|
 Heavy
rain in NSW Tweed Valley, QLD Gold Coast,
NE
TAS
Between 50 and 150mm of rain was recorded for the 24 hours to 9am on the
far North Coast of NSW and the QLD Gold Coast. The cause of the rain was an
upper trough
lying
off
the
coast which,
although
weak,
was
fed
by an
abundant
pool of moisture and significant vertical activity in the lower middle atmosphere. In the Tweed Valley and nearby Gold Coast, most of the rain fell between late
yesterday evening and 9 this morning, with top falls of 149.0mm at Murwillumbah
and 121.2 at Tweed Heads. On the Gold Coast, Springbrook topped the list with
109.4mm. There was little if any thunderstorm activity, and the rain fell steadily
over about
a 12 hour
period.
The Hinze
Dam behind
the
Gold Coast, and Rocky Creek Dam north of Lismore were both rising rapidly as
runoff finally began to occur in previously parched catchments. The Clarrie
Hall Dam on the upper Tweed is now full for the first time in two years.
Heavy rain returned to the Tweed Valley during the afternoon. Byron Bay, which
recorded 84mm between midnight and 6 this morning, was doused with another
65.8mm between 6 and 10 this evening, cutting both the north and south access
roads into the town for two hours. Police said that some of the
town's streets were flooded with more than a metre of water.
The
heavy rainfall is unusual for autumn. Much of the Tweed Valley, Gold Coast
and Sunshine Coast have recorded between 100 and 300mm in the past few days.
Some of the top falls for the week ended 9am 29 April are:
Tweed Valley:
Crowley Village
Ballina 294mm, Byron Bay Lighthouse 274.7, Alstonville 202.6 and Bray Park
Murwillumbah
180.3
Gold Coast:
Tallowood 185.8 and Springbrook Road 162.6, all SSW of Surfers Paradise
Sunshine Coast:
Cooroy
180.7, Eumundi 178.2 and Baroon Pocket Dam 169.6.
Brief heavy rain, from an extension of the same trough system, gave 54mm between
midnight and 6am to Swan Island off Tasmania's northeast coast.
Record
cold in WA
Overnight minimum temperatures in WA from Geraldton south to Perth and inland
for about 200km were 6 to 9° below average this morning, with May records
falling at two locations. Geraldton, with 60 years of computer records, dropped
to 6.6, while Northam recorded a new low of 3.0 in a 35 year record. In Perth,
the mercury dropped to 4.0, some 9.0 below average. |
