Storms developed on a southeast change clipping the Northern Rivers coastline from about 7.30pm Saturday 26 Oct 2013. Jason Paterson and I ventured down to Ballina for some lightning and were treated to quite a nice display. A severe storm developed at South Ballina and caused flash flooding and hail. There were unconfirmed reports of hailstones up to golf ball size but suspect the biggest were about 2-3cm.
Above: Storm still southeast of Evans Head at this stage. Pic from Burns Point Ferry, West Ballina. Quite a lot of sparks were cloud to air. 8.35pm
Above: The activity had become weak until this storm developed at South Ballina. Had to switch to the 10mm lens to capture the scene. Taken from the northern end of Shelly Beach, East Ballina. 9.45pm 
Above: Dogleg bolt. Shelly Beach, East Ballina. 
Above: Not sure where this bolt landed but it was close! Shelly Beach, East Ballina. 
Storm about to unleash torrential rain and hail across Ballina. Taken from Shelly Beach, East Ballina, 10pm.
Michael Bath
Michael – glad you were able to get out – quite impressive! Seems like moisture is moving in and the storm season may come alive. Storms with heavy falls in coastal Sydney this morning.
Michael, are we still going to be concerned about fires or is this the change in conditions we needed. The moist air certainly makes it less ideal for bush fires to thrive as they did in previous weeks.