Severe thunderstorms caused intense rain and flash flooding in parts of Sydney on Wednesday morning, with more rain and storms on the way in the coming days.
A relatively weak southerly change moving along the central NSW coastline on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, combined with a mid-level trough, caused heavy showers and thunderstorms to spread through parts of Sydney, the Illawarra and the Central Coast.
The heaviest rain fell over Sydney’s Lower North Shore and Eastern Suburbs and on the Central Coast. Mosman received 95 mm in one hour early on Wednesday morning, and 130 mm between midnight and 9 am on Wednesday.
Other notable rainfall rates on Wednesday morning included:
64 mm in 60 minutes at Pearl Beach
41 mm in 30 minutes at Rose Bay and Allambie
44 mm in 30 minutes at Cora Creek, Norah Head and Little Bay
Rain rates above 10 mm in 10 minutes are typically enough to cause flash flooding in Sydney. Unsurprisingly, there were reports of flash flooding around Bondi and Rose Bay in response to Wednesday’s early morning downpours.
More rain to come
Onshore winds combining with low pressure troughs will continue to cause showers and thunderstorms over NSW each day during the remainder of this week.
This wet and stormy weather is likely to affect Sydney and surrounding areas, with potential for further severe thunderstorm activity.
Severe storms are also likely to affect other areas of NSW this week as a broad inland trough interacts with the moisture-laden air feeding in from the Tasman Sea. The map below shows how much rain is predicted to fall between Wednesday and Friday.
Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 72 hours ending at 11pm AEST on Friday, March 20, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.
As of 10am AEST on Wednesday, a severe weather warning was in place for heavy rain parts of the Upper Western district in northwest NSW, due to the inland trough.
Further severe weather and thunderstorm warnings may be issued in the coming days, so be sure to check the latest warnings in your area.