wxblog - 17/11/09 to 25/11/09
Wednesday, November 25, 2009: Below-par season
Unfortunately this storm season has been below average, with only a few decent storm days. And in those days, there were always issues with moisture. November 17th (below) was an example of this. We are still yet to see a run of good instability combined with deep moisture and better than light shear.
Recent weather: Monday November 23 saw some thunderstorm activity along the NSW ranges and across the Qld border to just west of Warwick. This storm looked rather spectacular at first (as shown here in Julian Ripamonti's fantastic pics) but the lack of moisture and 'wrong' easterly shear soon ended the show.
Looking ahead: Saturday Nov 28 looks like our next chance of storms. Just recently GFS has slightly upgraded our chances so let's hope so. Shear is looking better than previous setups at this stage.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009: Lightshow to remember
Temperatures soared up to 40C at Ipswich and Gatton today and for a while it looked like storms wouldn't develop. Helped along by a SE change, they started forming after 1.30pm, and by 3pm, a severe thunderstorm had developed in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Radar showed likely hail, and the warning mentioned of 2-3cm hail at Murwillumbah as the storm got going. Luckily for those under the storm, low level moisture was not very high, and this limited the hail size. Still, I wouldn't be surpised if golfball hail fell. As this storm weakened, many others developed, and these brought awesome CG (cloud-ground) lightning. I positioned myself near Archerfield Airport and was treated to a dramatic display of close lightning strikes. One of the strikes was actually within 100m so yes it was a little close for comfort! A few images:
The rest of the images are here. I took some shots earlier - they'll be added in the next day or so.
Looking ahead, storm activity will continue, but will mostly stay inland. Tomorrow 18/11 and Thursday 19/11 could see some rather nasty storms as moisture will be improved. Who'd be a farmer...
