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Above: The monsoon low has
moved slowly SE over the past 24 hours, while the trough through QLD and
NSW has moved a little to the west, allowing moisture-laden unstable air
to invade most of QLD and the NT and to push south into central NSW. BoM
Below: Rainfall gaugings for the 24 hours to 9am for QLD
and NT. BoM  |
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| The line of storms at 6.45pm EDT (above) and
visible satellite imagery at 4pm EDT (below). Both images
show the storm line to be distinct from the main rainband across NE NSW. Weatherzone |
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 Monsoonal
rain, flooding continue in QLD, NT
The monsoon low over NE NT moved slowly SE today, giving widespread
rain to northern NT and much of QLD. See wettest and downpours below
for the statistics.
Top
official rainfall to 9am was in the Darwin area, where Coconut Grove recorded
150.0mm and Geriatric
Park
128.8, most falling yesterday afternoon and evening. Most of suburban Darwin
recorded between 80 and 110mm.
There were heavy 24
hour totals on the QLD North Coast, particularly in the Townsville area.
Yabulu, 20km west of the city, recorded 144.2mm, however some of the
telemetered flood raingauges from the SW around to the NW of the city reported
higher 24 hour totals: Bluewater 190, Upper Bluewater 170, Deeragun 161, The
Pinnacles
151 and Mt Margaret 145. The heaviest of the rain in these totals fell yesterday
morning, Mt Margaret registering 85 and Deeragun 77mm between 9am and noon.
Falls inland continued to be patchy but heavy. The Northwest, Central West,
Central Highlands and Maranoa all again reported a handful of 24-hour totals
between 50 and 100mm, and these spread to the Warrego this morning where Rosehill
reported 95.0 and Mungallala 85.2.
Widespread and heavy thunderstorm falls and the rain areas from decaying storms
have been a feature of the QLD weather for the past 6 days. Rivers and
streams are rising across much of the state, and many roads in the Gulf Country,
Central and Western QLD are now impassable. Late this evening, the Barcoo at
Blackall was again rising and in moderate flood, with minor flooding up and
downstream. Minor flooding was occurring on the Paroo River in the southwest,
the Gregory in the Gulf Country, and the Nagoa River SW of Emerald. In the
week to 9am this morning, the highest rainfall totals have been Blackall Township
261.6mm, Paluma (NW of Townsville) 244.4 and, Raymond (SW of Springsure) 207
In the NT, moderate flooding continues in the middle reaches of the Daly River
with minor flooding downstream. Most unsealed roads north of about Tennant
Creek are impassable or require high wheelbase or 4WD to negotiate. In the
week to 9am this morning, the highest rainfall totals have been Channel Point
(where the Daly River flows into the sea) 300, Limmen River (southwest Gulf)
256.6, Jabiru Council 254.4 and Coconut Grove (Darwin suburb) 231.5.
 Storms
bring scattered heavy rain, hail, blackouts in NSW
A thunderstorm which first appeared on the lightning tracker north of Wagga
at midday rapidly propagated to the WNW and ESE, forming a continuous and nearly
straight line from Cobar to Wollongong by 3pm (see images lower right). The
storms formed in the cloudless air south of the monsoonal cloudmass lying across
the northeast
of the state.
Solar heating in the humid, unstable air close to, but not under, the cloudband
generated the storms which show up on the satellite image as a distinct cloud
entity, separated from the main band by a clear slot.
Rainfall from the storms was patchy though there were some heavy
falls. Cobar recorded 30.8mm in 24 minutes to 5.48pm, Grenfell 20mm
in 15 minutes, Parkes township 62.0mm between 3 and 9pm, Cowra 32mm
3 to 6pm and Orange 27mm 6 to 9pm. In western Sydney, Richmond RAAF
recorded 11.8mm in 14 minutes to 6.30pm. Young reported 10 minutes
of hail and a one-and-a-half hour blackout.
News sources: Cowra Guardian |
