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Above: Lightning tracker and radar show
the size of the storm complex north of Brisbane at 8.15pm. Weatherzone
Below: Surface chart for 4pm EST shows a trough moving fairly quickly
northeast just behind the storms. The tail end of a cold front
is moving through Sydney, bringing very dry and freshening southwesterlies.
BoM  |
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 Violent
storms follow record heat in QLD
Colder air moving slowly NE contracted high temperatures to the
far east and northeast of the continent today, with temperatures
in the low 40s reported from the NSW North Coast and SE QLD. In NSW, Yamba
reported a top of 41.1,
14.5
above
average, and Casino 40.5. In QLD, Taroom recorded 41.5 and Amberley 40.9. Redcliffe,
30km north of Brisbane CBD, recorded its highest January maximum in 20 years
of record with a top of 38.4, while Mackay Aero's 35.8 set a new January record
for the 18 year old Met Office. Townsville's maximum of 37.0 was the highest
temperature in the city since 11 February 2002, and occurred with a humidity
of 45%.
Widespread and often violent thunderstorms developed ahead
of a troughline as it crossed eastern QLD this afternoon and evening. The
trough separated the very hot, humid NE winds in the east, with precipitable
water content around 55mm in the Brisbane area at 10am, from SE winds to
the west with an airmass some 16° cooler. The trough lay through
SW QLD early this morning, but picked up speed during
the afternoon,
passing
through
Brisbane
around
10pm.
In SE QLD, storms developed between Gayndah and Kingaroy during the middle
afternoon, and remained active in this area while propagating ESE to the northern
Sunshine Coast by 6pm. This storm area then moved northwards to be active in
the Rockhampton area around midnight. The storms caused widespread damage,
disruption, and the loss of one life.
- A woman died near Gin Gin, west of Bundaberg, after a branch
fell 20m on to her car though to be due to a storm
- A man was struck from the side by lightning at Goomboorian, 15km NE of
Gympie, amazing doctors by emerging unscathed from the incident
- A hailstorm with strong winds brought down powerlines and trees and unroofed
houses at Nanango, 20km SE of Kingaroy, blacking out 1,500 residents in the
town and
blocking
the main street
- Lightning cut power to 3,000 homes in Agnes Water, Miriam Vale, Turkey
Beach, Many Peaks and Monto. 500 in Agnes Water were without power for 15
hours.
There were some heavy falls with the storms in the Burnett, with Biloela-Valbona
reporting 85.0mm, Thangool Airport 82.2 and Builyan 68.4 in the 24 hours to
9am Friday. Of Thangool's total, 72mm fell in the period 3 to 9pm. Other heavy
falls included 46mm in 90 minutes to 11.30pm at Gladstone Radar. Overnight
storms Wednesday/Thursday also brought some heavy rain in western QLD, with
40mm in the 3 hours to midnight at Longreach and 24mm in the 3 hours to 3am
at Winton.  Bushfires
flare up around Sydney
Bushfires broke out to the north, west and southwest of Sydney today
in unusual weather conditions. The same trough that brought storms
to SE QLD passed through Sydney yesterday evening, leaving the metro area
cloudy but dry with light S to SE winds. Much drier and surprisingly warmer
air arrived mid afternoon as the tail of a cold front flicked past the
city, marking the arrival of air of southern origin and strengthening SW
winds. Humidities, which had been around 40 to 60% during the morning dropped
to the low teens by mid afternoon, and as low as 7% at Liverpool and 9%
at Horsley Park, while winds freshened to 30 to 40km/h with gusts to 60km/h
and temperatures rose to the high 20s.
South of Campbelltown, a fire which started near Wilton had burnt into inaccesible
country in the Clements Creek gorge and threatened rural properties and the
St Mary's Towers
retreat before it died down during the evening after burning through 500ha.
A second fire was controlled on the Cordeaux Road at Mt Kembla behind Wollongong.
At Cranebrook,
3km
north of Penrith, a grass fire threatened 25 homes and a
school and burnt
out 70ha before being brought under control during the evening. To the north
of the
city,
fires were reported at Cowan, Ingleside and Akuna Bay.
In the state's Central West, the Goonoo fire northeast of Dubbo was declared
contained today, thanks to milder weather and the efforts of over 300 firefighters.
The fire burnt through 2,300ha, mostly state forest.
 |
| Cold conditions spread across much of southern
Australia today, pushing the recent heatwave into the far northeast of
the country. Blue marks the area with maximum temperatures 6 or more
degrees
below average. BoM |
Wintry
conditions in SE states
Summer visitors to alpine ski resorts in NSW and VIC awoke to snow
this morning. At Kosciuszko Chalet in the Snowy
Mountains, there was 3cm of snow on the ground at 9am with snow settling
to the 1,800m level. In VIC, Mt Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Buffalo
all reported a dusting. Maxima today were between 6 and 14 below normal
across the huge area shown in blue on the map at right. Most alpine stations
only reached 4°, as much as 14 below average, with Mt Hotham only rising
to 2.3.
News sources: Townsville Bulletin, AAP, Courier Mail, ABC, SMH, Illawarra
Mercury, Daily Telegraph, ABC, Wellington Times |
