WILD WINDS have so so far left the Hunter fairly unscathed but emergency services are on call to help as gloomy skies hang around.
The State Emergency Service (SES) had been called to seven jobs across the entire zone, which stretches from the Central Coast to Nambucca Heads, by 2pm on Friday.
Chief Superintendent Andrew Cribb told the Newcastle Herald most of those had come as storms hit the Gosford and Wyong areas.
Strong winds are forecast to continue into the early evening and the wet weather is also hanging around, so SES crews will be on hand to jump into action if needed.
Chief Superintendent Cribb said while it had been a good outcome for the Hunter so far, the region wasn't out of the woods.
"As the rain starts to build, the ground dampens and that's when the strong winds affect trees," he said.
Newcastle residents watched on as dark and ominous skies rolled in on Friday, and some reported being woken up by strong winds in the early hours.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather station at Nobbys recorded gusts of up to 76 kilometres per hour between 2am and 3am, and up to 69 kilometres per hour was notched at about 11am.
According to the BOM guage at Nobbys, there's been close to 4mm of rain fall since 9am.
The storms brought patchy showers and different totals may have been recorded in backyard guages.
A damaging wind warning which was in place for the Newcastle had been cancelled by Friday afternoon, but the BOM had a strong wind warning active for the Hunter Coast on Friday and into Saturday.
