Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing

[Matthew Piper]

Very nice looking LP and great lightning shots Jeff  That LP went right over Blaxland according to radar. I havent heard from my parents yet whether there was any hail or damaging wind from this storm.

I hope Jimmy managed to get amongst those very lightning active storms over the Northern Tablelands this afternoon.

[vrondes]

Jeff, Clarity and contrast are excellent in those captures  , great shades of tonal subtlety and colour range in the LP and the lightning considering the time of capture.  The lake foreground  and clear horizon for the final LP shot would be a top spot to photograph Comet Macnought tonight and tomorrow after sunset too.  Cheers Con.

[Michael Bath]

Got back from three days of chasing the Northern Tablelands / NW Slopes and Plains, Darling Downs and Granite Belt at 3am today.   Left Lismore area with Rodney 1pm Friday for chasing around Tenterfield area. Dave Ellem joined us a bit later, then he left to go south Sat lunch time.

Rodney and I met with Jimmy 1pm Sat at Deepwater where he abandoned his car which was having auto transmission problems. Chased the storms from Deepwater NW to Texas then north to Millmerran where we stayed Sat night. Sunday chasing from there to Goondiwindi then long drive back last night.

Will post a chase report and include photos soon! Has been an awesome 3 days !

Michael

[Rodney Wallbridge]

Hi all well I havn't fallen asleep yet from  only a short sleep this morning  after getting back at 3am up at 630am and off to work at 7 am.
              After leaving The Northern Rivers district again this 2006/2007 seasion(a few times so far) to go Chasing with Mb, picked up Jd at Deepwater. Had an amazing 1430km trip seen a fair few storms along the way.The journey together and what was been seen visually etc was well worth the effort to get out of the town and go for a cruise and see a few more storms ahhhhh SDS cured for another few days anyway.
              Interesting High Cape ,High Moisture ,low Shear  setups makes for some easy to navigate Chasing.Here are my Fav pictures and Thankyou to James Chambers, Jeff Higgins and Nick for Obs/Sat/Radar updates very much apreciated as no wireless broadband capable yet Go NSW! Go QLD!

[David C]

Excellent pics Rodney! Just check out that bolt in your 2nd picture!!!  Looks to be running parrallel to the ground and singed a few treetops before deciding there was better 'potential' back up in the clouds!

[Michael Bath]

Departed Lismore area about 1pm Friday 12th with Rodney Wallbridge, targeting the Tenterfield area. Arrived there after 3pm with convection only really just kicking off.

We observed storms developing to the SE round to the SW from a location just west of Mount McKenzie. There were some impressive updrafts around.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011201.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011202.jpg

Moved to the Mount McKenzie lookout after Dave Ellem met up with us. A severe looking storm passed just to the east-southeast of Tenterfield. CGs were fairly regular in this cell while it developed a shelf cloud structure.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011203.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011204.jpg

Things were cluttered for a while so booked a motel then moved west to observe new development.

We remained (mostly) outside the precipitation areas and enjoyed several thunderstorms moving northwards along the ranges.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011205.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011206.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011207.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011208.jpg

Lightning was more frequent in these late afternoon and early evening cells.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011209.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011210.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011211.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011212.jpg

MB

[Michael Bath]

Saturday 13th January was expected to be the main chase day of the "long weekend" of chasing. We left Tenterfield and moved to a spot southwest of Deepwater. Dave left about noon to meet up with James Harris and Daniel Weatherhead at Glen Innes. At this point we heard from Jimmy who had car troubles so arranged to meet him at Dundee.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011301.jpg

The chase soon kicked off near Deepwater where strong convection initiated.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011302.jpg

Surprisingly little CG activity occurred with this early development despite the strong appearance. It was again a day of north to northwest steering winds, but unfortunately so were the anvils.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011303.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011304.jpg

Things became cluttered along the ranges so the chase continued northwest along a very good gravel road that links Emmaville with Bonshaw.

By the time we reached the Bruxner Highway at 5pm, storms were again quite spectacular. Strong convection was occurring to the north and southwest, while a severe storm developed to the east. This eastern cell was the main show at first with frequent CGs and a large rain free base. A green tinge was very apparent, along with hail shafts on the southwest flank.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011305.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011306.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011307.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011308.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011309.jpg

Outflow eventually took over but this helped to strengthen the other storm to our southwest - now spreading round to the northwest.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011310.jpg

A very impressive microburst was observed - probably the most dramatic I've witnessed. Along with that, frequent CGs were hitting nearby.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011311.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011312.jpg

We knew we had to keep pressing north as the local area was spent energy wise. We drove north through the precipitation and strong winds through Bonshaw then on to Texas.

