Loudest noise I think I have ever heard. http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/sinister-and-extremely-loud-bang-rocks-awake-sydneysiders/news-story/1067fa9a0bc676f5463db734191d6225NERVOUS Sydneysiders thought the worst when they were rocked awake in the early hours by a mystery — and extremely loud — bang.Steph, from Sydney’s lower North Shore told news.com.au “I genuinely thought the Harbour Bridge had blown up it was so loud.“The apartment building shook and the blinds fell down in our lounge room.“My sister lives a block away and texted me to ask if I’d heard an explosion too.”People on Twitter were equally nervous.“Heard a massive explosion from Sydney Harbour. What is going on?” one Tweet, reflective of many, said.“What the hell was that sound over Sydney?” said another. “Wtf was that? It sounded like an explosion right next to me.”Others wondered if it could have been a plane crash or, in the wake of Monday’s attack in Manchester, an altogether more sinister event.ABC News TV presenter Juanita Phillips even took to twitter to tell Sydney she’d driven down to the Harbour Bridge, “with the intention of helping the injured”.“We honestly thought a bomb had taken out the bridge,” she said.Another social media user asked the Twittersphere, “So was the HUGE bang at 5am just thunder? I thought someone just nuked us.”Well, we can indeed confirm it was just thunder. But even the Bureau of Meteorology weather experts agreed it sounded louder than usual.Meteorologist Steph Spackman was travelling to work at 4.30am when the thunder jolted her. “I was at Epping when I heard a huge thunderclap overhead,” she told news.com.au.The lightning cracks appeared to be particularly loud on Sydney’s north shore.“Everyone loves thunder,” Ms Spackman said. “Just not at 5am in the morning before they get up.”Sydney’s rather noisy start to the day comes as Brisbane, yet again, struggles to get to work through thick fog delaying flights at the city’s airport.  Lightning strikes on NSW on Wednesday morning at around 5.30am just as the storm was passing Sydney. Picture: Lightningmaps.org Source:SuppliedMs Spackman said a low pressure trough crossed parts of NSW early on Wednesday morning and hit a southerly change that came up the coast.Combined they created the perfect conditions for an ear splitting early morning weather event.Lightning radars recorded more than 4500 strikes in the wee hours.It wasn’t just Sydney either. Storms hit the south coast, Canberra, Blue Mountains, the Hunter, North West slopes and Tablelands.But what about the volume of the thunderclaps?Morning commuters told news.com.au they were “louder than any thunder than I’ve ever heard” and the sound was “terrifying”.  The storm passed strongly but swiftly over Sydney. Picture: Intellicast. Source:SuppliedMs Spackman has a few theories as to why it probably seemed worse than it actually was.Firstly, many thunderstorms close to Sydney are actually centred offshore meaning the sound weakens as it travels towards the eardrums of the city’s citizens. In contrast, this one passed directly overhead.“It was just a normal thunderstorm but I think people thought it was louder because it was the dead of night, everyone was asleep.“You don’t have the usual background hum of the city at 3am so there’s nothing to compete with the sound of the thunderstorm,” said Ms Spackman.Most of the storms have now headed out to sea leading to what could be a sunny afternoon across Sydney with a high of 23C.
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