Australia was hit by more than 1.1 million lightning strikes on Sunday, setting a record of sorts. Central Australia, Queensland and South Australia reported thunderstorms, according to meteorology service Weatherzone’s lightning tracker. During these storms, several lighting strikes happened, shocking experts.
In Uluru, a whopping 719,068 lightning strikes occurred, striking an 800-kilometre area because of a massive band of storms. South-east Queensland faced heavy rain and storms and witnessed lightning strikes 328,627 times.
Around 95,000 lightning strikes happened over northern Australia, 9News reported.
Experts were surprised to see a high amount of lightning strikes in regions where they are normally rare.
“The most remarkable concentration of storm and lightning activity was in Central Australia and arid parts of South Australia and eastern WA, where any amount of lightning tends to be much less common,” Weatherzone said.
The storms were a result of two separate troughs. One of them was over central Australia, while the other was over eastern Australia.
Heatwaves and thunderstorms in Queensland
Queensland is facing the likelihood of more thunderstorms and heatwaves, packing in extreme weather conditions in the coming days. The Bureau of Meteorology issued an emergency warning and said the high temperatures might pose a health risk in the Cape Peninsula area.
On Sunday, in south-east Queensland, several concerts were cancelled and thousands of people were evacuated during the severe storm.
Three concerts that faced the brunt were A Day on the Green outdoor concert, British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Sirromet show, and a concert by Take That who also called it off for safety reasons.
On a bull farm at Dalby, Queensland, $30,000 worth of hay bales were struck by lightning and caught on fire.
