Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum

Severe Weather Discussion => Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing => Topic started by: Michael Bath on 10 February 2009, 10:10:13 AM

Title: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 10 February 2009, 10:10:13 AM
Some storm cells have developed over western parts of the Central Tablelands tracking east at present. Should see some severe cells around soon.

Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 10 February 2009, 05:26:10 PM
Hi,

Chased storms near Lithgow today. Certainly some rapid crisp updrafts though the contaminated air with the source from the south was going to ensure the storms became elevated.

First storms were between Lithgow and Bathurst photographed from Cullen Bullen. Following this, I noted that cumulus to the north were struggling so I proceeded towards Bathurst but made it on the road to Tarana. Finally, I ended up near Capertee though the storms were not as spectacular though I still managed to be surprised by a few isolated pea sized hailstones here.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 10 February 2009, 05:30:54 PM
The last storms near Capertee were not as impressive though still did produce some pulsing bolts. Here are a few pictures of these storms:

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 11 February 2009, 04:13:08 AM
Some nice structures yesterday Jimmy. What did you mean by contaminated air ?

There was a report of hail to 2cm at Blackheath yesterday, though most of it was small hail. Radar loops show quite a small cell passing over that area at 6.50pm.
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: James on 11 February 2009, 09:26:06 AM
Some nice updraft structure in your shots Jimmy and a nice looking pileus cap. It certainly beat sitting in Sydney all day under 8/8 strato cumulus! I did manage to hear one rumble of thunder from where we were staying in Mosman most likely an anvil crawler. Back home this afternoon and hoping for some storms out west this evening. Cricket or lightning, cricket or lightning .... might be time to get the coin out.
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 11 February 2009, 09:29:20 AM
Bit of action over the N and NW of the state at present with an STW just issued. Bit windy at Narrabri !



for LARGE HAILSTONES, FLASH FLOODING and DAMAGING WIND
For people in the NORTH WEST SLOPES and parts of the UPPER HUNTER, NORTHERN TABLELANDS, CENTRAL TABLELANDS and NORTH WEST PLAINS Forecast Districts.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Armidale, Mudgee, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Moree and Narrabri.

A wind gust of 102 km/hr has been recorded at Narrabri West.


Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 11 February 2009, 11:55:14 AM
Hi guys,
Sure is a nice line of storms out there MB! If there was no smoke haze (I think this is what Jimmy meant by contaminated air?) I would most likely have seen them? It's been overcast and smokey all day! Not sure where the nearest bush fires are but we only have a kilometer or so of visibility today. It's even hard to see the ridges around town!

Got darn hot here yesterday, reaching 42.3ºc by 4pm and hit 39ºc again today even with the high level cloud cover. Moisture is surely nil.

Hoping that trough will move slightly back inland tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed :D
Regards and take care!
Shauno
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 11 February 2009, 01:11:41 PM
Wow - didn 't realise the smoke had spread all the way up to your area Shauno. Have had none here.

Nasty cell has just passed through the southern suburbs of Newcastle - this image at 6.50pm local

Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 11 February 2009, 05:14:16 PM
Sorry, by contaminated air I meant the source was colder air rather than warmer moist unstable air. This means the storm was elevated. 2cm hail at Blackheath possibly came from one of the cells earlier in my photographs.

Report Storm Chase February 10 2009

At first I targetted Taree but it became clear and frustrating that storms were not going to occur in a hurry. By 4:30pm, I gave up and headed south. Michael Bath had kept me up to date but storms all the way near Murrurundi and Lithgow just did not take my interest. I thought sarcastically if the one near Cessnock got near my area I might give it a shot. I was just not interested in elevated activity.

Just passed the morriset exit on the F3 heading south for home, I receive a message from Michael that a severe cell was about to hit Lake Macquarie. It took several seconds to evaluate that position and then "Hey I am near Lake Macquarie", I thought. I just passed it. There were lightning flashes but nothing that made me take any notice. I contacted Michael, and iI could tell from the urgency and excitement that this cell was no ordinary cell - he was talking that f I turned around and headed to Dora Creek, I would go through hail. So I made an about turn on the Freeway and headed for Dora creek. Finally, there was what seemed to be structure. Amazing to think I passed through and the storm was covered by low clouds. This storm was now re-arranging its own environment as it passed over the area.

