weather.wilgatree - a gathering of australian severe weather reporting

Her beauty and her terror - February 2009

Rhett — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:39:23 +0000

Clinging to the fertile edges of our continent, away from the extremes of the interior, Australians enjoy their climate. At times we could be mistaken in believing that we even have it to some degree under control. At its warmest and coolest, in the dry and wet we have increasingly been able to tuck ourselves away in our homes and cars. “Aircon” on, windows closed. As February unfolded we were starkly reminded that sometimes that is not enough.

Heatwave and Bushfires in Southern Australia

The heatwave conditions in Southern Australia that had commenced at the end of January continued into early February. Records, both in terms of temperatures reached and consecutive days of heat, fell across large areas in Victoria, South Australia and Southern NSW.

The heatwave culminated in the worst bushfire tragedy in Australian history on the the 7th of February as the heat, low humidity and strong winds of the day combined to produce in Victoria some of the most extreme fire conditions every experienced. The loss of life and property has been well covered in many locations, the key weather resources as well as links to the major news services are included below. Donations can be made at the Australian Red Cross.

Flooding North Queensland

While Southern Australia suffered through heat and fires the Monsoon became extremely active in North Queensland with major flooding occuring as a result of a tropical low from ex Tropical Cyclone Ellie.

Flooding NSW North Coast and Far West

Heavy rain from a low pressure system brought heavy rain to the NSW North Coast as well as Far Western NSW. Reports to follow.

January 2009

Rhett — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:43:49 +0000

Lightning North of Tamworth, NSW - January 24th 2009. Photo: Rhett Blanch

Early January saw the severe weather just keep coming in Queensland with storms and floods. Meanwhile in SE Australia it was either cold, with record breaking cool temperatures in Victoria, or hot which is more to be expected at this time of year.

Floods in North West Queensland

Monsoonal rain in North West Queensland brought rain to the drought declared North West of Queensland, cutting roads into the Northern Territory and isolated Mount Isa and Cloncurry.

04 January 2009 onwards - North West, QLD - Courier Mail - Photo Gallery
04 January 2009 - Mount Isa and Cloncurry, QLD - ABC
05 January 2009 - Mount Isa, QLD, North West Star - Detail of rainfall
05 January 2009 - North West, QLD - ABC - Road Closures
05 January 2009 - Cloncurry, QLD - ABC
05 January 2009 - Mounta Isa, QLD - North West Star - Detail of road closures
06 January 2009 - Mount Isa, QLD - North West Star - Stranding of truck drivers
06 January 2009 - Camooweal, QLD - ABC - Road damage
06 January 2009 - North West, QLD - ABC - Damage Bill
07 January 2009 - North West, QLD - Courier Mail - Water could reach Laye Eyre
07 January 2009 - Mount Isa, QLD - North West Star - Supplies into Mount Isa
08 January 2009 - Camooweal, QLD - North West Star
08 January 2009 - North West, QLD - ABC - More rain
08 January 2009 - Aramac, QLD - ABC - Rescues

Remainder of the month

The rest of January was relatively quiet on the storm front with the storm activity waning in SE Queensland. The monsoon trough was still bubbling in North Queensland. Temperatures were on the increase in the South East with heat wave conditions in the SE in late January.

16th January 3009 - NSW/QLD Storms - Jimmy Degaura, Jason Paterson, Michael Bath et al.
20 - 24th January 2009 - NSW/VIC/QLD Storms - Michael Bath, Jimmy Degaura et al.
24th January 2009 - Tamworth, NSW - Rhett Blanch
26th January 2009 onwards - South Australia - Tim Thorpe - extensive coverage of the heat wave in South Australia

December 2008

Rhett — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:56:06 +0000

Isolated thunderstorm West of Tamworth, NSW - 26th December 2008. Photo: Rhett Blanch

The great or bad (depending on your perpective) storm season in North East NSW and South East Queensland continued into December. A low pressure system in the South East brought the challenging conditions with strong winds and flooding in Victoria.

December 23rd - Tornado at Nimmitabel

December 23rd featured a Tornado at Nimmitabel near Cooma, NSW resulting in one of the most impressive photos of a Tornado in Australia.

Rest of December

November 2008

Rhett — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:42:56 +0000

The storm season kicked into full gear in November with a series of devastating storms hitting South East Queensland, and significant events in other areas:

Early November Storms

16th November - Brisbane Storm

This was one of the most destructive storms to hit a major Australian city in many years. 4,000 houses were damaged. 85 houses were declared uninhabitable. The damage bill is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

19th November - South East Queensland

Still cleaning up after the storms on the 16th November, a storm on the evening of the 19th dumped up to 250mm of rain in some areas of SE QLD resulting in flash flooding, evacuations, rescues and unfortunately a death.

