Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum

Severe Weather Discussion => Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing => Topic started by: Colin Maitland on 14 February 2009, 08:45:10 AM

Title: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 14 February 2009, 08:45:10 AM
It has been a pretty wet night and day in Brisbane. Roads have been closed due to localised flooding, north and west of Brisbane. We are starting to have flash flooding as the rain band from up north is slowly moving south.

The Moreton Bay Regional Council says 10 local roads are flooded and it is monitoring several others.

Emergency Services say SES crews have been called out to four roof repair jobs in the south-east.

The weather bureau is predicting a wet and windy weekend for the south-east.

Overnight, there have been heavy falls of more than 120 millimetres around the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane's northern suburbs.

Areas further south received up to 75 millimetres.

Earlier forecaster Jonty Hall says there is more to come. He said  "I'd be surprised if this hung around all day," he said.

"We'll see showers feeding onto the coast and a bit of patchy light rain but we won't see the heavy stuff going all day. ( Guess what, it has been, with rather heavy falls at times especially here at Bracken Ridge. )

Saturday's still shaping up to have a fair bit of rain around, clouding conditions and fairly windy."

He says Brisbane has also received some goodfalls.

"The best falls we've got in the Brisbane area at the moment is in those outer northern suburbs up towards Caboolture," he said.

"There's an area just near Burpengary that's had more than 100 millimetres - about 110."

The Buearua has forecasted  a low,  this is the post

A weak low pressure system is expected to develop near the Queensland coast in
the vicinity of 23S 152E during the next 24 hours but will not be a tropical
cyclone. The low is expected to deepen and track southeast near the Queensland
east coast on Saturday and be located off the far southern Queensland or
northern New South Wales coast on Sunday.

It is said that almost 2/3 of QLD is flooded and floodwaters across parts of western Queensland are again on the rise.

The weather bureau's Peter Baddiley says "the Georgina and Diamantina rivers in the central west are at the heights of the massive 1974 floods."


All we need in Brisbane is for the low to form, call it Cyclone Wanda II and we have the 1974 floods. Our tides are still very high and we are receiving a lot of rain.

At this stage it is hard to tell exactly how much rain or to what extent Brisbane will flash flood over the next two days if this continues, it is a wait and see at this stage.

I went out with my wife to look at some of the local areas, and they are starting to flood, we will be going out again shortly to take some more photos, for records if this weather pattern persists.

As I said it is early days and I had My wife try and take the photos as we were driving to see how it would work out, because there is nowhere to pull over.

The last pictures is sort of the normal view from the rear of our house. You overlook Redcliffe, Moreton Bay, Moreton Island and North Straddie on a good day. But the first picture is what it has been like all day.

Just about to head out and see how much it has risen.

Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 14 February 2009, 11:16:30 AM
Hi guys,
Nice report and pics coltan!
We are in a similar situation here but we had a severe storm sit just to our West all morning that was sucking in the atmosphere from all directions. It was the darkest storm I've seen in some time! It was slow moving and looked to be torrential rain and hail (greenish colours at the cloud base of the HP core) and a shifting RFB that would pull into the cell and then form again. Thunder was constant and CG were about but not as many as I would have thought from such a nasty looking storm? I was out on the opal fields so I had no camera unfortunately but I did take a snap with the (last resort) low res mobile camera.
Rain has been constant in town since 3pm. I haven't been out to the gauge as yet but will post a total soon enough, possibly when it's not too muddy to get to my gauge lol.

Shame about the cricket being washed also?

Kindest regards,
Shauno
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 14 February 2009, 12:08:49 PM
while we were out taking photos of the rising creeks and areas, I received my first EWN alert on my mobile phone, very impressed, so when we got home I went to BOM site for the warning for the Southeast Coast,


TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Flash Flooding and Dangerous Surf.
For people in the Southeast Coast and Wide Bay & Burnett districts.
Issued at 2:25 pm on Friday 13 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system is expected to form offshore from
Fraser Island late on Friday. This low is expected to move southwards adjacent
to the coast while deepening, and be near the southern border on Saturday night.
The combination of this low and a vigorous upper trough will result in heavy
rainfall.     

