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Above left: A mass
of deep monsoonal moisture covers QLD and the northeastern half of the
NT, and streams southeastwards into northern NSW in this 10am EST chart.
The lines or isohyets show
the
amount of precipitable water in suspension through the lower 10km or so
of the atmosphere that would be released if it were squeezed out. The buff
shaded area indicates medium levels of instability, with higher levels
across central and SW QLD and central eastern NSW. COLA
Above right: The surface chart for 4pm EST today shows
the monsoonal trough across the NT Top End and Cape York Peninsula. The
monsoon low that has formed in Arnhem Land draws deep moisture from the
tropical Coral Sea SW into a trough extending 3,000km SE to eastern VIC.
BoM  |
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| Rainfall gaugings for the 24 hours to 9 this
morning in the NT (above) and QLD (below).
Moderate flooding is occurring
(bottom) in the upper reaches of the Barcoo River in Central
QLD, and minor flooding in the headwaters of the Condamine and Weir Rivers
in the southeast. |
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 Monsoonal
rain, storms bring flooding in NT, QLD,
NSW
A low has developed in the monsoonal trough over northeastern NT,
bringing heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms across the NT Top
End, and increasing the infeed of moist, unstable tropical air into QLD and
northern
NSW.
In the NT, Limmen River, near the SW corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria 120km
NW of Borroloola, recorded 187.2mm in the 24 hours to 9am. Near the north coast,
Jabiru recorded 101.2mm and Oenpelli 94.8. Heavy rain fell in Darwin late afternoon,
with the airport recording 51mm between 3 and 6pm, 38.8 falling in 39 minutes
to 4.17pm. It was a classic monsoonal downpour with no thunder reported.
In QLD, totals to 9am were generally lighter than yesterday, though there
were a dozen falls between 50 and 100mm widely scattered across the state's
Darling Downs, Central West, Northwest and Gulf Country. Blackall topscored
with 99.8mm in the town gauge, 18mm more than its January monthly
average and
double the airport's reading of 47.0. The town recorded 89.2mm in the gauge
yesterday morning. Arden Downs, 90km WSW of Goondiwindi recorded 90mm.
During the day, thunderstorms were again widespread west of the ranges during
the afternoon and evening. In the Northwest, Winton reported 74mm in the 3
hours to 3pm and Mt Isa 22.8mm in 30 minutes to 8pm. In the Maranoa, Mitchell
received 62mm between 9am and 3pm while on the coast, Lucinda Point had 40.6mm
in 41 minutes to 1pm.
The heavy rain around Blackall produced a moderate flood peak there in the
Barcoo River this morning, with minor flooding reported upstream at Duneira
and Gillespie. Heavy storm falls in the Toowoomba - Roma area of the Darling
Downs has resulted in local minor flooding in the headwaters of the
Weir River and Dogwood
Creek,
a
tributary
of the Balonne.  Downpour
causes chaos in Tamworth NSW
The Country Music Festival in Tamworth was dampened when up to 70mm
of rain fell in 50 minutes in a storm early this evening. Local
street and house flooding was reported and tree limbs were brought down onto
caravans set up on the Carter Street playing fields for the
festival. The northern end of Peel Street, the city's main thoroughfare,
was awash with storm water. The heaviest falls were in East Tamworth, with
the airport, 9km WNW of the city, recordinged only 11mm. A heavy storm gave
Armidale Airport 50mm between 3 and 6pm.
As in QLD, heavy thunderstorm falls were widely scattered across the NSW northern
inland for the 24 hours to 9am, with 78mm at Wee Waa the highest fall. On the
North Coast, there were falls of 50 to 65mm from prolonged thunderstorms yesterday
evening between Grafton and Casino, with a top of 85.4 at Mallanganee, 30km
WSW of Casino.
Heat
moves east in WA
Hot weather moved east into the WA Wheatbelt today, with many lodations reporting
maxima 8 to 11 above normal.
News sources: ABC, Northern Daily Leader (Tamworth) |
