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Above: An active cold front
crosses the SA southeast coast late this afternoon followed by a strong
cold southwesterly airstream. These surface charts are for 4am, 10am, 4pm
and 10pm EST. BoM. 
Right: Minimum temperature
anomalies this morning. BoM.
Below: IR satellite hourly
images from 9am to midnight. The cloudband ahead of the front is relatively
weak and thin, resulting in little precipitation. Speckled cloud following
the front shows the cold airfield, but most cells are grey, indicating
relatively warm cloudtops of insignificant height. Weatherzone, BoM. (GMS-5
backup with GOES-9 operated by the joint effort of JMA and US
NOAA NESDIS over the Western Pacific) |
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 The cold, dry airmass left over from last week's wintry weather, coupled with
light winds and clear skies overnight, gave much of NSW and southeastern
QLD another very cold night. Minimum temperatures were again within
a few degrees of record levels in SE QLD and on the NSW Northern Tablelands,
while the weather
station in Bombala township on the NSW Southern Tablelands set a new July record
with a low of
-9.6. Cooma township recorded -10.0. On the Northern Tablelands, Glen Innes
Airport recorded -10.9, Armidale Uni -10.5, and Tenterfield -9.0, 10.2 below
average. Sydney's Observatory Hill reported a low of 4.9, the coldest morning
of winter so far, and Richmond recorded -3.8. In SE QLD, Oakey and Stanthorpe
reported -7.0 and -6.8 respectively, around 9
or
10 below
normal.
In Brisbane's
west,
Amberley
reported
-2.6, 8
below.
Another wintry blast arrived on the continent from the southwest
this afternoon. The front, which crossed the SA southeastern coast around 4pm,
brought even
colder air over the region than last week's cold outburst, but with cool dry
air already in residence over southeastern Australia, there was little precipitation
either in the thin rainband ahead of the front or in the cold unstable airstream
that followed. Strong winds with gale force gusts preceded and accompanied
the front in SA, VIC and TAS (see Gales and Gusts below). Power was cut to
more than 10,000 homes in Melbourne and emergency workers were called out to
over 300 jobs as gales brought down trees, power lines and fences. The worst
hit areas were outer eastern Melbourne and the Dandenongs. Dunns Hill, near
Mt Dandenong, recorded a peak gust of 95km/h at midday, while in southern Port
Phillip Bay, South Channel Island reported a gust of 102km/h at the same time.
Brief heavy showers gave unseasonably heavy rain to the NT's northeast
Arnhem coast and Groote Eylandt this afternoon. Groote Eylandt Airport
recorded 24.0mm between noon and 3pm with 19.4 falling between 2 and 3pm.
Alyangula, also on Groote Eylandt, registered 16mm for the 24 hours to 9am
Tuesday, but falling during an hour or so today, setting a new July rainfall
record in 26 years of observations. This is the middle of the dry season,
and rain of any type is rare in the NT Top End. There is little on surface
or upper charts or satellite cloud imagery to indicate the cause of the intense
showers, but a broad ESE flow covered the Gulf of Carpentaria where moisture
levels and sea surface temperature are a little above average. |
