A WARM and sunny day quickly turned grey and wet on Friday afternoon when a storm swept into the Hunter.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) rain gauge at Nobbys in Newcastle recorded 4mm of rain between 3.30 and 4pm on February 16.
A dark storm front hit north of Newcastle and was seen moving quickly out to sea over the Fern Bay area.
The weather station at the airport at Williamtown notched 19.6mm of rain between 3pm and 4pm as storms caused patchy falls.
The clouds rolled in after beach-goers sought refuge from 87 per cent humidity in town on Friday.
Newcastle had reached a top temperature of 25.1 degrees at the Nobbys weather station by mid-afternoon on Friday, while the mercury passed 32 degrees at Scone Airport and 30 at Cessnock, Maitland, Merriwa, and Singleton.
The region should expect a reprieve on the weekend though - top temperatures of 30 degrees are predicted for Saturday and Sunday in Newcastle.
There was only 30 and 40 per cent chance of less than 1mm of rain on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
On the water, the swell is likely to be east to northeasterly at 1 to 1.5 metres, with northeasterly winds between 15 and 20 knots across the weekend.
Top temperatures are expected to remain in the high 20s early next week, before a 30-degree day is predicted for Thursday.
It's been a wild week of weather for the Hunter, with a severe storm wreaking havoc on Wednesday and heavy rain causing flash flooding on Thursday after a downpour dropped almost 30mm of rain in an hour.