Heavy rainfall is likely to cause flash flooding and stream rises in the warning
area this afternoon and continue on Saturday.

Dangerous surf is expected to develop about exposed beaches on the Sunshine and
Fraser Coasts this afternoon, and extend south to the Gold Coast on Saturday
morning.

Here is some of the latest photos, but we will keep on venturing out further over the weekend to see what is happening.
The first picture is back veranda again, but this time showing the wind is increasing with rain blowing of the neighbours roof.

Keep you posted if anything eventuates over the weekend

(PS. Still having trouble resizing,  I thought I had it this time, Iam using Pixresizer but not getting it right. I am going to try another suggested programe before any more photos.)

Col.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 14 February 2009, 01:14:32 PM
Report 13th February 2009:
Did a quick check of the rain gauge and we've just received 25mm in the last couple hours. The rain is still absolutely torrential out there at the moment!


Upper Western NSW. Storm & Heavy Rain Report. 14th February 2009.
The storm that came by to our North-West earlier today was also very low based, HP and showed sings of severity during cyclic phases. We, my dad and I, were once again out on the opal fields so I can't really give you much other info than what I saw while stuck in out it Jimmy? I can say however winds were pretty minimal as the main core of the storm/s were further to our North, North-West. We copped a very heavy downpour that flooded everything in a matter of minutes around 11am. Two CG hit around 300mtrs from us while driving back into town and the rain cut off about 10k's out at that point. There was an amazing striated RFB all along the edge of the storms that had nice CG emitting every minute or so.
At 12:30pm we arrived back in town only to cop another heavy deluge, only heavy rain, nothing stormy (seems to be the edge of whatever Bourke had received as per Richary's post below). Haven't checked the rain gauge yet or emptied the 25mm from yesterday due to the yard being too darn muddy! I can see the gauge from the kitchen window and it looks full! Should be pushing around 50-60mm for the last two days at a guess.
I couldn't get photos again due to the torrential rain? Oh well... these things happen I guess lol.
It all seems to have abated as of 3pm today. Still very low-based clouds around though, as it has been for the last two days. No doubt there will be more on the cards over the coming days.

Kindest regards,
Shauno (will get those rain totals up soon.)

EDIT: The temps hardly got above 21c today (24c for the 13th Feb.) which makes a marvellous change from being stuck in the low 40's lol!
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Richary on 14 February 2009, 05:29:36 PM
While at the moment Sydney has only been receiving showers and some brief heavier falls I have totalled 43mm here since it started, which is the best rain we have had in a long time. Channel 9 suggested at least a further 50mm was possible over the next few days. Unfortunately as usual Sydney has been receiving the best rain near the coast and only 3mm over Warragamba Dam. Obviously the dam is in the wrong place - I still maintain they should dam the heads and put the catchment there :-)

The bureau believes an offshore low is going to form near the NSW/QLD border and travel south over the weekend bringing locally heavy rain and potential flash flooding to areas from Newcastle north to the border. At the same time the GFS forecast on bsch is predicting a localised area over the Hunter that will receive around 250mm over the next week, definitely enough to cause some flooding there. It will be interesting to see how it pans out, and certainly a change from the summer pattern we have experienced lately with the heatwaves.

On the positive side the garden definitely needs it. On the negative, this looks like being a total washout of a lightning storm season in the local Sydney region.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: TroyVR on 15 February 2009, 01:22:04 AM
Ive recorded 40mm since 9AM yesterday here in Miranda. not a bad effort.

Edit JD: Can you expand further on what happened and the type of conditions experienced eg winds, temperatures and so forth how many days of rain so far etc and then delete my comment
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 15 February 2009, 02:19:43 AM
Hi,

It has been cool for the past few days - particularly yesterday and today. We had the following rainfall totals:

DateRainfall
Monday, 9 February 2009TRR
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 4.0
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 3.8
Thursday, 12 February 2009 2.6
Friday, 13 February 2009    6.4
Saturday, 14 February 200931.2
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 15 February 2009, 02:44:33 AM
Just checked the BOM rainfall for the 13 Feb to 9.00am

Northern suburbs of Brisbane  ( I live at Bracken Ridge which is right between Redcliffe and Boondal)

