Record
cold night across Northern WA and central AustraliaHeavy
rain in Adelaide and the SA Flinders and Lofty Ranges 
03Sep01
Thunderstorms
bring heavy rain to Qld central and southern coasts and NE NSW 03Sep01Severe
thunderstorm strikes Wyong NSWThe cold airflow over the nation's west also contributed to the development of a deep secondary low pressure system south of WA last Wednesday. This low tracked slowly east to cross the SA coast south of Adelaide late last night with a central pressure of 990hPa. During today, the low continued to move slowly east into SW NSW, bringing widespread rain to southern and central SA. The heaviest falls were in a strip from Kangaroo Island through Adelaide to the northern Flinders Ranges. Hawker, 90km NE of Port Augusta, recorded 39.4mm in the 24 hours to 9 this morning, and a further 54mm between 9am and 3pm, giving the town 88mm in 24 hours ended 3pm. When the gauge was read at 9am Sunday 2 September, the total of 55.6mm in the gauge was the heaviest September one-day total recorded at Hawker in 115 years of readings. Blinman, 90km NNE of Hawker and close to Wilpena Pound, recorded 52.2mm to 9 this morning. Wilpena Pound recorded 125mm
Most roads around Wilpena and Blinman were closed or restricted to 4WD vehicles by rain damage, with the Brachina Gorge and Bunyeroo Gorge roads suffering heavy damage. Over 100 people were stranded at Wilpena Pound, and there were fears that others were isolated by rising creeks in the Flinders Ranges National Park. A 4WD vehicle was washed into a creek 15km north of Blinman during the afternoon stranding four people.
Farther south, heavy rain fell on the Fleurieu Peninsula and in Adelaide late in the day and into Sunday. Parawa, 75km SSW of Adelaide recorded 43mm between 3 and 9pm as an active convective rainband to the west of the low moved only slowly northwards, with a total of 77mm recorded to 9am Sunday. Adelaide's Kent Town weather office registered a record September total of 43.2mm to 9am Sunday, about 42mm of that falling between 5pm today and 7am Sunday. The previous record of 40mm was set on 20 September 1923 in a record stretching back for 140 years if the old Adelaide West Terrace site is included. Local flooding of Adelaide roads was widespread during Sunday morning, while a tree was blown onto a house in the Adelaide suburb of Netherby on Saturday night.
Unseasonally early and widespread thunderstorms occurred this evening along the Queensland southern and central coast as the cold front associated with the SA low moved through. 24 hour totals to 9am Sunday of between 30 and 70mm were common, with Bowen Airport recording its highest September daily rainfall in 14 years of record with a reading of 39.6mm. The Gap, 50km NW of Rockhampton, recorded 70mm to 9am Sunday. On the NSW North Coast, $14,000 damage was caused by storms to a partly completed extension to the Lennox Head Surf Club, and a house lost its roof in Murwillumbah. Roads were blocked by fallen trees, and parts of Lismore, Wyrallah, Casino, Ellangowen and Rappville lost power.
A small severe thunderstorm, with hail large enough to damage cars, is believed to have struck Wyong, 70km N of Sydney late afternoon.