The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history. The storm developed south of Sydney on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 April 1999 and struck the city’s eastern suburbs later that evening. The Bureau of Meteorology did not issue warnings in the early part of the storm’s development. It is the only time in history that a severe storm cell has formed in the city in April, despite the fact that it was the fifth time in 200 years that hailstones have fallen in Sydney in April.
About 1999 Sydney hailstorm in brief
The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history. The storm developed south of Sydney on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 April 1999 and struck the city’s eastern suburbs later that evening. Insured damages caused by the storm were over A$1.7 billion, with the total damage bill estimated to be around A$2. 3 billion. Lightning also claimed one life during the storm, and the event caused approximately 50 injuries. The event was surprising as neither the time of year, time of day, nor the general meteorological conditions in the region were seen as conducive for extreme storm cell formation. The 1999 event was only the second time in recorded history that hail larger than 2 cm had fallen in the Sydney metropolitan area in the month of April, and only the fifth hailststorm to strike Sydney during April in the 200 years of meteorological records for the city. Hailstorms have caused more than 30% of all insured damages inflicted as a result of natural disasters in Australia during this period, and around three-quarters of all hailst storm damage has occurred in New South Wales. The Bureau of Meteorology did not issue warnings in the early part of the storm’s development. It was downgraded from a severe thunderstorm to a severe supercell and continued to move north for another 15 minutes while the storm passed over the western edge of Wollongong.
It maintained a severe classification on the next fifty minutes, though not heavily though it did not have a heavily impact on the area over the next 50 minutes. It then veered northward at 5: 40pm and changed direction to the parallel to the coast in a north-northeast direction for the next half-hour. It passed over Wollongs at around 6: 00pm and then changed direction again, this time to north-ortheast. It continued to pass over the west of Kiama at around 5: 15 pm and gained a’severe’ classification at the same time. A weak cold front was moving north along the coast, and moderate precipitation was falling over the Blue Mountains, southwest of Sydney. The meteorological reports and figures, however, suggested that the general atmospheric conditions were not conducive to support the formation of a major thunderstorm. Two instability events had been identified in the greater Sydney area, but both were considered minor by the meteorological agencies. This long-standing belief contributed to the decision not to issue warnings to the Sydney area at the start of the event. It is the only time in history that a severe storm cell has formed in the city in April, despite the fact that it was the fifth time in 200 years that hailstones have fallen in Sydney in April. It has also been the only event in which hail has fallen over 2cm or more.
You want to know more about 1999 Sydney hailstorm?
This page is based on the article 1999 Sydney hailstorm published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
