Australian Severe Weather Forum

Some of the small hail near Penrith which fell as the leading edge of the front passed over.
It seemed to deteriorate as it headed east though. Some quite strong winds and heavy rain (9 ml in 10 mins).

Well since I started this tread I must say I am relieved there were actually storms. That aside, I would say Saturday was probably the most inaccurate CAPE forecast I have ever seen from GFS. Surface dp's were forecast at around 15-17 while in reality they were around 8-10 C. This really stresses the importance on checking surface observations in addition to model output. The strong lower level shear with low LCL's and moderate CAPE that GFS was forecasting was too good to be true unfortunately. Doesn't worry me though, as selfish as it is, I wish the storm season delays until November for my arrival back into the country.

Hi,

Yesterday proved to be an exciting afternoon with some rapidly developing storms. Obviously the steep lapse rates assisted in this described above. I was stuck in Sydney despite wishing I was in a position to remain out near Parkes from the previous day - but I guess that is wedding preparation stuff for you.

Anyway, I took the family out nearby to watch the storms come through and remained on the lookout until the storm neared. Given the speed of the storm I made no attempt to chase it exept to get into position to sample hailstones. That I did do and for the first time in their lives, Imelda and Kimberly saw their first hailstones. Ok they were healthy 1cm hailstones but at least they got to experience an extremely heavy downpour and hailstones as well albeit brief. The wind drove the rain near horizontal.

Rune had met us on the lookout and also got to enjoy the spectacular storm base as it approached. We met up afterwards and exchanged stories.







Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

Some angry skies from the photos posted.  Alpine peaks I hear have experienced winds of up to 120km/h!  That vigorous cold front moving through Vic is causing some havoc it appears.  Will members in NSW get any further storms firing up with the top edge of the front moving through aided by some warmer air from the NW?  I did see on the local news that you can expect some severe storms this arvo (15 sept).  A nice start to your season!

Thank you for those photos Jimmy. Now I know what the late afternoon thunderstorm looked like on the outside. The storm was not very photographic where I live so I did not take any photos. However once overhead, it dropped quite a rain shower for several minutes including some small hail at first.

A person I know in Glenwood advised me that small hail fell at Glenwood and another weather enthusiast I know advised me that small hail about 0.5 mm in size also fell around Doonside for a short period as well.

A heavy rain shower ensured around Blacktown and Kings Langley and there were substantial downdrafts and leaves were being stripped from trees for several minutes.

Amazingly, I watched the thunderstorm rapidly weaken thereafter.

From 9 am 14/9/08 to 9 am 15/9/08, 14 mm of rain fell at Kings Langley (highest in Sydney), Blacktown 3 to 14 mm but that was dependant on how that late afternoon thunderstorm affected a specific locality, Seven Hills 8.7 mm, Baulkham Hills and Parramatta 9 mm, Only 3 mm fell at Box Hill and Toongabbie and 4.8 mm at Penrith.

While there were brief heavy showers after 2 pm 14/9/08, they did not produce substantial rainfalls. It was the 4.40 pm thunderstorm that produced most of the rainfall for the day where I live.

Harley Pearman

Here's a report the local newspaper, The Northern Star, had about the storm on Friday 12th September.

Interesting reporting with the thunderstorm causing sleet apparently !

These shots were of the sunday arvo storm taken at rooty hill and blacktown , it dumped heavy falls and then wiped itself outwell before the coast

Ominous low base and signature NMoir in-car shot always delights.   Did you get any lightning from this or were you too late arriving?

i saw a few bolts in the rain but it the storm quickly lost strength once it moved well into the sydney basin

Hi guys,
So good to see such great structure and lightning shots coming from storms again :D

pingtang: That sunset CG is spectacular! I'd be very proud to have taken that!

Jimmy: Looks like a pretty intense downdraft cutting into the rear base of the 2nd image! I could only imagine how nice that storm would have looked if a few CG were present from your view point!

That's totally ok MB, still very early in the season, and I was just happy to be out watching some actual lightning for a change!
Hopefully things hold up on the forecast for this coming weekend, looks to be N/NE NSW, SE QLD in the firing line so far. Russ has gone to Sydney so something (severe I hope) is bound to happen now lol! Temps will be on the increases again so we'll see how the models go over the next day or two.

Take care,
Shauno

These photos have been forwarded to us from Swan Creek a couple of ks NE of Grafton.

Certainly a very "snowy" looking scene that the storm on 12th Sep produced. They certainly copped a barrage of small hail there.

Very impressive images and does look like an alpine scene - at first glance without enlarging you could mistake it for a seaside residence and sand !

Thanks for sharing.