Maitland has escaped the worst of the severe storms during the past week but experts predict there are more to come.
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The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe storm warnings for Maitland and the Hunter for seven consecutive days last week with the worst hitting the area on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Lightning struck one car as it travelled the Hunter Expressway during the Wednesday night storm but no one was injured.
WeatherWatch meteorologist Don White said temperatures had been consistently above 30 degrees last week and that more of the same was likely.
“Maitland experienced a couple of severe storms and they will be around again for a few days this week,” he said.
“Wednesday and Thursday should see storms again, whether they will be as bad as last week is difficult to say.
“Storms are always severe, they form in an area but are only severe in a fraction of that area, like if you happen to be near the actual formation of the storm cell.”
Mr White said the hot temperatures and high humidity combined to make ideal conditions for the storms to form.
“It’s summer, it’s hot, it’s humid, we’ve got a stagnant weather system, a low pressure system over NSW and this one has hung around for about five or six days, which is unusual,” he said.
“There is a high in the Tasman that is bringing moisture as well and they are almost feeding off each other.”
Maitland has had 60mm of rain already in December with the bulk arriving last week.
Wednesday night’s storm dropped about 28mm with another 25mm falling over Maitland on Friday.
As well as the rain, residents have seen plenty of lightning strikes and strong winds.
Do you have any storm pictures?
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