wxblog 15/02/10 to 24/10/10
Sunday October 24: Heavy storms and lightning
Multiple storms and squall lines tracked over SEQ during the afternoon and evening. There were many falls in the 30-40mm range, especially near Brisbane and over eastern suburbs.The storms had been slow moving and sitting on the ranges at first but they became a little more 'adventurous' as the amosphere became more unstable and the mid/upper flow increased.I went for a quick drive after 7pm down to Cedarvale SW of Jimbooma and watched the line come in. Photogenic lightning (CGs) were hit and miss, but I was lucky enough to score a rather close strike next to Cedar Grove Road at around 8.35pm (right). Uncropped image here.
Friday October 22: Flood aftermath Colleges Crossing
All of the water rushing out of the Wivenhoe floodgates flowed over Colleges Crossing over several days, at levels more than 5m above the crossing at times. On Friday I had a look and was amazed at how high the water went, and some of the damage it caused. Many trees were toppled and some signs were knocked over and washed away. The series of photos (here) are well worth a look. Some images are below.
Tuesday October 12: Floodgates open @ Wivenhoe
After 200-400mm in the already saturated catchments, many SE Qld rivers are in flood - especially the ones that lead into the major dams, Somerset and Wivenhoe. Both are well over "100%" and are letting out an incredible amount of water. Seemingly like everyone else in SEQ, I visited Wivenhoe to watch the floodwaters go out 3 of the 5 floodgates. All 5 were opened just afterwards.
Monday October 4: Surprise Storms
The ECL cleared to the south the night before after delivering 100-230mm falls (in 24hrs) to areas from the Gold Coast down to Coffs Harbour, leaving seamingly 'too dry' conditions. From late morning, short lived showers started developing on the ranges but from around 3.30pm a cluster of showers started to gather near Mulgowie. These started strengthening a little as they moved NE towards Brisbane, soon becoming a distinct line of weak storms. Apparently there was some lightning, but I didn't see it! Their main feature was a rather photogenic gust front which was timed beautifully with the sunset. Also, falls of 10-27mm occurred with it, with the best fall being at Carole Park. 30-40km/h outflow winds occurred as well. Some pics below, and here.
Tuesday September 28: Heavy storms
Numerous thunderstorms developed across the region from mid morning. Falls of 25-45mm were relatively widespread from SE Brisbane, the CBD, out across the Brisbane Valley, the N Downs and also the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland. Logan and the southern and western Brisbane suburbs largely missed out! (Up 'til 7pm at least that is). Some of the rainfall intensities were over 100mm/hr at times, and cloud to ground (CG) lightning was quite frequent under the better storms. South of the border, the Lismore area scored a moderately severe storm, with 3cm hail and flash flooding (30-60mm). There could be more moderate to strong storms on Wednesday - be watching the sky!
Sunday September 19: Rain, rain, rain
Tonight the steady rain is finally here after a day or so of light, spitty stuff. It is currently coming in from the NW but this is expected to change, and start coming in off the ocean and that is when the heavier falls are expected to start. So be watching the radar, and try to stay warm in the meantime. In other news, I took a couple of pics (more here) down at the lake on Friday:
Monday September 13: 'tis the season...
...to start getting excited! Well, sort of. Being September, we're close to our first storms of the season after a long and painful Winter full of cloud and rainbands. These cloudbands have originated from the Indian Ocean and they have been great for much of Australia, delivering large totals in normally relatively dry months. Usually at this time of year, the grass is brown and we're desperate for rain but that has completely turned around. There is a storm risk on Tuesday afternoon... it shouldn't be overly exciting, but hopefully it's a start. Looking further, another period of wet weather is expected this weekend.
Thursday June 3, 2010: Lennox Head Tornado
An east coast low and trough sparked a supercell thunderstorm this morning, which spawned several tornadoes, destroying 12 homes and damaging another 80. The tornado came in off the ocean as the severe thunderstorm with torrential rain and small hail lurked in the area. Looking at the damage, winds were likely in the 200-250km/h range - much more than your standard waterspout (usually up to about 90km/h). Click here for ABC's coverage, and here for a youtube video taken from Byron Bay. The following image showing the tornado destruction is from the ABC News site.
Sunday May 9, 2010: Change of Seasons
Inevitably, Winter is approaching. Unfortunately this usually means blue sky days and no rain for us, but I'm hoping it has it's share of offshore storms and cold changes with mountain snow. On the night of May 6 a cool and dry change moved through SE Qld which subsequently caused frosts over the southern Downs early on May 7 and 8. Amberley managed their coldest morning of the year on 4.9C. During mid next week, a cooler and more marked change of airmass will move through, possibly delivering snow up to the southern or central NSW Tablelands. Yep, Winter's coming.
April 24, 2010: Currumbin Sunrise
Nothing exciting weather-wise to report! A friend and I went down to the Gold Coast for some sunrise pics near Currumbin Beach. Click here for the full set of images.
March 13, 2010: Wivenhoe at 98%
I was up early to check out Wivenhoe Dam. Wow, what a difference to 3 years ago! Relatively frequent good falls in the last 2 years has paid off. Many other dams are at or over capacity while inland ones such as Moogerah Dam still have a way to go. Click here for the latest dam levels. The Wivenhoe gallery is located here.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010: Brisbane Flash Flooding
With a very warm and humid airmass in place, showers and thunderstorms built up from the NW from late morning and began moving over the city after 11am. A storm cluster became anchored over the Brisbane CBD, leading to heavy falls. Intensities include 30mm in 10mins, 48mm in 30mins and 80mm in 50mins. As a result - and with the aid of a high tide - flash flooding developed quickly and it's been reported that over 200 cars have been washed away. Numerous houses have suffered water damage and 70 000 buildings were blacked out at some point during the day.
As I type this (11pm 16/2/10), Brisbane City has had 119mm, Rochedale 112mm, Mt Mee 131mm and numerous other locations in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland have had >100mm. Further south, areas near and east of Warwick had 50-70mm, adding onto last night's great rain.
Monday, February 15, 2010: Heavy Lockyer Valley Rain
Hot and oppressive conditions led to widespread shower, rain and thunderstorm activity, particularly SW of Brisbane spreading to the Granite Belt. Kalbar had a huge 132mm, Amberley 116mm and a fantastic 87mm (with reports over 100mm) at Toowoomba. Hopefully their dam has risen!
I went down to Forest Lake to watch the line come in, but unfortunately it collapsed on approach. Here is one of the photos I took... the rest are here.
More images here