Brisbane Airport                    64 mm
Redcliffe                             80mm
Strathpine                          131mm
Toombul                             83 mm
Boondal                              91mm 

North Coast
Eumundi                             72 mm
Maroochydore                     91 mm

South of City                     
Logan City                         51mm

So far the Brisbane airport has registered 35 mm

It has lightly rained all night, the wind was picking up but has since become relatively calm

Cape Moreton                 4.20 am      83 Km/h       45 knots   
Brisbane Airport              5.36 am      50m/h          27 knots
Double Island Point          4.20am       82km/h        44 knots 
Redcliffe                        12.00am     59km/h        27 knotts.

Will wait and see what the day hold out, we still have a severe weather warning current

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Flash Flooding, Dangerous Surf and Damaging Winds.
For people in the Southeast Coast, Wide Bay & Burnett and the eastern Darling
Downs & Granite Belt districts.
Issued at 5:00 am on Saturday 14 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system off the Capricornia coast is expected
to move southwards adjacent to the coast while deepening, and be near the
southern border tonight. The combination of this low and a large high east of
Tasmania is producing strong to gale force winds and dangerous surf along the
southern Queensland coast. Locally heavy rainfall is possible as the low moves
southwards and a vigorous upper trough approaches from the west.       

Locally heavy rainfall may redevelop about coastal areas from Fraser Island to
the southern border during this morning before easing late afternoon and
evening. This rainfall may produce flash flooding and stream rises.

Dangerous surf is expected about the exposed beaches from Fraser Island to the
Gold Coast.

Damaging wind gusts of up to 90 km/h are expected about the exposed coastline
between Fraser Island and the Gold Coast, as well as the hilltops and ridges
inland into the eastern Darling Downs & Granite Belt district. These winds are
likely to contract south and gradually ease later in the day and tonight.

Still working on resizing photos but will keep you posted if anything happens.

Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 15 February 2009, 05:39:03 AM
Just looking at the radar and NSW looks to receiving most of the rain. The weather in Brisbane has just been constant light rain and windy, nothing extreme. It seems, as at 10.20 am QLD time, the worst has past over the North of Brisbane.

The latest update

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Dangerous Surf.
For people in the Southeast Coast.
Issued at 10:20 am on Saturday 14 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system was located near Cape Moreton and was
moving steadily to the south south-east. The low is expected to be located off
the northern NSw coast by mid afternoon.       

Dangerous surf is expected about the exposed beaches and bars from Double Island
Point to Point Danger for today.

Just some localised flooding, but all receding. Lake Kurwongbah is at full capacity. Some good rainfall

Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Richary on 15 February 2009, 09:09:10 AM
Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet but Bourke NSW broke it's 24 hour rainfall record to 9am this morning, recording 197.6mm. Fortunately the river levels seem to have stabilised below minor flood.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 15 February 2009, 10:51:12 AM
It has been absolutely windy and raining all day here in ballina fortunately no pictures because had to go out to grafton today it was rainy there too. Right now to what I can see the winds are pure south east probably 40+kmh and its pouring down rain and if you look on weather zones 28 day rain check or picture below all of this month is forecast rainy.

post by storm boy
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 15 February 2009, 10:59:28 AM
Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet but Bourke NSW broke it's 24 hour rainfall record to 9am this morning, recording 197.6mm. Fortunately the river levels seem to have stabilised below minor flood.

I can believe it Richary! We have been on the edge of that here at Lightning Ridge for two days and my rain gauge is full! Posted my little report above in the prior edit.

Take care and enjoy this darn nice weather :D
Shauno.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 15 February 2009, 01:49:03 PM
A few falls locations in the Walgett Coonamble area were well over 100mm to 9am this morning with some further decent falls today. But that Bourke reading was amazing - breaking a record daily rainfall dating back to 1874. There was also golf ball sized hail just SW of town before the heavy rain thunderstorms set in.

