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Widespread thunderstorms again dominate the eastern half of the continent (left) with
the main area across VIC and southern NSW ahead of a weak trough entering
western VIC (right). A second broken line of storms has
developed from NE NSW to the Gulf of Carpentaria along a second weakening
troughline (not shown on the surface chart. The Weatherzone Lightning
Tracker image was captured at 3.47EDT and the BoM surface
chart is for 5pm EDT. |
 Widespread
storms in the east
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Above: Instability and available
moisture at 11pm this evening. The brownish shading shows Totals Totals,
an index of instability taking into account temperature differences and
available humidity in the lower 5km or so of the atmosphere. An area of
50+ (moderately unstable) lies across northern Bass Strait and central
VIC where severe storms were experienced soon after midnight Wednesday.
Most of the lower atmosphere over the continent is mildly (40-45) to moderately
(50-55) unstable. The other lines show the amount of precipitable water
available to be turned into rain. Again, much of the east and the Centre
show high readings (35mm or above), reflecting the gradual build-up of
moisture over the past few days brought southwards by the slow moving
trough visible in the main surface chart above. COLA |
Widespread moisture and instability across eastern and central
Australia again lead to widespread thunderstorms today. While
there were reports of hail and strong winds, these were modest and little
damage was reported.
There was, however, localised very heavy rain with accompanying flash
flooding, the heaviest falls being reported in northeastern SA, southern
NSW and central and eastern
VIC.
Tree damage was reported around Chiltern, Wangaratta and Kilmore, while
4,500 homes in Wodonga and Chiltern were blacked out for 20 minutes. The
settlements of Swifts Creek and Cassilis south of Omeo experienced a major
storm about 2.30pm, with 50 to 80mm or rain in an hour and marble-sized
hailstones with a few to golfball size denting cars and closing roads. Farther
west,
Waterford, 50km NW of Bairnsdale, recorded 119.8mm for the 24 hours to
9am Wednesday mostly from storm activity today. To the east, around 70mm fell
in a couple of hours in the Wulgulmerang/ Gelantipy area, causing considerable
fence damage. Floodwaters in Goodwin Creek lifted a road bridge from its supports.
Stand-out
rainfall reports included:
- 70.8mm at Boorowa in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday, falling in storms this
evening and after dawn Wednesday. A local farmer reported "gully rakers",
where flash floods scour gulllies of everything movable
- 13.2mm in half an hour from 7pm at Canberra Airport
- 15.6mm in 19 minutes at Khancoban in the Snowy Mountains
- 4.2mm in just 2 minutes at Viewbank, 15km NE of Melbourne CBD.
- 55mm in a thunderstorm at Mannahill SA, 150km WSW of Broken Hill,
which resulted in flooding of the Barrier Highway.
A number
of storms swept across parts of the Melbourne metro area during
the day, culminating in a major severe storm event early Wednesday
morning. These are covered in the report for 3
December. Details of other heavy falls are below.
Fires
flare again
in TAS, VIC
Despite moisture buildup over the mainland, TAS continues
to be dry with fires flaring up today in three areas. In the Midlands,
fire crews were battling a fire in rough country that has consumed 600ha since
Thursday and today threatened Transend's main north-south high voltage power
lines. In the northwest, a fire that has burnt through tens of thousands of hectares
of the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area is still out of control, while a fire
on the east coast of Flinders Island flared again today. In VIC, fires started
yesterday or today by lightning have been a problem, with two near Shepparton
in the state's central north and two in the southeast at Buldah and Snake Island
of concern but contained.
News sources: ABC, The Age |
