NSW storms 17th and 18th January 2007

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi,

One cannot resist reasonable CAPE despite wind shear being inadequate for decent storms. So Ray who was wanting a chase gave me a lift and we targetted the Southern Highlands. Storms were already developing west of Sydney but we opted south given the anticipated progress of thunderstorms. The storms were pulsing into severe phases and a warning was issued from Mudgee to Cooma. Here are a couple of pictures:

Click for larger images


An even better storm developed in our target near Marulan - unfortunately, the storm ventured in unchaseable and almost inaccessible areas. It seemed to have inflow for at least 15 minutes.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi,

Ray and I headed out to Lithgow and slightly west today. I must say despite the lack of upper level support, conditions were much healthier than I anticipated. The moisture was in the area and therefore supported storms with low bases given the high terrain. Second, there was a boundary that developed supporting rapid development of cells ans sustaining slightly longer lived cells - perhaps 1 to 2 hours within this complex. Collapse was rapid after this.

Here are some pictures Mt Lambie and Sunny Corner:

Click for larger images



This tree fell onto the power lines - you could see the smoking and flame as the power lines shorted on the tree branch


Now these were odd - there was wind in the area but the neither branches nor leaves were over the road in this thickly forrested area. We only found the odd tree that had been knocked over. Question I have for those on the forum: were they the result of lightning strikes? Lightning was very frequent within and ahead of the core.


The locals suggested there was over 50mm of rain recorded within this storm.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[David Carroll]

Hi Jimmy, 

What a wonderful 2 days of storms, first day back at work yesterday. I was at my grandmothers place when I heard a distant rumble, what I saw quite suprised me. Very dark menacing clouds, a good rain band to the NW of the town and moving east quite fast. I basically raced it to work, which didnt take long.  The Wind which preceded the rain was very strong across Kelso, Bathurst area. Plenty of lightning activity N of the town. The storm continued on his damage path east towards Lithgow as mentioned by other staff arriving later that night. Another storm had built up at Orange, Molong area, causing many problems with power outages, which had me at work until 4am this morning. It didnt stop there, continued N towards Mudgee, Dunedoo where it blacked out hundreds of people with power lines and poles down.

Today was another good storm with Bathurst finally getting a good fall of rain, 18mm at the Bathurst AWS. It really came down, it was good to see. The lightning show was also very good, the busiest we have been for Bathurst area for awhile. Blayney, Orange had lightning activity as well, didnt beat the strikes Bathurst had though. Oberon had their fare share of rain, wind and lightning with much of the rural area copping the brunt.  I may add that CE staff still working now on remaining faults at Mudgee, Bathurst, Oberon. 

Hope to see more storms tomorrow.

Cheers
Dave - Bathurst