4.20pm: No trains are running between Hurstville and Sutherland on the T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line and South Coast Line due to fallen trees at various locations and overhead wiring damage at Mortdale. The Transport Management Centre advises bus companies are being contacted to provide a replacement service but these buses are not yet running. Passengers should delay their trip or allow plenty of extra travel time, listen to announcements and check station indicator boards.
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3.50pm: The Southern Highlands train line is partially closed between Picton and Moss Vale due to a fallen tree blocking the line at Yerrinbool.
Buses have been contacted to operate a replacement service but they have not yet arrived.
3.40pm: The Bureau of Meteorology said storms would hit Wollongong at 3.55pm before moving on to Port Kembla at about 4.25pm.
Destructive winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely.
3.30pm: Reader photos of the storms rolling through the Illawarra are coming in.
3.15pm: Thunderstorms were detected on radars at Dapto, Sutherland, Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park.
These storms are moving south-east.
They are forecast to hit Wollongong, Kiama and Sydney Airport by 3.45pm before hitting Sydney City, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Manly at 3.45pm.
2.30pm: A severe weather warning is in place for Wollongong.
Thunderstorms are forecast to affect Camden, Campbelltown and Oran Park by 2.40pm and Helensburgh by 3.10pm.
Damaging winds are likely.
The next warning is due to be issued by 3.20 pm.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
- Move your car under cover or away from trees.
- Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
- Keep clear of fallen power lines.
- Unplug computers and appliances.
- Avoid using the phone during the storm.
- Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well.
- For emergency help in floods and storms, ring the SES (NSW and ACT) on 132 500.
Earlier: The Illawarra is in for a scorcher on Thursday with temperatures forecast to hit a high of 36 degrees in Wollongong.
It had already reached 28 degrees at 7.30am in the city with the mercury set to rise before a gusty cool change from the south in the afternoon.
Temperatures across Sydney have the potential to hit 40 degrees.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a top of 38 degrees for the city - lifting its earlier prediction by 3 degrees - with 41 expected in Liverpool, Penrith and Richmond.
The city could top 40 and western suburbs as much as 43 degrees if the winds turn offshore before a cool change arrives at about 3pm, Ben McBurney, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said.
"It comes down to the sea breezes," Mr McBurney said. "The air mass is quite hot."
The heat has been building up over inland regions for several days, with 46 degrees recorded on Wednesday at Hay in the Riverina.
A range of towns, including Ivanhoe, had their hottest day in three years on Wednesday, while Wilcannia was noted by the Weather Underground website as the world's hot place on Tuesday with 45.3 degrees.
Despite the heat, the fire danger for the Sydney metropolitan area will remain only low to moderate on Thursday, the Rural Fire Service said. The north western, lower central west plains and the southern slopes are the only fire districts with a "very high" fire rating.
The southerly cool change on Thursday is likely to be a "true buster", dragging temperatures down by 15 degrees or more in a short time.
It is also likely to bring gusts of as much as 80 km/h to parts of the coast as well as thundery showers that will tend towards rain by the evening, Mr McBurney said.
The rain is likely to persist into Friday with widespread falls of 15-30mm from Sydney to the Hunter, and more than 50mm over parts of the ranges, he said.
The change will lower maximum temperatures before they start to climb back towards the 30s or higher for Sydney early next week.
"The air mass won't be nearly as hot as this one," Mr McBurney said.
The last time Hay was as warm as Wednesday was in January 2013 when the mercury climbed to 47.9 degrees, said Agata Imielska, a senior climatologist at the bureau.
"Generally we have somewhere in NSW reach 46 degrees in January every one to two years," said Ms Imielska. "So this heatwave is the type of heatwave or temperature peak that we see most summers."
"The years that tend to fail reaching 45 degrees are La Nina years," she said, referring to the Pacific climate pattern that sees increased rainfall over much of Australia - the reverse of the current El Nino event.
Sydney's hottest day in records going back to 1859 came in January 2013 when the temperature in the city reached 45.8 degrees.
