On This Day In History: Hailstorm Hits Sydney

One of the costliest natural disasters in Australian history occurred on this day in 1999, the Great Sydney Hailstorm.

This historical meteorological event was unusual. Severe thunderstorms that produce hail do occur in the Sydney area, but they usually occur in spring and summer. In fact, hail accounts for about a third of all insured natural disaster insurance claims in Australia, with most of them occurring in the New South Wales, Sydney’s state. However, mid-April in the southern hemisphere is nearly a month into autumn, when the chance for severe thunderstorms is low. If storms do form, they do not become as ferocious as this one.

The storm formed on the afternoon of April 14, 1999, from a cold front moving northward south of the great Sydney area. This storm would move to the north and strengthen. Following the coastline of eastern Australia, the storm would fluctuate in strength, producing pockets of rain, wind and hail. This fluctuation and the time of the year, surprised government meteorologists, delaying the issuance of weather warning.

Its biggest wrath would occur as it moved near and to the east of Sydney’s central business district and the city’s airport in the late evening. For a 20-minute period around 8 o’clock, the storm dropped massive hailstones ranging in size from marbles to baseballs. There were unconfirmed reports of hail reaching 5.1 inches in diameter, which is bigger than a softball. The last time Sydney was hit with such large hail was in 1947.

The storm moved to the northeast and moved offshore, but it still produced hail damage along its path away from Australia’s largest city.

It is estimated that the storm produced 500,000 tons of hail across Sydney and its suburbs. The hail bombardment damaged the roofs of approximately 24,000 homes, dented 70,000 vehicles and damaged airplanes at the airport. A second storm that moved through the area later that night added to the damage by soaking interiors of homes damaged by the hail hours before with heavy rain.

The storm also produced one death. A man fishing in a boat was struck by lightning when the storm rapidly approached. Another 50 injuries were reported. Most of those were from flying debris, auto accidents and smashed windshields.  

It is estimated that the insured losses were $1.7 billion (Australia dollars).  This was the highest insured natural disaster at the time, easily exceeding all previous disasters.

Source: Bureau of Meteorology, Wikipedia

Image: The aftermath of the storm near Sydney. (Michael Thompson via Wikipedia)