It was the latest wild turn in this most extreme of Australian summers.

Large hailstones have rained down on Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra over the past two days, destroying vehicles, punching holes in roofs and blanketing the lawn in front of Parliament.

Suddenly, a season of suffocating heat, bone-dry skies and voracious fires has given way in southeastern Australia to widespread thunderstorms. Skies once darkened by smoke are now brooding with clouds and rain — at least for a few days.

Hailstones were as large as baseballs. Wind gusts topped 70 miles per hour. In some areas, an inch of rain fell in just 30 minutes. A few places experienced flash flooding. Thousands of people were left without power.

But other images from the region, including a wall of dust that swept rural New South Wales, offered a dramatic reminder that Australia’s drought — and the devastating wildfires it has fed — are far from over.