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| Radar and lightning tracker images hourly from
6 to 10pm. The 15-level radar from Weatherzone
Silver shows the detailed
structure of the squall line and heavy showers as they intensified approaching
Port Phillip Bay then began weakening around the time the suspected tornado
hit suburbs to the east of the Bay. |
 Frontal
system brings storms, rain to SA, VIC and
possible tornado in Melbourne
A cold front and its preceding trough pushed damaging winds, thunderstorms
and widespread light to moderate rain through southern SA and NSW and much
of
VIC today. A strong downdraft or possibly a tornado caused extensive
minor damage in the Melbourne suburb of Noble Park North, 25km SE of the
CBD.
A narrow line of thunderstorms oriented NW to SE developed along the full
length of the SA coastline around 9pm yesterday and moved eastwards, moving
through Adelaide and entering far SW VIC soon after midnight today. These
storms, which developed along the troughline ahead of the cold front, caused
blackouts across much of the southern Eyre Peninsula in SA with Edilillie,
Coulta and Louth Bay completely losing power. In the Adelaide coastal suburb
of Seaton, a house that was struck by lightning was later found by firemen
to have 15 metres of timber roof trussing smouldering beneath the corrugated
iron. The narrow rainband brought between 5 and 20mm to SE SA and the Eyre
Peninsula.
The storms died out before dawn but the rainband maintained intensity as it
moved across western VIC, arriving in Melbourne around 7am. Most of the SW
of the state reported falls of 5 to 15mm in the 24 hours to 9am today. By mid
morning, the movement of the rainband had changed to southeasterly, running
along its own axis, with the result that Melbourne and central VIC experienced
a long period of light rain lasting well into the afternoon.
A broad area of moderate
rain with some scattered thunderstorms developed around the front
following the trough as it crossed the SA SE coast around midday and moved
into western VIC
during
the
early afternoon. This rain area gave more significant rain totals, with western
and northeastern VIC and southern NSW recording 10 to 40mm for the 24 hours
to 9am Thursday. A narrow line of heavy showers developed along the cold front
embedded in this rain area soon after 5pm as the front approached Melbourne.
The showers intensified and a squall line developed as the front moved east
over the next few hours, though the rapid movement of the line kept rainfall
totals at any
point
below
about
10mm. The squall line crossed Melbourne Airport at 8.30pm giving a top gust
of 78km/h and through Viewbank (13km NE of the CBD) and Moorabbin Airport (15km
SE) at 8.50 giving gusts of 68 and 59km/h respectively. Soon after, a strong
downdraft or weak tornado carved what The Age described as a 2.5km
long, 200 to 300m wide track through Noble Park North, North Dandenong and
Mulgrave. Witnesses described the strong winds as lasting 20 to 30 seconds. ABC
Radio reported
70 houses extensively damaged, while the SES reported 43 damage callouts. Damage
was restricted to roof tiles, garden furniture and debris scattered about,
though one pergola roof was blown a block and a half by the wind.
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