 |
Cold both night and day in the southeast. Minimum (above) and
maximum
(below) temperature departures from normal today. BoM  |
 |
 Hail,
snow and record cold as second front moves through
NSW
A
cold front that degenerated into an active trough as it crossed VIC overnight
still had plenty of wintry power as it moved up the NSW Coast today. The
front/trough was embedded in a strong SW windstream that followed Friday's
galeswept change.
Widespread light hail was reported as the narrow cloudband generated
by the trough crossed the southeast of the state this morning, Sydney
around midday
and the northeast during the afternoon. There was a marked temperature
drop with the change, Oberon on the Central Tablelands reporting a 3pm
temperature
of 2.1° with light snow mid afternoon and during the evening.
In the NSW Snowy Mountains, moderate snow fell to the 1300m level overnight.
Kosciuszko Chalet reported 10 to 15cm of fresh show, giving 25cm ground cover
at 9am and
20cm
at 3pm. Light snow was reported from Tasmanian Central Plateau stations.
The day was again a cold one over NSW, VIC and SA and southern parts of QLD
and the NT, with temperatures generally 6 to 11 below normal. At Mt Buller
VIC, the temperature failed to get above freezing for the second day in a row.
Although the cold airmass has covered the whole southeast of the continent,
overnight minima were lowest (compared to normal) in sheltered locations
in northern NSW and southern QLD. Farther south, windy and cloudy conditions
kept
minima relatively warmer. In NSW, Barraba, Coonabarabran Town and Mount
Seaview (in the ranges west of Port Macquarie) all set new November minimum
temperature records -- in the case of Coonabarabran the coldest in
46 years. Tenterfield, with a low of 0.0, equalled its November record
set in 1967.
Severe
storms, large
hail in NE Kimberley
Three
storm cells developed explosively in the Ord River Valley in far northern WA,
close to the WA/NT border, after 2pm today. Wind gusted to 85km/h at
Wyndham and 74 at Kununurra late afternoon and "near golfball sized hail" fell,
savaging banana, mango and pawpaw crops. Few banana trees were left
standing in some
areas, and thousands of nearly ripe mangos were strewn beneath trees
on many farms. Several sheds were unroofed and a structure built to
protect equipment
from the weather was crushed into a mangled wreck at
Packsaddle. Lightning blacked out Kununurra and put the areas three
television stations off air. Trees in bushland were uprooted or snapped
off. $20,000 worth
of damage was caused to a houseboat on Lake Kununurra. While tropical
storms are noted for their strong winds and torrential rain, large hail
is rare and
winds this strong are uncommon.
News soureces: Kimberley Echo
|