24mm to 9am here at McLeans Ridges with 35mm so far today (8pm 14th Feb). Was on duty at Richmond Tweed division SES 6am to 4pm due to the flood watch however the real threat is now from Coffs and south - could be some major flooding. The hail report from Bourke was via one of the SES members who used to live in Bourke.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 16 February 2009, 04:42:05 AM
 
As for Southeast QLD, the heavy rainfall was towards the south of Brisbane and the Gold Coast yesterday. We still had some decent falls around Brisbane, but as for the gusty wind, it was a relatively calm day. The sunshine coast had a sloppy, 4 feet easterly swell, not worth the effort to get your board wet, today looks more promising for a surf with a 4-6 feet easterly with swell with no wind this morning. But a North easterly is expected this afternoon and it will chop it up a fair bit. The severe weather did not amount to much in QLD, besides a few call outs for leaking roofs etc, it was good to see the rain.

The rainfalls

Brisbane North/Metro

Alderley             44  mm
Archerfield            31  mm
Boondall            44  mm
Brisbane AP    18  mm
Brisbane            37  mm
Strathpine     63 mm

Sunshine Coast areas including Fraser coast


Kenilworth      40 mm
Maleny             60 mm 
Maroochydore    33 mm
Sandy Cape     75 mm 
Beerburrum     73 mm
Rainbow Beach     45 mm

South Coast had heavier Falls

Coolangatta             70  mm
Coomera                    61  mm
Gold Cst Seaway     40  mm
Miami                     86  mm
Mt Tamborine             73  mm 
Southport                   135  mm
Springbrook           70  mm
Natural Bridge            76  mm 

Just reading the paper and NSW is expected the worst of this rain and severe weather.

It is turning out to be a  great day after all the rain. It is going to be hot and 33C, so with all the rain we had, it is going to drag a lot of moisture out of the ground and into the air. They are talking possible storms Tues. but I will be keeping an eye out everyday.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 16 February 2009, 03:04:55 PM
Bellinger Valley and Northern New South Wales - Rain event:

I spent nearly three days in the Bellinger Valley, North Coast of New South Wales and situated south west of Coffs Harbour. On Wednesday afternoon, a thunderstorm dropped 12 mm of rain on the town of Bellingen. Although some totals of up to 30 mm were recorded in some more remote areas of the valley during this event.

Thursday was mostly clear although some showers fell from late afternoon onwards. However on Friday and up to Saturday morning some 112 mm of rain had fallen on the town of Bellingen. That is the wettest day I have ever experienced. Some areas toward Mt Coramba and Point Lookout had higher totals.

The Bellinger River while not in flood had risen somewhat and the potential existed for flooding should the heavy rain continue.

On Saturday 14/2/09, I drove back to Sydney Via Armidale and Tamworth. I drove passed one small rockslide that had partially blocked the road east of Armidale.

On Saturday, Armidale received 38 mm of rain.

On the morning of 11/2/09, I visited Wollomombi Falls and found that the falls had totally dried up. The rainfall should help to put water back into Australia's highest waterfall.

Tamworth received 63.84 mm its best rainfall for a while on Saturday. This event ended a recent heatwave that saw the city score 5 days in a row of 38C temperatures. The rain was welcome up here given that it has been dry over recent weeks.

I drove almost 500 km in non stop rain and approaching Singleton, I drove into heavy rain that made driving too difficult especially with water over the road. I spent the night in a hotel north of Singleton.

I learnt checking the Bureau of Meteorology Weather Stations that Singleton scored around 100mm of rain overnight 14/2/09 to early morning 15/2/09. That made it the second 100 mm rainfall event that I experienced Friday, Saturday and into Sunday.

Most places from Singleton east to Newcastle experienced 100 mm rainfalls and parts of Newcastle scored 200 mm. While the Hunter River was not in flood, I drove past several paddocks that had suffered from water inundation.

Looking at the rainfall figures, the North Coast, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, Hunter and Sydney scored reasonably high rainfall totals. Given that I was travelling throughout the affected regions, the rainfall was widespread and reached much of the northern inland.

Only the west and south west areas of New South Wales missed out.

Harley Pearman
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: jamesdumar on 17 February 2009, 02:57:50 AM
There is very strong and tight circulation over northwestern NSW this morning on the sat loop.
Looks like heavy rain out west later in the day.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 17 February 2009, 04:39:00 AM
This is just a straight posting from nineMSN news as a report on the NSW flooding to keep as a media record of the event.

