wxblog
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.