The final turn on the freeway north and large drops followed by hailstones. Lightning occasionally strobed randomly from the storm. The hail became a torrent and visibility was severely reduced. Hailstones became large enough to be of concern that the windscreen would be tested. I estimated at least 4cm diameter hailstones falling in the storm perhaps larger. Strong winds were hammering the hailstones against the body work.

Finally out the other side, I made an immediate attempt to turn around and head south as quick as possible. The hailstorm was gone! So quick! I verified the latest with Michael as well as provided feedback to him with regards to hail size. And then I got to work trying to collect some hailstones for measurement. I was totally soaked but I didn't care! Holding these round balls of ice was awesome! They were hard stones - some translucent with slightly more opaque cores. Some had spikes others flat and elongated (perhaps somewhat melted). Only one hailstone in this case was I able to get to 4cm in diameter with the callipers. The rest ranged between 3 to 3.5cm and almost spherical. the hail was melting rapidly so I was working franticly to see the largest hailstones I could measure but after about 30 to 40 minutes, I called it quits and headed home. After all, I was cold, wet and tired.

Photographs will appear hear when I can get the camera to work after photographing with the camera in the rain and it got wet!

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 12 February 2009, 02:04:00 AM
Hi Jimmy, glad you were able to get into the hail!

Looking at the radar it was quite a long lived cell that formed south of Mudgee about 3.30pm - in the only small gap in the other cloud covering most other areas.

---> Newcastle 128km scale radar loop (http://australiasevereweather.com/storm_news/2009/radar/20090210/newcastle128.htm)

---> Newcastle 256km scale radar loop (http://australiasevereweather.com/storm_news/2009/radar/20090210/newcastle256.htm)

This VIS at 3.30pm:

(http://australiasevereweather.com/storm_news/2009/satpics/200902100430.jpg)

Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 12 February 2009, 02:23:36 AM
Michael,

Certainly looks like a supercell in the way it behaved and also controlled the immediate environment and cool boundary layer. There was upper level cooling occurring during the evening. This is the first time I have ever intercepted a storm in a post frontal environment elevated above the low cloud that produced hail of this size - it felt 'wrong' but very much appreciated - thanks again Michael for alerting me to it.

Lesson: never give up on a chase until the lightning is gone.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 12 February 2009, 05:13:09 AM
Hi all,
Wow - didn 't realise the smoke had spread all the way up to your area Shauno. Have had none here.

Nasty cell has just passed through the southern suburbs of Newcastle - this image at 6.50pm local


It is surprising Michael! The smoke is even heavier today. It appears to be streaming up through, Wagga Wagga, Parkes, Dubbo and all the way up through us and on into QLD! That's pretty impressive considering the Victorian fire locations. I had a good look at the VIS sat last night before the light had disappeared and did notice it as a lower level band of haze, although it is faint. The smell is permeating everything, even inside the houses with the windows closed, so I can only imagine what actually being there must be like.

Those are some really impressive hail stones Jimmy! Did you manage any storm or structural photos from that great SC? What a nice radar signature it had!

We had a very brief shower last night. Coming off the back of that storm line, and dense cloud band just sitting to our East. Nothing in the way of measuring even lol? You could count the drops on the ground.

I haven't been doing much forecasting or observing the net weather info these last few days due to being glued to the telly watching the fire news. What a terrible week it has been for Australia.

Hoping things will be looking okay weather-wise in the coming days, so we'll see what happens :D
Take care,
Shauno.

Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 12 February 2009, 10:00:43 AM
I have been watching the radar since 3pm today and a huge mass of storm cells have formed and joined near west Coffs harbor and south west grafton here is a picture of the 3:50 radar and lightning tracker.
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Dave Nelson on 12 February 2009, 02:48:07 PM
Bit of action over the N and NW of the state at present with an STW just issued. Bit windy at Narrabri !

for LARGE HAILSTONES, FLASH FLOODING and DAMAGING WIND
For people in the NORTH WEST SLOPES and parts of the UPPER HUNTER, NORTHERN TABLELANDS, CENTRAL TABLELANDS and NORTH WEST PLAINS Forecast Districts.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Armidale, Mudgee, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Moree and Narrabri.

A wind gust of 102 km/hr has been recorded at Narrabri West.

Chase for 10 Feb 2009
Yeah,  it was pretty wild out that area!!!!!  thought my van was gonna get blown off the road at times.  The outflow from
some of these cells was strong and raising up a lot of dust.

Work took me to Tamworth WOW a storm chase well out of town that the boss paid for hahahaha  so cool!!
finished off my jobs by 1500EDT and could see cells forming to the west of Tamworth.  I didnt go all the way to Narrabri but
could see that cell on the radar,  instead I got onto several cells ~ 35k W of Tamworth.  They had copious amounts of rain
and hail in their cores.  All these cells were predominantly outflow dominant.  I paralleled these storm cells as they merged
back towards and just to the south of Tamworth.  They were VERY lightning active, in the early stages, I could see the
lightning bouncing around the underside of the anvil  almost more there than anywhere else.   a rough guestimate would
be 60% buried in the clouds / visible overhead to 40% CG's.
The storms died out not too far east of Tamworth .... I have to mention again just how strong the outflow winds were, tho
no serious damage observed.
The day in Tamworth was (before the storms) quite warm in the mid 30's and partly cloudy. temps dropped dramatically
after the storms and stayed that way all nite.

Today 11Feb ....   on my way back from Tamworth I ran into more storms between Murrurundi and Muswellbrook
The most intense lightning and rain in the region around Scone. It made driving "fun" at times

Cheers
Dave N




Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Richary on 12 February 2009, 03:48:20 PM
I have been watching the radar since 3pm today and a huge mass of storm cells have formed and joined near west Coffs harbor and south west grafton here is a picture of the 3:50 radar and lightning tracker.

I flew from Brisbane to Sydney this afternoon with takeoff around 5:30pm AEDT and had noticed these storms on the radar before I left Brisbane. Luckily sitting on the left hand side of the plane I had a reasonable view. Unluckily the Virgin in flight tracker was placing us about 100-150km west of our true location but these were taken around the Glen Innes-Armidale area looking east. It was quite obvious (less obvious in the photos - why do shots from planes rarely work that well?) of the height of these storms before it fell away to much lower level cloud further east. The photos have been slightly contrast enhanced to bring up the features.

Just a different view of the system! My altitude about 12.1km.

Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 13 February 2009, 01:40:11 AM
Did you spot any cells with anvils Richary ?   The Moree sounding yesterday (11th) indicated storms would be fairly low topped along the tablelands with an inversion just above 400hPa.

Locally, a rapid inflow of stratocumulus about 5pm ruined any chance of seeing the cells in the Northern Rivers - unless you were right next to them of course. There was a strongish cell that peaked just SW of Kyogle though tracker didn't show much lightning from it.



Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Richary on 13 February 2009, 02:31:49 AM
Hi Michael

These cloud tops were about the best it got of things trying to push through whatever cap there was. There was certainly no signs of anvil formation or any shear. A bit further north there had been one cell showing a few signs of the top blowing away a little bit which was also the one that showed the contrast between the higher and lower cloud levels the best.

Of course by the time I got the camera out of the bag (about 2 minutes after spotting it) we had already moved on too far to get a good photo.
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 16 February 2009, 02:18:43 PM
Tamworth Thunderstorm - 10 February 2009

Early Tuesday morning 10 February 2009, I drove to Tamworth and arrived there after midday. Although I am on my summer holiday I made sure that my travel included Tamworth.