The hot humid air north of these storms was fuelling the line as it spread northwards. A massive rain free base with CGs was following us during the drive to Inglewood.

More cells had kicked up ahead of this and begun to produce very dramatic CGs from the high bases. The drive through trees was frustrated before we found a great location half way to Millmerran.

The sunset lit CGs were just awesome, and so frequent !


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011313.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011314.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011315.jpg

After this cell died off the chase continued to Millmerran. Massive anvil crawler lightning were CGs were lightning up the sky !   After booking the only motel room left in town, we eventually found a spot inside a hanger at the local air strip (there was still some light rain persisting).

A cell somewhere west of town was producing an impressive show.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011316.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011317.jpg

Later on, another storm cluster well to the north (probably near Dalby) caught our attention. Lightning was going ballistic - several per second, though we could mainly see anvil zits and in-cloud stuff rather than CGs.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011318.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011319.jpg

MB

[Michael Bath]

Sunday 13th was a testing day. We had expected storms to develop on the Western Downs but it ended up being further west in the Granite Belt and beyond.

It was a long wait for Rodney, Jimmy and me at Millmerran under humid and hazy conditions with scattered cumulus from the north. We took off along the Goondiwindi Road after receiving some radar information.

A strong storm formed about 60ks WSW of Millmerran and gave us a bit of a show before it weakened.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011401.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011402.jpg

The decision was made to commit to the longer drive so was continued WSW. A cluster of storms had formed north of Moree and was slowly advancing into Queensland.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011403.jpg

By 6pm we had found a good location about 40ks north of Goondiwindi.

There were several cells active at any one time with CGs occurring fairly frequently.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011404.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011405.jpg

The setting sun and high bases with microbursts provided a spectacular display for nearly two hours.


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011406.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011407.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011408.jpg

A few spits of rain hit just as the best CGs starting to punch down. Several very close bolts hit between 2ks and 500 metres of us. Fortunately several lovely images were captured before the rain hit !


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011409.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011410.jpg

Back towards the east, it looked like dust was shotting across the road in front, so we investigated, but this turned out to by torrential rain and hail from a microburst.  Quite a bit of fun was had as the sacred Rav4 was hit by hail to about 1.5cm, rain that reduced visibility to metres, and flangs !

After this the anvil crawlers started. We drove south about 30km to get out of the persistent light rain. The anvil shield was massive.  The anvil crawler show - which included several CGs too - was certainly up there with the best !


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011411.jpg


Larger view: http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/photos/2007011412.jpg

It was a very long drive back home but well worth the effort. So great to get a whole weekend of chasing in, and a real pleasure for Rod and I to spend some time with Jimmy on chase.

regards, Michael

[Mike]

Beautiful sunset CG lightning photos there, Michael. Nice CG shot with the cows in the paddock - BBQ anyone?  Glad to read and see you had some good chasing with excellent photo ops.

[Jeff Brislane]

Wow MB that micro burst is one of the best i've ever seen captured on camera.

And tell Rodney that a Rav 4 can handle hailstones to about 4cm before it leaves slight dents. I've twice had mine in storms that produced 4cm hail which left only micro dents that are near impossible to see.

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Jeff,

I did tell Rodney about 4cm interactions with your vehicle. I must admit we were surprised he was courageous to go through 1cm hail or so - two passes:)

I certainly enjoyed the chase and meeting with Michael and Rodney. It was great fun and certainly more than suffucient opportunities for lightning photography. Pity we had to head back Sunday night - there would have been more opportuities closer to the storm including anvil crawlers.

I am processing my images (no cropping though) and they will be available when I get a chance.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

I am impressed that storms continue to develop days at a time. And at least Sydney copped a dose on the 12th January

Photographs of the 12th January 2007:















On the way to Muswellbrook, I took a picture of this cell to the west knowing that the structure was consistent with a right mover. Nick suggested there was a sharp right mover at this time indicated by radar:



Late that night situated at Muswellbrook, I took lightning shots of a storm approaching Singleton to my east - two favourites listed below:





Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

January 13th 2007

Rather than show a repeat of the same images posted by Michael and Rodney, I will show a few. Thanks for those reports Michael and Rodney - makes these easy for me.















Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

14th January 2007:

I'll only post the lightning pictures here:







Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[David C]

Yes an awesome collection of excellent pics there Michael and Jimmy!!!  - I really like the way in which you guys capture the whole thing from cumulus field all the way through to nocturnal crawlers. Have not had much opportunity to see that entire process basically for a few years now...   Interesting that the convection with this system produced the same variety of 'interesting' lightning throughout......down here in Sydney we saw a lot of crawlers and beautiful 'lazy' bolts on the Friday (12th).

Can't comment on the right mover Jimmy - did not see radar and cannot really make out much from the photo you posted.