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Sunday 2 January 2000

Today's weather extremes

 Heavy thunderstorms strike WA, Qld07May00
Cold in northern WA, SW Qld

Highest rainfall, 24 hours to 9am

167.7 McGowan Island Kalumburu WA
142.0 Bundaberg AP Qld
138.0 Kimberley Coastal Camp Kalumburu WA
127.0 Doongan WA		 An area of thunderstorms which developed late yesterday aftenoon over the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions in NW WA produced widespread flooding around the town of Newman. Marble Bar, 240km north of Newman, recorded 62mm in thunderstorms to midnight with a further 13mm to 6am. Newman recorded 17mm between midnight and 2am, 29mm in the hour to 3am and a further 11mm to 5am for a total of 57mm. 20 homes in Newman were flooded to a depth of a metre, and three people had to be rescued from rising floodwaters in the Fortescue River, 80km north of the town. The highway north of Newman is believed to have been cut, and roads to outlying communities were closed for several days by the flooding.

Further heavy thunderstorms swept through southeast Queensland late this afternoon and evening, with hail and power blackouts reported at Mitchell in the Maranoa district west of Brisbane just before 3pm. The storms moved on towards the coast, giving Bundaberg a second major storm event in two days. Two houses there suffered roof damage from strong wind gusts and two more water damage from torrential rain which also caused local flooding and some road closures. Elliott Head, 12km ESE of Bundaberg, recorded 181mm and Gin Gin, 40km WSW of Bundaberg, recorded 152.2mm for the 24 hours to 9am Monday. Details of other heavy falls are given at left.

Cold overnight conditions continued in western Queensland, with Windorah reporting a minimum of 12.7, 11.3 below the January average, and Longreach Airport reporting 14.0, 9 below, and just one degree warmer than its record January low minimum yesterday. In northern WA, cloud cover and heavy rain kept daytime temperatures well below normal. Halls Creek AP's top of 25.0 was 11.9 below, and Wittenoom's 30.9 8.8 below.

Highest & Lowest Temps

Maximum Minimum
39.2 Carnamah WA 27.1 Centre Is NT
11.3 Mt Wellington Tas 0.0 Crackenback NSW

Greatest variations from normal

Maximum Minimum
+8.7
33.8 Cape Naturaliste WA		 +4.8
23.1 Carnamah WA
-12.1
24.8 Halls Creek AP WA		 -11.3
12.7 Windorah Qld
Other extreme readings
Rainfall
Jabiru AP NT
47mm in 1 hr to 6pm
Kingaroy Qld
40mm in 6 hrs to 9pm
Dalby AP Qld
46mm in 6 hrs to 9pm
Roma AP Qld
29mm in 3 hrs to 6pm
Sydney Observatory Hill NSW
14.2mm in 20 mins to 1.30pm
Records set this day
Troughton Is WA: Heaviest 24-hour rainfall in 44 years record -- 400mm breaking previous record of 367.3mm

  • Times stated are the clock time in force in the relevant state or territory

  • Stories, including those in the archives, are as new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined

  • Australian Weather News gratefully acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology as the collector and main source of meteorological data in Australia, along with the thousands of observers who record the weather and rainfall daily. I also thank Don White and the many contributors to the Aussie Weather mailing list who routinely provide much appreciated information.