wxblog
Friday November 25, 2011: Storm drought...
Every year I look forward to November and December because it is when the most spectacular and photogenic storms occur. Well... so far... there's been very little of interest. In fact, it's similar to last year in that regard. Last November we had SE winds and cloud/showers most of the time while this month we've had temps mostly near 30-33C but a dry atmosphere. While the two Novembers sound like opposites, they've both had the same thing - no/few storms. In saying all of that, a supercell on November 13 destroyed a house in Rathdowney; and in previous months, we did have a few big storm days. The most significant was probably the October 13 hailstorms, which carpeted several Logan and southern Brisbane suburbs with a huge amount of hail, and knocked over plenty of trees. Two days later, fast moving storms caused minor damage across SE Qld, due to strong winds, including hail damage in northern Brisbane suburbs. Anyway, below are a few pics I've taken in recent months...
Check the 2011 gallery for more images!
September 2011: US Trip
We had a month long family trip to the western side of the US in September. It wasn't a storm chasing holiday (that's next hopefully) but we did manage to come across many thunderstorms. We had a brilliant/awesome/fantastic time in places like The Grand Canyon, Vegas, San Fran, Monument Valley and Mammoth Lakes and took countless photos; some of which are below:
Saturday June 4, 2011: End of May hailstorms
The past week has been fantastic (apart from those doing strawberry farming) with several days of storms with hail, and brilliant lightning. The two biggest days were May 30 and 31... both days had ground covering hailstorms. On the evening of May 30, thunderstorms in the Boonah - Beaudesert - Jimboomba - Tamborine areas had plenty of hail, with the ice remaining on the ground well into the next day!! I had other commitments but did manage to get out to Jacobs Well that night, and enjoyed the hail and vivid lightning ground strikes (CGs). I was lucky enough to score a very close CG (within 200m) which is shown below... and got some other half decent photos:
More photos are in the gallery... right here.
Monday Feb 7, 2011: Early showers/storms
Residents in the western suburbs, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba were rudely woken by heavy rain and thunder this morning. A slow moving band of showers and storms moved NW, giving totals of 30-80mm. Some warnings were issued. Toowoomba AP had 64mm, with most of that inside an hour. Again some flash flooding occurred, but nothing they can't handle. Tonight there's a band of light-mod showers moving slowly NE from border areas. The BoM expects SEQ to have more widespread activity on Tuesday.
In other news, I've been a bit lazy posting some pics here (but I continue to update the gallery), so here are some:
Saturday Feb 5, 2011: Hot and humid
For several days now, temps have been in the 32-34C range with dew points continually in the 23-25C range. In other news, it's been rather uncomfortable! Some shower activity will cool us down from time to time though. In other news, the BoM have done a quick page up on STC Yasi - click here.
Friday Jan 21, 2011: Nearly a fine weekend!
Apart from mostly coastal showers, this weekend is looking alright. This comes after a few days of storm activity, with the worst (wind wise) being on Tuesday in the Springfield - Forest Lake - Everton Park areas, and rain-wise on Wednesday in the Lockyer Valley - Ipswich - NW suburbs - SC Hinterland areas. Many trees came down in Tuesday's storms, including one which destroyed a house. Wednesday's heavy storms caused flash flooding in many Lockyer Valley creeks. Usually they would be considered significant events, but after what happened on January 10, anything else seems small.
Some flood images others have captured:
These images were taken by Above Photography. Other remarkable images can be found at NearMap... I recommend you go through the before/after shots. It really is an eye-opener.
Tuesday Jan 18, 2011: Flood cleanup
Well, the great flood of 2011 has come and nearly gone... but the cleanup continues. I work in Rocklea and it really is a different world. When you visit these flood affected areas, you notice several things, namely the look and the smell. I reckon the smell is similar to a pigfarm and rubbish tip combination - but it probably depends on the area... and well the look... there's rubbish piled everywhere... there's still muddied cars left where they were... there's BROWN everywhere.. it isn't pretty. But, there's progress, and in some areas, things are getting back to normal. Overall though, it will takes months and years to recover.
Tuesday Jan 11, 2011: Massive Flood Brisbane/Ipswich
Monday Jan 10, 2011: Flood Catastrophe