Quite a contrast to Sydney which was experiencing low cloud, cool south east winds and drizzle post southerly change, Tamworth experienced a top temperature of 37C with hot north west winds blowing.

After 3 pm, I went up to Oxley Lookout and set up my cameras and prepared for the afternoon thunderstorms. There I watched large but high based cumulus towers form between Gunnedah and Tamworth. One cloud tower eventally evolved into a thunderstorm cell west south west of Tamworth.

The photos taken below show the thunderstorms that occurred. The photos were taken from Oxley Lookout on Scenic Road looking south and south west across Tamworth and the Peel Valley. Elevation is approximately 630 metres above sea level and the time is between 3 pm and 5 pm.

Photo 1 is showing some storm structure looking south. From the lookout I watched some cloud to ground lightning but I did have trouble capturing bolts.

Photo 2 is showing a distant heavy shower and possible microburst. I noted the rain shaft having a distinctive curl at times.

Photo 3 shows a cloud to ground lightning bolt.

Photo 4 is showing the storm at its peak. The storm produced shelf clouds during its peak intensity.

Photo 5 captures another lightning bolt.

The storm produced a strong outflow gust front being strong gale force southerly winds that moved north east. I include photo 6 because when that outflow boundary passed over Tamworth, it kicked up a substantial amount of dust that blasted much of the city. Moments later, the gust front hit me and I experienced cold gale force southerly winds. I had to retreat behind a wall because the winds were too strong. Leaves and bark were stripped from the trees. This lasted for around 5 to 10 minutes before waning.

Afterwards, a new thunderstorm cell formed closer to Tamworth that reached me. It produced a short moderate shower with big raindrops but there was no wind or hail. Tamworth had 2.2 mm of rain from that storm.

The storm continued in a north easterly direction but weakened and died once it was over the New England Tableland.

On 11/2/2009, I also chased down another thunderstorm cell from Armidale to a rural area between Ebor and Dorrigo (Approximately 110 km) but I have not downloaded or prepared my photos. That will be included in a separate post.

Harley Pearman
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 17 February 2009, 01:58:44 PM
Storm chase Armidale to Dorrigo - 11/2/2009

Following the Tamworth thunderstorm of 10/2/2009, I drove to Armidale 11/2/2009 then across to Wollomombi Falls (Distance approximately 150 km) via the Waterfall Way. While photographing the waterfall gorge with no water in it, I watched a thunderstorm cell develop near Round Mountain approximately 40 km to the north east.

I decided to chase that down. I drove to Ebor (Elevation 1,350 metres) and then to a rural area between Ebor and Dorrigo. There I intercepted the storm cell. I drove under the rain free base stopped and took a series of photos. After that, the storm dumped its rain then weakened. I received a heavy downpour of rain but no hail.

Incredibly the storm weakened once it crossed the escarpment of the New England National Park. Afterwards, I found myself within low cloud so I could not take any more photos.

I drove approximately 220 km to intercept the storm. The photos are taken close to a locality called Meldrum between Dorrigo and Ebor. The time is between 12 noon and 1 pm.

A weaker storm occurred thereafter in the region (Photo 3). After that too much low cloud obscured further view of the storms. I continued onto Dorrigo. I noted another larger storm to the north however it was moving rapidly north east away from me. The storm was situated over the Chaelundi National Park and heavily forested areas. Given the limited road network available and national parks, I would not have been able to catch up with it. I understand that storm cell moved towards the Grafton area.

After reaching Bellingen later in the day, the Bellinger Valley experienced another thunderstorm after 3 pm. While not photographic, it dropped a heavy shower of rain including 12 mm at Bellingen and up to 30 mm closer to Point Lookout to the west.

Harley Pearman
Title: RE: NSW Severe Storms: 9 - 11 Feb 2009
Post by: Dave Nelson on 17 February 2009, 02:46:10 PM
Didnt know you were up there as well Harley... you had a different  perspective to those cells from
your location.  i was basically right underneath them !!  :)

I thought I better post some pix to go with my earlier report

Cheers
Dave N