THE limelight has long been on NSW and QLD as a lingering trough generated heavy rain and storms over the last week, but yesterday the focus has shifted south as severe storms fired up over southern Victoria.
The thundery display started at around 1pm in eastern parts of the state. The line of storms then grew, spreading all the way across northern suburbs of Melbourne and into the Western district.
A Severe Storm Warning is current for the southern half of VIC, and rightly so!
Frequent cloud-to-ground lightning has been reported, leading to bushfires in some cases.
Hamilton, in the state's southwest, has bore the brunt of severity as one storm brought a few wind gusts of 100 km/h or more, the most notable being a 140km/h gust, the type of wind associated with a category 2 tropical cyclone.
The area was also deluged with very heavy falls, at times delivering 18 mm in just ten minutes.
Storms are expected to return today, perhaps with thunder from as early as 11am.
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