20th November 2008 - Blackwater, QLD - Brisbane Times report on Cricket Ball Size Hail
20th November 2008 - Brisbane, QLD - Marty Pouwelse: Amazing gust front and lightning shots.
20th November 2008 - Northern NSW - Dave Ellem: Another guster.
20th November 2008 - Beaudesert, QLD - Anthony Cornelius
18th - 20th November - Narrabri, NSW - David
21st November - Poona, QLD - Anthony Cornelius

22nd - 23rd November - Cold Blast

With only a week until Summer a front and an intense low off the SE Australian coast plunged Victoria and much of NSW back into Winter. Snow, hail, heavy rain and strong winds caused havoc:

23rd November - Victoria - Article from The Age

28th November onwards - Peel and Macdonald/Namoi River Flood, NSW

Falls of up to 164mm in the catchment of the Peel and Macdonald (Namoi) River on the evening of the 28th November resulted in flooding on the 29th November in the Tamworth District. The flooding was the first test of Tamworth’s new levee bank on the western side of the Peel River flood plain. Many businesses were saved from the flooding. Others were not so lucky - a railway embankment washed away due to the heavy rain flooding parts of Taminda. Elsewhere the flood waters resulted in a number of rescues from people stranded in trees and cars.

Note: Up until now the order of storms posted has been in reverse date order with the most recent storms being at the top of the post. Why I was doing it that way is one of life’s little mysteries, but it has worked well for the most part. When faced with a series of events such as those in Brisbane this month it made any sort of narrative a little difficult. From now on I will try going in the opposite direction and see how that goes. Cheers R

October 2008

Rhett — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:17:30 +0000

Storm near Macquarie University, NSW - 3rd October 2008. Photo: Rhett Blanch

September 2008

Rhett — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:50:23 +0000

Some spectacular stuff to kick off the season with amazing lightning and storm structure shots in this collection.

22nd September 2008 - Severe Storm at Alice Springs, NT - David Broderick, Mike O’Niell et al. Red dust gust fronts are very impressive.
21st September 2008 - Casino, Kyogle, Tregeagle, NSW - Dave Ellem
21st September 2008 - Rathdowney to Ipswich, QLD (HP Supercell) - Anthony Cornelius
20th September 2008 - Kyogle (Northern Rivers) NSW - Dave Ellem
20th September 2008 - Amberley Classic Supercell, QLD - Anthony Cornelius
19th - 23rd September 2008 - NSW and Southern QLD Storms - Michael Bath, Jason Paterson et al. Some eye popping work from Michael Bath as part of this thread. Kane Hardie at this part, Jason Patterson here, and Rodney Wallbridge. Oh and Julian what a mean looking storm there. What a thread!
19th September 2008 - Esk, QLD Supercell - Anthony Cornelius
14th September 2008 - Central Tableland and Sydney, NSW - James Harris
12th September 2008 - Hail at Ipswich, QLD - Anthony Cornelius at his great new updated website.
11th - 14th September 2008 - NSW and Southern QLD Storms - Michael Thompson, Michael Bath, Kane Hardie, Rodney Wallbridge et al. Some particularly spectacular night time lightning shots from Rodney of a nicely structured storm.
12th September 2008 - Ballina, NSW - Dave Ellem
2nd - 6th September 2008 - Rain Event NSW and QLD - Michael Bath et al.

Winter 2008

Rhett — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:52:02 +0000

There were a few notable cold outbreaks this Winter with plenty of snow on offer for the snow chasers. Guyra, NSW must do good business from its regular mid winter visitors from SE Queensland and the Northern Rivers.

Lismore Flood History

Rhett — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:00:22 +0000

Michael Bath has put together an amazingly detailed report of the history of flooding in Lismore going back to 1917. Included are synoptic maps, rainfall data, and for recent events, satellite imagery. Fantastic stuff.

Late Season Storm Activity 2008

Rhett — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:26:54 +0000

Storm from Homebush, NSW 29th March 2008 - Photo: Rhett Blanch

There were a number of late storm season events this year, with reports well into May:

February Storm Activity 2008

Rhett — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:41:55 +0000

Heavy Rain, Victoria Road Rozelle, NSW 26th February - Photo: Rhett Blanch

The season continued with a number of storms in February; reports below: