Gusty
cool change sweeps SA, VictoriaMonsoon
fires up across the northStrong wind gusts and storms accompanied the front, and were particularly strong as it approached Melbourne. Wind gusts included 130km/h at Lovely Banks, 10km NE of Geelong at 11.30 last night, and 118km/h at Point Lonsdale a little earlier. Some structural damage occurred at the exposed Clifton Springs on the southern side of Corio Bay. Full details of wind gusts are below.
Storms this morning gave many locations in southern SA their first worthwhile rain in several months. Warooka on the Yorke Peninsula recorded 33mm between 9am and 3pm, Port Lincoln 24mm in 3 hours to 9am, while Cape Willoughby and Kingscote on Kangaroo Island received 21 and 20mm respectively between 9am and noon. Good falls continued east into western NSW, Victoria and Tasmania overnight into Saturday. Unusually heavy rain overnight gave Bicheno on Tasmania's east coast 62mm to 9am.
A revival of the monsoon produced areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms across the north of WA, NT and Queensland overnight, with several falls in the 100 to 150mm range. Batchelor, near Katherine, recorded 48.2mm in the hour to 9pm, with 22.8mm falling in 13 minutes. Details are below. Falls of 50 to 150mm were common on the Queensland North Tropical Coast.