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 Cold
in southern WA and the Centre as ex-TC Fay decays
The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fay gave only scattered
reports of rain through the WA Interior today, but its cloudmass streaming
to the southeast produced some unusually low daytime temperatures. Northwestern
SA, southern NT and adjacent areas of WA recorded maxima up to 14 below average,
barely reaching 20°. It was another cold night in the state's southwest,
with Windy Harbour, on the coast south of Pemberton, recording a low of 3.5,
10 below, and numerous other stations between 5 and 9 below.
Low
brings rain, wind to southern VIC, northern TAS The first significant rain since mid February fell across southern
VIC today, while northern TAS recorded lighter falls, but still the best
rain since the beginning of February. At Shepparton in northern
VIC, the light rain after a long, dry, dusty period caused five power poles
in the district to burst into flames. Shepparton fire officer Craig Houlihan
explained to the Shepparton News that dust accumulated
on
power transformers
before rain caused it to conduct
electricity
and then
ignite. Shepparton has recorded only 8mm of rain so far this
year, with 4mm on 7 January and 3mm on 22 February the only falls of significance.
A secondary Low that developed
south of Mt Gambier and west of TAS on a cold front late yesterday moved
northeast into western VIC this morning, then drifted slowly across Bass
Strait during the remainder of the day and early Tuesday. The heaviest falls
were in the Otway Ranges, where Weeaproinah registered 79.2mm for the 24
hours to 9am Tuesday. Between 10 and 40mm was recorded on the West Coast
and in the Western District and West Gippsland with falls tapering away to
a few millimetres along the NSW/VIC border. Port Campbell and Cape Otway
recorded 38mm and Dunkeld 31.9.
The main rainband accompanied the front and crossed the SA/VIC border around
midnight, moving east across the state before fizzling out in central Gippsland
mid-afternoon. Hamilton Airport in the Western District recorded 22mm in 3
hours to 3am from this system. During the afternoon, the Low passed close to
the Otway coast, giving Cape Otway 25mm in the 3 hours to 6pm. Several squall
lines accompanied by narrow lines of very
heavy showers crossed the Central District and Port
Phillip Bay during the afternoon and evening, with gusts of 93km/h recorded
on Mt Gellibrand near Colac at 2pm and 95km/h at South Channel Island in southern
Port Phillip and 85km/h at Frankston soon after 8pm. A yacht was blown ashore
on Point Henry, just east of Geelong, and its 3 yachtsmen stranded for an hour
before being rescued. Nearby Bellarine SES reported several limbs blown from
trees by the wind.
The TAS North Coast recorded between 10 and 25mm in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday,
most falling during the afternoon as the front wrapped around the Low and crossed
the coast. Wynyard Airport recorded 16mm in 3 hours to 3pm.
Heavy
storms in central NT An unusually isolated and long-lived thunderstorm hit Tennant Creek
this morning and preceded an explosive outbreak of late-season thunderstorms
across the Territory this afternoon. The storm struck Tennant
Creek around 8.30am and proceeded to dump 85mm at the Airport in 4.5 hours
before clearing around 1pm. During the afternoon, satellite images showed
scattered storms developing explosively across the northern two-thirds
of the Territory in an unusually moist and unstable atmosphere for late
March. Moisture has been drawn south into the Territory down the eastern
side of TC Fay over the past few days.
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