Floodwaters have eased in the Bellinger Valley and other inundated parts of NSW, but more rain is forecast for the state as a low pressure system moves south.

The State Emergency Service (SES) received more than 400 requests for assistance over the weekend as heavy rain fell on western NSW and the state's mid-north coast.

"Conditions have eased considerably overnight in terms of rain and that has resulted in a dropping of river levels in all the flood-affected rivers," SES spokesman Phil Campbell said.

Floodwaters are now receding around the 500 residents of the upper Bellinger Valley who were isolated by flooding.

"The river has now fallen and access should be restored to those people," Mr Campbell said.

Minor to moderate flooding has been recorded on the Paterson and William rivers in the NSW Hunter region.

"That has caused some local rural inundation and has closed some minor roads."

Flooding has also been experienced in the Bokhara River near Goodooga, close to the flood-ravaged town of Bourke in far northwestern NSW.

"There is the possibility of the development of storms and heavy rain which will be developing over parts of that area today."

Twenty-five homes were damaged in heavy rain in Bourke on Friday night leaving a damage bill running into millions of dollars.

A record 200mm fell on the town in the 24 hours until 9am (AEDT) on Saturday, pooling behind the levee bank which protects the town when the river floods.

The SES received 28 requests for assistance in Bourke and various pleas to help fix leaky roofs from the Hunter region to Sydney.

Mr Campbell said SES crews had completed about 80 per cent of the calls for help.

"We are expecting today that weather conditions will ease a little bit," he said.

The low pressure system which caused most of the problems has moved offshore near Coffs Harbour.

"But we are expecting that it will track more towards the coast and we'll see a redevelopment of heavy rain later on today or overnight.

"A bit of rain may extend down to Sydney metropolitan tonight as well."

The rain is expected to hang around NSW until at least Wednesday.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 17 February 2009, 06:20:24 AM
Hi all,
Just received the first heavy shower for today streaming in from the SE, however it was brief (1mm) but shouldn't be the last we see today by a long shot!
The cumulus are monstrous with very dark bases and massive towers going up well above the troposphere. Just heard the first thunder rumbles so we may see a bit of activity soon? the humidity is very high and the current temp is 28Âșc but warms slightly more when the sun appears. Winds are almost nil.

The totals for Lightning Ridge for Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th were 90mm. I have just cleared the gauge ready for more over the coming days. Certainly a strong rain system by the looks! (almost reminiscent of last years rain events)

Regards,
Shauno.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 17 February 2009, 02:27:10 PM
Upper Western NSW Storm Report. 16th February 2009
Hi guys,
We had a bit of an exciting afternoon as far as the storms were concerned! Around 4pm I was watching a large storm sitting out to our West that was an extremely dark and menacing high precip beast. Some partial activity was around though I didn't see much until I headed out around 5pm-ish. There was a really crisp and very large anvil covering town with some nice mammatus on board. This storm had very good inflow cloud bands streaming in from the East. I kept an eye on it for a while until.. it began to really pick up pace and come back in towards us (no doubt the low had crossed over us and swung the winds back from the West). There was a stunning bit of structure/shelf that was almost black in colour with shades of green/aqua around the inflow areas. I concentrated my photography in this region. Though I saw several nice CG, I had missed them (I always feel like I'm letting everyone down when I miss good lightning lol) as they weren't staccato. The structure well made up for it though :D
As the storm approached town, the shelf looked like it was scraping the tree tops! The whole town went dark as it loomed overhead and you could hear the rain core screaming through town coming in from the west behind the shelf. We had close on 20mm in only 15minutes, some smaller then pea sized hail also.

We've had a few more large HP storms since but nothing as large as that beast earlier on.
I am without photo processing software for the time being (due to formatting my pc) but I will get the shots up for you asap! They are fairly impressive, even for a HP beast!

Kindest regards and take care,
Shauno   
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 17 February 2009, 02:36:47 PM
Some further rainfall totals from 9 am 15/2/2009 to 9 am 16/2/2009 worth reporting:-

Sydney:

25 mm where I live.
35 mm at Penrith.
40 mm at Richmond.
43 mm at Sans Souci.
46 mm at Peakhurst.
47 mm at Prospect Reservoir.
56 mm at Berowra.

