19/09/08 Severe Brisbane Valley Storms | Early downpour Sunshine Coast
Posted on September 19, 2008
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As I type, storm activity is decreasing and all warnings have been cancelled. More storms may pulse to life during the evening, but with the heat of the day going, nothing severe is likely – until tomorrow afternoon. Showers and thunderstorms developed mostly along the ranges today from about Allora up to Esk and Kingaroy.
The best action was in the Esk to Kilcoy areas where a fairly long lived storm – a supercell – tracked NNE and NE. The BoM noted in one of their warnings of an amazing 28mm in just 5 minutes at Kilcoy – a nice 336mm/hr intensity!! Going by radar (and soundings), some areas would’ve received some small to medium hail as well.
You can see a small radar loop of today’s storms (Click for full size loop of the day’s storms) You can see easily the best action was in the areas north of Gatton to Esk and out to Kilcoy. Other storms developed along the Downs but these didn’t last very long or reach severe intensity.
Some friends of mine chased the Kilcoy supercell. Some very nice pics and a report are here, on Weatherzone Forums.
In other news, some local convergence surprised everyone in the early hours. In the space of two hours, Noosa had 125mm, Tewantin 68mm and Maroochydore 64mm. The forecast had been ‘drizzle’! Runoff flowed through several houses in Noosa. A pretty rare event for September.
Warm day, no storms… stormy weekend coming up?
Posted on September 16, 2008
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As feared, the atmosphere was simply too dry in the lower levels for anything close to a storm to develop. Also, today was hazy because of a mid level inversion, and that certainly didn’t help either. Closest activity was towards Biloela (only 500km+ away lol) or more than 100km out to sea to our east. Even then, they weren’t anything exciting. We’ve got a long season to go and it’s only early so there’s nothing to worry about! Today felt a little like Summer, with temps as high as 32.7C at Amberley and 30-32 in the western suburbs.
Looking ahead, another Spring/Summer pattern is on the cards from Friday onwards. Storms are possible for several days in the area, but these need to be looked at closer in a couple of days.
Storms possible 16/9 | Ike Aftermath
Posted on September 15, 2008
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As often happens in early Spring, storms are possible but the chance is really hit and miss. Instablity is good, but lower moisture isn’t. The stats show storms could be severe, but also, the relative dryness of the lower atmosphere could mean nothing at all, apart from maybe the odd offshore storm.
Hurricane Ike (last post regarding Ike here) eventually slammed into the US mainland around Galveston, a town famous for being just about wiped off the map by a category 4 hurricane back in 1900. When Ike crossed the coast, it was a category 2 storm, but was rather large, and affected several hundred kilometres of coastline. The storm surge that accompanied Ike was over three metres in places, and deposited hundreds of boats and lots of debris over highways and roads. As expected, many of those houses you see on stilts on sandy beaches were wiped out, and many people needed rescue despite ‘mandatory evacuations’. Over $20billion in damage is likely. Several people chased Ike… and some reports are here on the Stormtrack Forums
12/09/08 Ipswich/Western Suburbs & NE NSW Early Season Hailstorms
Posted on September 12, 2008
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An upper trough (with 500′s to -19.5C) combined with temperatures up to 27C at the surface and northerly winds produced an idea early season risk today. Storms started developing SW of Boonah near 3pm and this storm soon became strong enough to warrant a warning for large hail and damaging winds. Thunderstorms also developed towards Dorrigo and Coffs Harbour and spread north and NE. Soon one of these became dominant (and likely superellular) and tracked over Grafton, then towards Evans Head in a weakened mode. Golfball size hail occurred just NE of Grafton, while Grafton itself experienced 34mm, a temp drop down to 13C (from a max of 26C) and 40kn gusts. This is an early season entry for storm of the season… but yes it’s still early!
Data: Tonight’s Brisbane sounding | Radar loops from Brisbane and Grafton
Back to the Boonah storm, it initially tracked roughly north and moved through Harrisville before it shifted more NNE and tracked through eastern Ipswich and western Brisbane. It finally weakened near Brisbane and died near Redcliffe. I intercepted the storm at Riverview as the area was hit by torrential rain, strong winds and large amounts of pea size hail. As the storm cleared, small drifts of hail were left on the side of the highway and conditions were rather dangerous. I experienced loss of traction at one point due to the amount of hail flowing down the highway! My photos; the rest are here:
11/09/08 Coolangatta area thunderstorms
Posted on September 11, 2008
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Some nice cold mid level temperatures are again responsible for another surprise round of storms in the Coolangatta and Kingcliff areas tonight. The storm cluster was very localised, and sat right on the Qld/NSW border/coast for more than an hour with very high reflectivities on radar. There was even a report of hail to 3cm and a fair bit of CG lightning. As I type this, the storms are finally on the move and heading out to sea. Radar from the event can be seen here. The loop extends well into the 12th to give you an indication as to how much storm activity ultimately developed offshore as showers and rain moved eastward over SEQld.
08/09/08 Storms gone by sunrise
Posted on September 9, 2008
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Those nifty showers and storms that moved through southern areas last night caused some nice totals.
You wouldn’t know it by watching tonight’s TV weather reports though – it’s as if it didn’t happen! Nerang scored 30mm, Southport 23mm and Evandale, near Surfers Paradise scored a very nice 47mm from several storms.
Now something a bit different. Recently Poland experienced a nasty tornado outbreak. This link shows a direct hit on a residential area… a really awesome video!
Dams up after recent rain (Sept 4-5 catch up report)
Posted on September 8, 2008
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Locally heavy rain on September 4 and 5 (see earlier post) has again raised dam levels. As of today, Somerset is up to 90% and Wivenhoe is nudging 27%. With September being our historically driest month, this is a big bonus. Best falls were in the Gold Coast Hinterland and Caboolture areas, where >100mm was recorded in the 24hrs to 9am September 5. When the rain event was in full swing, a storm tracked across Bribie Island and westwards into the Caboolture-Morayfield areas – see radar. A fall of 60mm in 15mins was reported, along with some pea size hail. A rather amazing report for September for an embedded storm in a rainband!
08/09/08 Coastal/south thunderstorms | Ike tracking through Cuba
Posted on September 8, 2008
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A nice cold pool extending north from NSW has tonight helped develop showers and thunderstorms from areas north of Grafton to Beaudesert and offshore. Some of the cores of these storms are maximum intensity, pointing to hail (likely only small) in the best of them. At 9.43pm a warning was issued for damaging winds and large hail but this was cancelled 28mins later as the storms south of Beaudesert weakened. The storms off the coast however are still quite strong and you wouldn’t want to be in a boat out there! More storm activity is located near the border and these will be watched during the night.
Over on the other side of the world, Hurricane Ike is slowly weakening as it interacts with the islands in Cuba. It had been a category 4 storm but is now a category 2. This comes just a week after Gustav smashed through Haiti, with its heavy rain and flooding accounting for over 500 deaths. Ike is likely to track through Cuba on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, where it will re-intensify and may strike the Gulf coast. More info here from the US National Hurricane Centre.
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