wxblog
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.
Sunday, January 17, 2010: Severe storms today?
Thunderstorms are expected over NE NSW and SEQld today. While we don't have a nice fresh northerly wind like we would usually want on such a day, instability is high, and previous days of inland storms should mean we could do quite well today. Storms will develop on the ranges at first and hopefully reach the coast later, though steering winds are a little slack. If storms get going, golfball hail and severe winds are a possiblity - mostly over the ranges and inland areas.
Sunday, January 3, 2010: Good falls with showers and storms
This morning was very hot and humid, with high dew points. Storms built quickly from about 10am, and became widespread leading to STW's for several hours. Several falls of over 80mm occurred, from Caboolture up into the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. As at 11pm, Ball Lookout has topped the falls with 141mm. The top of the Somerset Dam catchment has done well, with 80-100mm falls there as well! Further west, even Toowoomba had 20-30mm, while to the south, Yangan (near Warwick) scored 44mm. In the Brisbane area, falls of 20-45mm were widespread.
Some pics from today: drainage issues in Park Ridge, and storms about to hit the Marburg area:
A few more pics here. As you can see, photogenic storms were hard to come by!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009: Showers and Storms, heavy falls
Just like most of the last week, heavy showers and storms are developing right around the district. As I type this, a heavy storm has just moved through Esk and the Wivenhoe Dam area seems to be getting a good drink, which should lead to improved inflows.
I took a shot of Illaweena Street, Drewvale (far southern Brisbane) with about 30cm of water flowing over it. Yeah, that's not especially rare, but it shows the area's have some pretty significant rain:
This link will give you an idea of how much rain has fallen in the 24hrs to 9am, and since 9am.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009: Severe Tuesday
Two lines of storms moved through the SE Coast District today, producing severe winds in some western and southern suburbs of Brisbane and out at Ipswich. There was a report of sparse golfball size hail at Redbank Plains as well. The first storms developed after 10am in the Boonah area, and then quickly after just NW of Brisbane. These soon fizzled, but after lunch a band developed from the Brisbane southern suburbs to the NW while another a little while later developed near Harrisville and moved NE, then north through Brisbane. Much of SE Qld is tonight blacked out. Much further west, numerous severe thunderstorms occurred, including one at St George which produced recorded gusts to 132km/h, and dropped 55mm.
A VIS satellite image taken at 3.30pm, the day's Brisbane radar loop, and some pics take by me:
A few more pics here, in the gallery.
Looking ahead: Storms likely again on Wednesday, but steering winds turn slacker, and more SSE, meaning storms may only be brief near the coast and nearby inland, before retreating further inland.
Monday, December 21, 2009: Storms this week
Once again, there were showers and isolated storms about the place. Several places scored 20-30mm after receiving similar on Sunday. Enoggera picked up 62mm to 9am while the city scored 34mm. Many places in the southern suburbs and into Logan got nothing!
Looking ahead: Tuesday should see more storm acitivty than previous days, with the threat of large hail, gusty winds, and flash flooding. They are expected to start developing by lunch time, so be watching the radar. Following days should see storms develop - mostly on the ranges.
Other news: Severe TC Laurence crossed the WA coast today as a category 5. Mandora, *just* away from the centre of the storm, had many hours of destructive winds, with a highest gust of 211km/h and lowest pressure of 928.4hPa. Luckily that part of the country is sparsely populated!
In other news, on Saturday, some fairly lightning active, but weak storms moved through just after lunch, so I took a couple of pics:
Sunday, December 13, 2009: Local Storms
Mostly small storms affected SEQld today. One of them, luckily for me, moved through my area, so I took a few pics:
More images here
Saturday, December 5, 2009: NE NSW Chase
After enjoying several hours at the ASWA Xmas BBQ near Casino, Michael Bath and I joined forces, and headed towards Whiporie, north of Grafton. In 37C heat we watched a storm intensify from a few rain shafts to a severe thunderstorm as it tracked NE and NNE towards Lismore. We were right in it at one stage, and experienced severe winds, small hail and torrential rain. I watched one particuarly large branch fall to the side of the Summerland Way at one point. Later, more storms came through followed by a beautiful sunset... pics on the gallery here (there are 3 pages). Also a few more on the weatherzone thread.
Looking ahead: Storms expected in the region again tomorrow but mid/upper winds are light, meaning the storms will be either their best or stick to the ranges.
Friday, December 4, 2009: Stalled trough
A trough is moving up from SE Aus (and stall in our area) which will hopefully help spark some storms on the weekend. Notably, mid level temps (500s) may get down to as low as -14C in NE NSW on Saturday and if storms develop, they could potentially be nasty, with some big hail and severe winds. As usual this season, moisture is an issue, but at this point, there should be storms in SEQ, especially near and south of the border into NE NSW.
Monday, November 30, 2009: 131km/h gust with Double Island Point Storm
Today instability was high over much of the region, but moisture was far better to the north, and a supercell developed near Maryborough late morning. It side-swiped them with an 83km/h gust but a little while later, at 12.26pm, moved over the Double Island Point AWS with recorded gusts up to 131km/h! Luckily the storm continued on its track and went offshore. More storms developed in the area; while closer to Brisbane, showers developed in the Brisbane Valley and Gold Coast Hinterland but never reached any great heights.
I drove through the Browns Plains and Marsden areas today and saw plenty of branches and mostly small trees down. Apparently up to 100 houses were damaged, but it was lucky the storms were generally relatively small and fast moving.
I just uploaded a video of my storm experience at Lake Kurwongbah. I recommend you click on HQ for the better quality, and turn the sound up! Click on the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWEM3D7DcAs
Sunday, November 29, 2009: Gusty Storms
Numerous 'gusty' storms moved through the district today after a very uncomfortable day: Brisbane's minimum temp was 23.9C while the maximum of 34.8C occurred before 11am! Amberley reached 39C. First storms developed near Highvale and moved ESE across the northern suburbs, while others also moved through the southern suburbs, and later over the Sunshine Coast. A wind gust of 115km/h was recorded at "Inner Beacon" on Moreton Bay as the northern suburbs storm (the one in the first 3 photos) moved through. At least 30000 houses lost power, and there was substantial tree damage in the Deagon area - click here.
I had a pretty good day chasing many of these storms and I took the following pics:
Many more pics are here (2 pages).
Looking ahead: Monday the 30th may see some storms, but most likely isolated, unlike today.
Friday, November 27, 2009: Storms on the weekend?
Firstly, I took some shots of the city tonight - she was looking great! The rest of the pics are here.
Looking ahead: Saturday the 28th should see some storm activity. They should start off on the Downs and work their way towards the coast late in the day. I don't think they'll be super-intense (don't be expecting cricket ball hail) but hopefully they'll give us some rain. Looking further, Sunday is a touch and go day due to moisture issues (what else is new this season) while the following days should see some colder upper air, which will hopefuly cause a few more storms - more soon.