This pales in comparison to other areas including:-

54 mm at Mt Elliot.
62 mm at Mangrove Mountain.
71 mm at Darkes Forest.
77 mm at Reverces.
78 mm at Katoomba.
85 mm at Gosford.

On the mid north coast, Taree Airport received 106 mm and Smokey Cape 156 mm were some of the highest totals in the state of New South Wales for the period.

(Source Bureau of Meteorology 16/2/2009).

Some recent posts mention the prospect of flooding in the Bellinger Valley. I was there during the rain event and the Bellinger River had risen significantly although when I left Bellingen early Saturday morning 14/2/2009, the Bridge Street road across the river was still open and no significant flooding was occurring at the time. However more rain would have caused problems in low lying areas. I read a storey in the Sydney Morning Herald 16/2/2009 indicating that some flooding had since occurred in the valley.

Harley Pearman
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 18 February 2009, 01:30:26 AM
The focus of the rains last night was the northern half of the Mid North Coast extending to the Northern Rivers east of Grafton. Many centres between Nambucca and Coffs have recorded over 200mm - most of that falling during last night.

Flood levels have subsequently increased for the Nambucca, Orara and Bellinger rivers.  Some places in the Bellingen Valley have had about 500mm since the rain started on Saturday.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 18 February 2009, 03:26:46 AM
Major flooding is now occurring between the Hastings River (west of Port Macquarie) to the Orara (west of Coffs Harbour). There's been some very impressive rainfalls this morning with many totals of over 100mm in 3 hours and over 300mm in the 24 hour period to 9am 17th February.

The attached chart is for the northern half of the Mid North Coast.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: James on 18 February 2009, 03:45:09 AM
BOM now expecting flooding in Bellingen to reach March 2001 levels today. Amazing amount of rain down there - such a beautiful part of the world too.

97mm at Bostobrick on top of the mountain (parents place) since 5pm last night. Big difference compared to Bello and Dorrigo with Dorrigo only 13 kms away as the crow flies yet with double the rainfall. Amazing what a bit of orographic lifting can do.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 18 February 2009, 08:22:35 AM
Just browsing the charts and BOM, there is a system coming through which could be worth while keeping an eye on. There is a weak tropical depression just off Fiji.
It is moving west south west which means it will miss the top end of QLD, the models at this stage show a low of the QLD/NSW coast by Wed 19/02/09.
The low will continue to move south and by the Thursday will combine with another low on the NSW/VIC boarder.
You could have a very wet and windy week approaching.
Brisbane is forecasted to have showers increasing to rain as the low nears.


GALE WARNING 025 ISSUED FROM RSMC NADI Feb 17/0108 UTC 2009 UTC.

TROPICAL DEPRESSION 10F [1000HPA] CENTRE LOCATED NEAR 20.4S 164.7E AT 170000 UTC

MOVING WEST-SOUTHWEST 13 KNOTS. POSITION POOR.

CLOCKWISE WINDS 30 TO 40 KNOTS IN THE SECTOR 30 TO 150 NAUTICAL MILES OF CENTRE
IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT AND IN THE SECTOR 30 TO 200 NAUTICAL MILES OF CENTRE
IN THE SOUTHEAST QUADRANT. AREA OF GALES MOVING WITH DEPRESSION.

ALL SHIPS WITHIN 300 NAUTICAL MILES OF CENTRE ARE REQUESTED TO SEND REPORTS
EVERY THREE HOURS. VOS REPORTING SHIPS USE NORMAL CHANNELS. OTHER VESSELS FAX
PLUS 679 6720190 OR EMAIL NADITCC AT MET DOT GOV DOT FJ.

 
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 18 February 2009, 09:51:33 AM
The Bellinger Valley was hit hard by the rainfall with the flood peak in the Bellinger River at 8.2 metres in the town of Bellingen at 11 am. River levels are falling during the afternoon with the flood peak moving downstream to a place called Repton and Urunga.

This is covered by the Bureau of Meteorology Flood Warning Number 24.

