|
 Dust
storm moves across NSW, QLD
Dust
picked up by gale force winds across SA and western NSW and QLD yesterday
moved into
northeastern NSW and most of QLD overnight, with the sun rising as a deep orange
orb from the NSW Illawarra to the Gulf of Carpentaria. In the two states, only
southern NSW and the central and northern coastal plains of QLD did not report
moderate to heavy dust haze today. Light rain showers were also widespread
across the two states during the morning, resulting in a lot of cars and washing
spattered with a layer of red dust. The belt of strong winds crossed central
eastern and northeastern parts of NSW overnight, giving Mt Boyce in the Blue
Mountains a gust of 100km/h and Murrurundi Gap in the Upper Hunter 93km/h before
moving out into the Tasman.
Reports from specific centres:
- QLD:
- In the state's west at 9am, Longreach reported visibility down to 2km
and Winton 3km.
- Bollon in the Warrego, which had duststorms much of yesterday, reported
visibility down to 100m in dust at 5 this morning.
- On the Darling Downs, low visibility reports were 3.5km at Goondiwindi
at 6am, 2km at Toowoomba and 3 at Texas at 9am, and 4km at Oakey at
both 9am and noon.
- In the SE, Amberley reported visibility down to 3km at 9am and still
only 4km at noon; Hinze Dam behind the Gold Coast reported 800m visibility
in thick dust at 9am. Brisbane Airport's visibility hovered between 6
and 10km throughout daylight hours.
- NSW:
- On the Northern Tablelands and Slopes, Tamworth reported visibility
between 300 and 500m from 4am to 8am. Other low visibility reports at
9am were Tenterfield 500m, Barraba and Inverell 900m, Pindari Dam 1km
and Woolbrook 2km. In Armidale, the visibility hovered around 6km all
morning.
- The wind gusted to 111km/h at 3.45am with a 20-minute
average
of 93km/h
at
the automatic
weather station atop Mt Borah, 30km
NW of Manilla.
- Most coastal stations from the Hunter north reported visibilities of
around 5 to 10km during the morning. At 9am, Coffs Harbour's was reduced
to 500m, Alstonville and Lismore 2km, Smoky Cape and Byron Bay 3km.
 Strong
winds intensify
bushfires in NSW, QLD
Strong
westerlies fanned bushfires burning on two fronts south of
Beenleigh on the Gold Coast, believed to have been started by fallen
powerlines. The fires destroyed a house at Upper Coomera and two near
Pimpama,
partly damaged two other
buildings
and caused the evacuation of residents and livestock. North of Newcastle,
60 firefighters battled a blaze that burned through at least 400ha of
scrub, threatening
the Williamtown RAAF base.
Heat
continues in
QLD
Maximum
temperature records fell in coastal QLD today as the warm airmass
that has been building in western QLD moved east. Ingham, Collinsville, Redcliffe
and Cape Moreton, as well as Cape Byron in NSW, all set new high October
top temperatures. Details are below.
News sources: Daily Leader (Tamworth), Illawarra Mercury, SMH, Courier-Mail,
News.com, ABC, AAP |
Records set
this day (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets):
Highest daily maximum temperature for October:
Queensland:
032078 INGHAM COMPOSITE 38.8 (38.1, 34)
033013 COLLINSVILLE POST OFFICE 39.8, 45)
040043 CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE 31.5 (31.2, 45)
040697 REDCLIFFE COUNCIL 35.3 (34.0, 19)
New South Wales:
058009 BYRON BAY (CAPE BYRON LIGHTHOUSE) 32.0 (30.7, 25) |
