Around 4 pm on 12 October 2021 a severe thunderstorm came through Doonside in western Sydney while the chaser was in the middle of a work meeting. Two very close cloud to ground strikes were followed by thunderclaps loud enough to rattle the house, and the window beside the home office started taking hits from large hailstones. The meeting was abandoned to protect computers and windows, and the power was switched off. While that was happening, his wife was photographing hail on the ground measuring roughly 4 to 6 cm, despite some melting. There were two hail bursts, the second heavier than the first, which was enough to damage property and cars in the area. A severe thunderstorm warning for large damaging hail had been issued for western Sydney; news reports had the storm forming near Penrith with hail to 5 cm and tracking east toward Blacktown, with new cells merging into it and rotation suggested. Rainfall totals topped 33 mm in a short time at Canterbury, with 28 mm at Blacktown and 25 mm at Penrith.