Some exceptional rainfall totals include:-

Comboyne 133 mm, Mt Seaview 176 mm, Port Macquarie 158 mm, Telegraph Point 206 mm, Kempsey 186 mm, Seven Oaks 124 mm, Macksville 159 mm, Spicketts Creek 311 mm, Kooroowi 303 mm, Girralong 272 mm, Meldrum 156 mm, Dorrigo 240 mm, Gleniffer 265 mm, Coffs Harbour 262 mm (Red Hill).

(All totals sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology 17/2/2009).

The Bellinger Valley was the hardest hit. The valley is surrounded on 3 sides by tall hills and mountains and the headwaters of the Bellinger River starts below Point Lookout (Elevation 1,563 metres). Clouds blowing in from the coast hit the landform barriers and dumps the rain within the valley (Orographic rainfall). The head of the Bellinger Valley close to Point Lookout is the wettest location in New South Wales and large rainfall totals such as those over the past few days close to Dorrigo and surrounds has allot to do with the topography of the area.

Harley Pearman
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 18 February 2009, 11:46:37 AM
This is for the records. Nine MSN news report on the flooding at Bellingen.

A caravan park has been evacuated at Repton and the town of Bellingen has been cut off by floodwaters as heavy rain continues on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Bellingen, with a population of about 2,700, is isolated after its main road, Waterfall Way, was cut by floodwaters on Tuesday.

'Both sides of the town are flooded,' the manager of the Diggers Tavern said.

The State Emergency Service (SES) said the flooding occurred after the Bellinger River peaked at Bellingen about 11am (AEDT) on Tuesday.

The flood peak was now moving down the river and was expected to peak about 3pm (AEDT) at Repton and Urunga.

Twenty-four people had been evacuated from the Repton Riverside Caravan Park in anticipation of flooding there, an SES spokeswoman said.

No other evacuations were planned but the SES was 'keeping an eye on things', she said.

The SES had received about 150 calls for assistance from residents of the Bellingen area since the heavy rain began on Friday, the spokeswoman said.

It received about 300mm of rain in the 48 hours until 6am on Tuesday.

Additional resources are on stand-by in case the flood situation in northern NSW gets worse, Premier Nathan Rees says.

The State Emergency Service (SES) says rising river levels may force the evacuation of residents on the NSW mid-north coast following further heavy rain, which is expected to continue until Wednesday.

'We are keeping an eye on the situation and will initiate the evacuation of some residents should that be deemed necessary,' SES spokeswoman Erin Pogmore said.

Rainfall had led to more than 500 calls for assistance from NSW residents since Friday, she said.

'Those calls have been for a range of jobs from roof and tree damage to general flooding damage.'

Mr Rees says there are long-standing arrangements to deal with floods in the region.

'Those have been put in place some time ago,' he said.

'Those arrangements work well.'

Additional SES volunteers and a helicopter were ready to mobilise if necessary.

'This is an area that is prone to flood,' Mr Rees said.

'The locals know how to deal with it.

'If there are any additional resources that are needed to help people out up there, then we will help with it.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 19 February 2009, 10:20:42 AM
Upper Western NSW Storm And Heavy Rain Report 18th Feb. 2009

Hi guys,
Thought I'd just add a new total to the already existing ones. Between 3:45pm and 4:05pm EDST today we received 27mm in a heavy downpour. Everything is pretty well flooded. My house is on a ridge that's around 15feet above the town level and the roads up here went under water. The town always gets the worst but I haven't been down for a look yet.

There was the odd CG around as it moved off the town area but none during the deluge. Still raining now but only light showery stuff. Temps are pretty warm , up around 34c earlier. Humidity would be close on 100% at a guess. Winds are still only very light, pushing in from the North currently (as is the weather).

