Hail, destructive winds sweep across southeast Australia

Severe thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall, destructive wind gusts and abundant hail to portions of South Australia and Victoria on Thursday and Friday. In some areas, so much hail fell that it began to look more like a winter wonderland than spring, and in other areas, the wind knocked out power to over 500,000 residents.

A powerful storm system was the culprit behind producing the dangerous weather across the region. As a cold front swept into the Adelaide region on Thursday, The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe thunderstorm warning as the dangerous storms approached.

While downtown Adelaide avoided some of the worst impacts from these strong storms, its northern suburbs were not as fortunate.

So much small hail fell in some areas that grassy and paved areas alike were completely covered. One local official, Labor MP Lee Odenwalder, even went on Twitter to describe a scene at a shopping center as a "winter wonderland."

As of Friday afternoon, local time, South Australia's State Emergency Service had already been called out to around 1,300 incidents across the state. No injuries or fatalities were reported.

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls, Fairview, a northeastern Adelaide suburb, received 0.87 of an inch (22.2 mm) of rain in a rather short amount of time. Considering the region typically receives less than 2 inches (50 mm) of rainfall on average for the month of October, about half of a month's rainfall in just a few hours led to some serious issues.

Videos from around the region showed hail pelting cars and floodwaters inundating businesses. In some cases, chunks of ice were seen floating in the water.

This potent storm system swept through Victoria on Friday morning, bringing with it a different threat - damaging winds.

At the peak of the storm, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said there were 518,000 properties with our power on Friday morning. This number was reduced to about 271,500 by Friday evening. The AEMO noted that some may be without power through the weekend and potentially into early next week.

As the brunt of the storm hit Melbourne early on Friday morning, wind gusts as high as 74 mph (119 km/h) were reported at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport.

"What we've seen is another extraordinary event in Victoria," Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She went on to say that at the peak of the storm, the number of properties without power in Victoria totaled nearly one-quarter of Victorian properties.

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Transportation around Melbourne was also slowed on Friday morning as all Metro Train lines saw significant delays. Even as of Friday evening, several train lines were suspended.

In addition to all of the hail and wind damage across southeastern Australia, Thursday's storms also created a lesser-known hazard called "thunderstorm asthma."

In the state of Victoria, located just east of South Australia, the Victorian Department of Health issued the first high-risk alert of the season for epidemic thunderstorm asthma on Thursday. According to the agency, thunderstorm asthma is thought to be triggered by a unique combination of high amounts of grass pollen in the air and a certain type of thunderstorm.

This phenomenon can trigger severe asthma symptoms for people who have asthma or hay fever.

Australia is well into its spring season, which is when severe storms tend to become more prevalent.

As this strong storm system continues its march to the east, the cold front associated with it can produce locally strong thunderstorms between Sydney and Brisbane on Saturday, according to Nicholls.

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