Australian Weather News -- 29 DEC 2001

Australian Weather News

Saturday, 29 DEC 2001

NSW bushfires continue
Winds cause isolated damage in Victoria, NSW and SA

See special report on the NSW bushfires.

What was described in the Bendigo Advertiser as a dust devil caused major damage to an isolated house near Inglewood, 40km NW of Bendigo Vic, this afternoon. Part of the roof was ripped off, landing in a paddock 100m away. A chimney flue was sucked through the roof from the lounge room by the force of the wind. 10 SES workers and volunteers took 9 hours to make temporary repairs to the house. Coincidently, the Newcastle Herald reported that a few houses around the town of Cessnock in the lower Hunter Valley NSW had their roofs partly torn off by a "willy willy". In both cases, no storms were reported in the area.

Two thunderstorm complexes moved across northern SA overnight, developing in a trough ahead of an advancing cold front. A storm around 2am brought gale force winds to the truck-stop of Marla in northern SA, causing what the weather observer at the police station described as major damage. Much of Coober Pedy was blacked out by a storm. While rainfall totals were not significant, there were some exceptionally heavy short falls. Leigh Creek Airport recorded 10.4mm in just 3 minutes around 9.30pm.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 16:51 EDST on 30/12/01
Quality control note: Data is complete, and has been visually checked by AWN for gross errors. Less obvious errors may remain. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information
Records set this day (none known)
Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am. It includes the top 5 totals received, and/or all reported falls of 50mm or more. 63.0 MACKAY ALERT Central Coast E QLD 62.0 FINCH HATTON POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD 60.0 YAAMBA Central Coast E QLD 58.0 CARDOWAN Central Coast E QLD *QUEENSLAND* N Peninsula 55.2 AURUKUN SHIRE COUNCIL Upper Carpentaria 55.0 YARAMULLA STATION Central Coast E 63.0 MACKAY ALERT 62.0 FINCH HATTON POST OFFICE 60.0 YAAMBA 58.0 CARDOWAN	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *E Kimberley* KUNUNURRA AERO 5.8mm in 17 min to 18:24 20.5mm/h 7.2mm in 14 min to 19:51 30.9mm/h 13.4mm in 11 min to 20:02 73.1mm/h 9.8mm in 26 min to 20:28 22.6mm/h 44.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 14.7mm/h *NORTHERN TERRITORY* *Arnhem* MILINGIMBI 14.8mm in 46 min to 20:30 19.3mm/h 15.0mm in 1 hr to 20:30 15.0mm/h 15.0mm in 3 hr to 20:30 5.0mm/h *Roper-McArthur* LARRIMAH 46.0mm in 6 hr to 20:30 7.7mm/h *Darwin-Daly* MANGO FARM 23.0mm in 3 hr to 17:30 7.7mm/h *SOUTH AUSTRALIA* *NE Pastoral* LEIGH CREEK AIRPORT 10.4mm in 3 min to 21:32 208.0mm/h 3.6mm in 1 min to 21:33 216.0mm/h *QUEENSLAND* *Gulf Country* KOWANYAMA AIRPORT 14.2mm in 14 min to 16:00 60.9mm/h 17.6mm in 1 hr to 16:00 17.6mm/h 22.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 7.3mm/h *N Coast--Barron* CAIRNS AERO 4.4mm in 6 min to 00:30 44.0mm/h MAREEBA AIRPORT AWS 8.6mm in 24 min to 15:00 21.5mm/h *Brisbane/SE Coast* TOOLARA (KELLY) 13.4mm in 55 min to 19:55 14.6mm/h 49.0mm in 1 hr 5 min to 21:00 45.2mm/h 62.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 20.7mm/h 62.0mm in 6 hr to 21:00 10.3mm/h GOLD COAST SEAWAY 9.0mm in 6 min to 18:24 90.0mm/h 9.8mm in 5 min to 18:29 117.6mm/h 21.2mm in 1 hr to 18:30 21.2mm/h 24.0mm in 1 hr to 19:00 24.0mm/h 24.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 8.0mm/h
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
44.0 CAMOOWEAL TOWNSHIP Northwest QLD 44.0 URANDANGIE Northwest QLD 43.6 CLONCURRY AIRPORT Gulf Country QLD 43.3 BOULIA AIRPORT Channel Country QLD 43.1 RICHMOND POST OFFICE Upper Carpentaria QLD	31.6 MORNINGTON ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 29.8 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT 29.8 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 28.8 TOWNSVILLE AERO N Coast--Herbert QLD 28.5 ALYANGULA POLICE Arnhem NT
16.4 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 16.7 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS 17.0 CAPE BRUNY LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS 17.0 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS 17.2 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC	2.8 CRADLE MOUNTAIN AIRSTRIP Central Plateau TAS 3.0 LAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK Central Plateau TAS 3.5 WARATAH (WILLIAM STREET) W Coast TAS 3.9 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 4.0 WOOLBROOK (DANGLEMAH ROAD) NW Slopes S NSW
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+12.4 36.0 LAVERTON RAAF W Central VIC +12.2 36.0 MOORABBIN AIRPORT E Central VIC +11.4 35.5 MELBOURNE REGIONAL OFFICE E Central VIC +11.2 35.5 MELBOURNE AIRPORT E Central VIC +11.0 32.6 WONTHAGGI E Central VIC	+6.6 23.6 BROKEN HILL (PATTON STREET) Lower Darling NSW +5.7 25.1 MARREE NE Pastoral SA +5.5 20.4 GAWLER RANGES (NONNING) NW Pastoral SA +5.5 21.4 HAWKER Upper North SA +5.5 21.7 PORT PIRIE BHAS Lower North SA
-7.7 19.7 RAVENSTHORPE Gt Southern WA -6.5 24.3 NORSEMAN Goldfields WA -6.3 25.6 HYDEN Gt Southern WA -6.3 26.7 SOUTHERN CROSS Goldfields WA -5.9 23.0 SALMON GUMS RES.STN. Goldfields WA	-6.9 9.6 BARADINE FORESTRY NW Plains E NSW -6.8 15.1 ISISFORD POST OFFICE Central West QLD -6.4 4.0 WOOLBROOK (DANGLEMAH ROAD) NW Slopes S NSW -6.0 14.2 CHARLEVILLE AERO Warrego QLD -6.0 7.2 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) CW Slopes N NSW
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. LEIGH CREEK AIRPORT NE Pastoral SA : 111 (200/ 37 ) at 21:32 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS: 96 (300/ 72 ) at 21:09	Other extremes ..