The cumulus were enormous as would be expected in this current -very tropical- system. Does anyone know whats happening with the cyclone (Innis) being so far South? Will it push inland at all? I'll have to check out the cyclone tracker.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.
Title: RE: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 19 February 2009, 02:33:54 PM
Cyclone Innis is now known as former cyclone Innis. The ex Cyclone only made it 160 deg east, a movement of 0.5 deg east during the day. It does not appear it will move any closer to the coast at this point.
The BOM latest update on the low is

GALE WARNING 356 CCA
THIS AFFECTS OCEAN AREA: SUBTROPIC
AT 180600UTC
OVER WATERS EAST OF 160E.
LOW 998HPA, FORMER CYCLONE INNIS, NEAR 29S 160E MOVING SOUTH 20KT.
WITHIN 180 MILES OF LOW IN SECTOR FROM NORTHEAST THROUGH SOUTHEAST
TO SOUTH: CLOCKWISE 35KT.
GALE AREA MOVING WITH LOW.
THIS WARNING CANCELS AND REPLACES WARNING 349.

RE-ISSUED BY THE BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY, BRISBANE.


The present track map is as posted with sat and Thursdays synoptics

Hope this helps.

cheers
Col
Title: Re: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 26 June 2009, 12:09:30 PM
Here's the updated photos from the storm I mentioned above, finally! But better late than never :)

Upper Western NSW Storm Photos 16th February 2009

This storm had amazing structure and pushed in from the West around 3pm, sat to our North for some time while I took these photos, displayed a 'mature stage' and showed some real nice organization. It then turned right, came over town and headed South before weakening. Right mover? There was a HP rain core sitting to the left of these photos. A few CG but nothing out of the box so to speak.

I'd like to hear what you think of this structure. This large (shots are at 10mm) base has a clear clockwise rotation in the photos if I play them timelapse-style. It must have been sitting on a dry northerly boundary of sorts? It was clear skies to the North and East of this thing.

On with the photos!
(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59113&g2_serialNumber=1)
This was the first photo taken around 3pm-ish. This was as it pushed in from the West. The anvil was amazing and stretched way back overhead to the SE.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59117&g2_serialNumber=1)
Some of the large anvil. I took these from an old opal field called Potch Point and they are all facing North.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59120&g2_serialNumber=1)
This is where it stalled. The structure really gets good after this. The inflow winds were pretty strong here and CG were just starting to fire here and there.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59123&g2_serialNumber=1)
I will post a few of these so you can see the maturity taking place. It's great to have a storm sit still long enough to have it's picture taken! lol.
 
(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59126&g2_serialNumber=1)
I was praying a funnel cloud would form here but I wasn't that fortunate.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59129&g2_serialNumber=1)

I apologize if these appear dark. I am only using GIMP to convert my RAW shots, then shrink and copyright them for posting. They are all in pure camera settings.
T.B.C...
Title: Re: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 26 June 2009, 12:23:17 PM
Continued from the post above...

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59132&g2_serialNumber=1)
I'm open to any comments here. What would you class this base feature as? It doesn't look much like a shelf cloud to me? Wall Cloud possibly? The inflow bands in the mid levels were very pronounced too :)

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59135&g2_serialNumber=1)
4:14pm now and it's really starting to rotate here and come straight towards me from the North. Still a nice HP core off to the left of picture.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59138&g2_serialNumber=1)
Looming nicely and gathering pace. It started to rain just after this so i headed back into town.. just in time!

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59141&g2_serialNumber=1)
This wasn't long after the above photo. A nice downdraft hole forming there. Small pea sized hail was falling at this point also.

(http://www.ridgelightning.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=59144&g2_serialNumber=1)
Time to head home! You could just about reach up and touch this beast! *remember this was taken @ 10mm.

All in all a nice afternoon as I recall :D
I hope you all don't mind coming back for a look at these, again I apologize for the slight lateness.

Kindest regards and take care,
Shauno
Title: Re: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Kristy Norman on 26 June 2009, 01:49:41 PM
Wow, what a beautiful storm! It looks like it is just sitting there very still until it grows into a huge monster to quickly come after you!
Title: Re: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 26 June 2009, 02:00:51 PM
Hi Kristy84,
It definitely came to a halt for a good amount of time (almost 15minutes which is a long time in weather terms!) but still it wasn't the thing was rotating and swirling nicely.
It was one of the best structured storms of the season for us, particularly that the season was dominated by HP, low shear, squally rubbish. This one was a real turn-up and a pre-curser to our more normal storm weather ie; the nice highly convective and very active pulse-severe cells we are used to! :)

Take care,
Shauno