In the last 24 hours, the lower Hunter had experienced its wettest July day since 1997. The heaviest rainfall was mostly confined to the coast, but falls of over 20mm were recorded as far inland as Singleton. Overall, the Port Stephens shire received the heaviest falls with Nelson Bay recording 75.4mm in the 24 hour period ending 9am yesterday (2/7). Because of the heavy rain and the cool airmass that was present over eastern NSW, the 24 hour maximums recorded in the lower Hunter were the lowest for the month of July since 1997 and the lowest for any month since the winter of 2000.

The showers started to fall on Tuesday night (1 July) and continued most of yesterday. By last night, some of the showers started to ease a little and by this morning only the coast was still receiving rain. A flood watch was put into place for the Hunter and Williams Rivers for yesterday but was lifted as only light showers fell in the catchments.

The cold and wet weather was a result of a low pressure trough that eventaully developed into an east coast low by Tuesday evening. Proceeding the rain there was unstable weather with small thunderstorms developing near the coast. On Monday afternoon a funnel cloud was sighted from a weak thunderstorm near Minmi in the far northwest of Lake Macquarie.

Rainfall and Maximum Temperatures for selected stations
 

	Newcastle		Williamtown		Nelson Bay		Maitland		Scone		Murrurundi
Date	MaxT	Rain	MaxT	Rain	MaxT	Rain	MaxT	Rain	MaxT	Rain	MaxT	Rain
1/07/03	16.7	0.4	15.3	0.2	14.5	1.8	17.8	0.8	15.0	0.0	13.7	0.2
2/07/03	13.6	27.4	12.5	48.0	14.0	75.4	12.5	11.2	11.4	1.0	11.0	1.8
3/07/03	15.3	28.0	15.3	30.2	13.0	51.0	15.2	12.0	15.0	3.0	13.5	3.2
4/07/03	16.6	0.4	16.0	2.0	15.0	19.8	16.9	2.0	15.1	0.8	14.4	1.8
Total		56.2		80.4		148.0		26.0		4.8		7.0

Maximum temperatures are recorded from 9am to 9am the next day. Rainfall is recorded 24 hours to 9am that day. Data is provided by the Bureau of Meteorology.

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