rear of the second Storm sustained small mammatus formations for a brief period.
I observed some intra cloud lightning from the second storm cell as it tracked across the southern parts of Sydney.
Rainfall totals were not significant and looking at the BOM website afterwards for rainfall totals, the highest totals that I could see were around 1 mm in a few southern suburbs such as Holsworthy and other falls were less than 1 mm.
A Severe Thunderstorm Alert was issued with an alert for damaging wind. Later looking at the news bulletins and reports on the storms, the highest wind gust recorded was around 74 km / hour in some suburbs affected by the storm cells.
Harley Pearman