From calm to 50km/h: Wild winds surge through Junee Shire

A POWERFUL surge of easterly winds swept through Junee and surrounding districts on Thursday morning, with gusts reaching 50km/h in a dramatic turnaround from calm conditions.

The unexpected blast struck between 8.30am and 9am, bringing down a large gum tree branch beside the Olympic Highway in Junee, also known as Main Street.

The sizeable limb came crashing down shortly before 9am, falling across a shared pedestrian and cycle path and adjoining fence beside the railway corridor.

Fortunately, the strong easterly winds sent the branch falling away from the busy roadway.

A sudden surge of easterly winds brought down a sizeable gum tree branch beside the Olympic Highway in Junee shortly before 9am Thursday | © The Junee Bulletin

The incident came amid a sudden change in weather conditions across the region, with Bureau of Meteorology observations at Wagga Wagga Airport recording virtually calm conditions at 7.30am.

By 8am, easterly winds were gusting to 32km/h, strengthening to 35km/h by 8.30am before peaking at 50km/h at 8.58am.

At the time, Wagga’s 50km/h gust was the second-strongest recorded anywhere in NSW, behind a 61km/h gust at Cape Byron at 8.33am.

Elsewhere, Kapooka recorded gusts of 46km/h shortly after 9am, while Temora reached 44km/h at 8.41am.

The Bureau does not maintain an official wind observation station in Junee.

Strong easterly winds persisted into the morning, with gusts still reaching 46km/h at Wagga Airport at the time of publication.