Well, we told you earlier today that storms were coming to a broad swathe of eastern Australia, and late on Friday afternoon, some of the most severe storms are converging on the geater Sydney region.

The beautiful shelf cloud and lightning strike (below) on the NSW Central Coast, just north of Sydney, was captured around 3 pm on Friday by none other than Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino.

And there were some pretty dramatic scenes over Sydney's eastern suburbs as the storms rolled in.

Dramatic skies over Coogee this arvo ⛈ #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/El06TgfW2O

— Dr Darren Saunders (@whereisdaz) October 1, 2021

But while there are some beautiful cloud formations associated with this afternoon's storms, there is also some  seriously dangerous weather about. At 4:19 pm, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a Detailed Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Damaging Winds and Heavy Rain.

The warning forecasts damaging winds and heavy rainfall thast may lead to flash flooding for Sydney and Greater Wollongong, and says the storms are heading east. They are forecast to affect Sutherland and Liverpool by 4:45 pm and Hornsby, Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park by 5:15 pm.

The graphic below illustrates the likely progress of the storms.

Image: The situation on Friday afternoon, October 1, 2021. Source: BoM.

We'll keep you posted with images and reports of flash flooding or other damage.

6:10 PM UPDATE: The storms have passed over the Sydney basin, having dropped some pretty impressive totals of rain over a short period, especially in the city's south and southwest. Some of the readings include:

• Sydney city (Observatory Hill) 3 mm
• Sydney Airport  22.6 mm
• Campbelltown 30.8 mm
• Holsworthy 46 mm
• Terrey Hills 0 mm (the storms mostly missed the Northern Beaches area)

The chance of severe storms will drop off this evening, and only a light shower is likely on Saturday.