Sydney's night sky was lit up by an average of 24 lightning strikes a minute during Monday night's downpour, Weatherzone said.
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During a three-hour period from 7 to 10pm, Weatherzone's Total Lightning Network detected 4367 strikes from clouds to the surface and between clouds within a 40-kilometre range of the central business district. The map below shows every strike compressed into 60 seconds
Combined with an earlier thunderstorm on Monday, the network detected a total of 5184 strikes within the 40-kilometre zone during the day.
By comparison, the city collected 6224 lightning strikes in April during a period when a big east-coast low-pressure system prevailed - but that was over several days and the tracking covered a 60-kilometre radius of the CBD.
Monday night's intense thunderstorm cell dumped 22 millimetres of rain in a 10-minute burst over Observatory Hill at its height at about 10pm, said Weatherzone's Alex Zadnik.
"Rainfall of this intensity is uncommon in mid to late winter, as typically the atmosphere tends to be cooler compared with other times of year, which in turn means less moisture for severe thunderstorm development," Mr Zadnik said.
"This type of rainfall intensity is usually associated with the most severe storms during severe thunderstorm season, which is defined as October to April for eastern Australia including Sydney," he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also described the current east-coast low as atypical given the warmth of the air mass involved.
While the storm may be a taste of what's ahead for the warmer months of the year, it also serves as a reminder that the intensity and frequency of such events will likely increase in the future with climate change.
The atmosphere can hold about 7 per cent more moisture for each degree of warming, adding to the potential potency of rain events, climate scientists have long known. The planet has warmed about 1 degree since pre-industrial times with the rise of greenhouse gases that trap more of the sun's radiation regarded as the primary reason for the increase.
Leaders will gather in Paris later this year to negotiate a climate treaty aimed at keeping warming to less than 2 degrees of pre-industrial levels.
Do you have any pictures of the storm? Send them to phannam@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
