The Australian state of Victoria was hit by thunderstorms on Wednesday. The town of Casterton was particularly hard hit, with 21mm of rain falling in just 30 minutes, followed by large hailstones.

Vehicles and property were badly damaged, with reports of broken windows and roof tiles blown off by high winds.

The hail band was estimated at 200 kilometres, affecting vegetation and farmland in western Victoria. Some farmers reported that as much as 70% of oilseed rape crops had been destroyed. Some hail accumulation layers up to 15 cm deep were also reported. However, the largest hailstones reported by the Bureau of Meteorology were 5cm in diameter and fell in the rural district of Wonwondah at around 8.30pm.

Australia is likely to experience more severe weather in the coming days as a cold front moves across the country from the west. This is likely to be accompanied by strong winds and dust storms, in addition to further incidents of storms causing large to very large hail across much of the south of the country.

France also experienced heavy thunderstorms and very heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday, as a trough moved eastwards over the region. Much of southern France was placed on an orange alert due to storms, and parts of central France were on red alert due to flooding for the two days, with some warnings continuing into Friday. As a result, schools were closed from kindergarten to sixth grade.

Lightning was frequently observed alongside hailstorms and strong winds, with some places recording more than 100mm of rain in 24 hours, leading to devastating flooding.

In Istanbul, Turkey, fog caused major disruptions earlier this week. Visibility was reduced to less than 500 meters by Wednesday morning, affecting both land and sea transport. Some ferry services were suspended and the Eurasian Tunnel, which connects Europe and Asia under the Bosphorus, suffered major delays on both sides. As a result, traffic congestion on both sides of the city was very high.