Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum
Severe Weather Discussion => Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing => Topic started by: Clayton on 15 January 2010, 02:45:24 AM
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Hey
This may be a bit early but there is potential for some severe storms Monday in SE Qld and NE NSW. Will keep you posted.
Clayton
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This is shaping up as one of the best systems I've seen for a number of years. The last similar prolonged slow moving system like this was Dec 7th/8th 2004 so quite a long time ago.
Storms have been occuring in NSW for quite a few days now but that activity should contract to the NE quarter of the state (and coastal areas as far south as Canberra) by Sunday with SEQ/NE NSW being the focus for Monday and Tuesday. Monday and Tuesday have some real potential although with these days being 4 and 5 days out they are subject to change.
Will definitely be keeping a close eye on this one.
Cheers,
Macca
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Have adjusted the dates of this thread to start today given the NTs action:
Jimmy just phoned to report on the cell which is now just south of Armidale. He encountered 2-3cm hail about 10ks N of Walcha and damaging winds nearby. The lightning and storm structure is very impressive too - could tell he was excited :)
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Shame that 12z CAPE chart you posted didn't stay as colourful! Still looks to be a great setup though, will be doing a fair bit of driving by the looks of things!
Ill be off towards the border Sunday so hopefully I bump into some other chasers.
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Hey
Looking at the latest forecast and the main storm day looks to have changed to Sunday, mostly due to the trough passing and a dry line coming through
Hopefully it will change and we will be able to see some storms on Monday and if we do they will most likely be very fast moving and head to the coast quickly.
Great to hear that someone was on the Armidale storm hope to see some great pics Jimmy.
By the way I'll be out there chasing on Sunday and hopefully Monday
Clayton
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Hey
Looking at the forecast for Sunday I am liking the look of the Northern Tablelands around Armidale.
Good Cape and Shear is strong. Does anybody else agree?
I was thinking that storms may be better than ones that form elsewhere due to the stronger overall shear and higher cape.
Monday is looking questionable as they may form but they will move very fast and quickly end up out to sea.
Still waiting on the later forecasts to see how it turns out.
Clayton
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Hi guys,
Been a busy day and finally am able to write the report for this day.
Chase Report 14th January 2010 - Walcha region, Northern Tablelands
The conditions on this day were anticipated to be unstable but with relatively weak upper level support. Moist air was expected to persist over the ranges. My thoughts were that storms would head north and contain lightning. When I got there I was rather disappointed!
Storms had begun to develop and looked rather weak and I thought it was simply a day of numerous storms. Two cells consolidated to the west with the southern one organising first and moving south. No roads there and it seemed the northern was developing a soft base and backbuilding west. There was a road towards Tamworth that headed west - a good road option. Perhaps 10 to 15km west, I noticed and photographed some interesting structure but the further west I headed just heavy rain and lack of structure.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd04.jpg)
Finally back east I returned to see if the structure was still there. It wasn't! This day was going to be a up and down with brief maturity of cells! I called Michael to see if he could see these cells and they were definitely active in terms of lightning though not really visible on radar. I simply had to act virtually alone.
I simply headed north to see what other cells may have been developing. Past the rain and WHAT THE!! I was in disbelief - the original storm had begun a northerly track and gained - "supercellular characteristics". I found the first available stop to shoot timelapse. Bolts were already ripping from the updraft and anvil. Inflow streaming in from the ground into the updraft. A ground hugger - I could barely see the base. This was bloody awesome. I had to control my nerves to feel reality! I mean weak wind shear was producing THIS! A green tinge began to show as the updraft consolidated and was now clearly rotating. The bolts were so frequent and pulsing that long I was able to photograph a few.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd09.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd10.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd11.jpg)
Further north, after a relatively brief period of inactivity, it was now the frequent powerful pulsating bolts that alerted me stop once more. The storm was trying to re-organise on the northern end. The structure was still evident though I was relatively closer.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd15.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd16.jpg)
My focus turned to the emerging base - at first it seemed like a shelf cloud.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd22.jpg)
But when the whole structure revealed itself, it was showing signs of rotation. Time for timelapse. The base was so low and it was rather dark. Lightning was drawing near. The end of the tape seemed to coincide with light rain.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd27.jpg)
Next stop with new tape rolling - right under the base north of Walcha. Bolts were dangerously close and rather frequent. Close was understatement - one bolt with almost instantaneous thunder deafended me! I pratically s--t myself! I turned the car around a little and a bolt hit the powerline with a spark explosion. Another explosion occurred in the powerlines on the nearby field. My mind began to ponder thoughts of the car being struck.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd28.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd29.jpg)
The rain curtain finally closed in and the bolts moved northeast so I made my way north - to sample the core. I was met by violent winds and blinding rain. The road's centre line was barely visible! Debri littered the road in patches - evidence of powerful gusts. A tree further along caused chaos as cars stopped - others including myself manouvering around them. Hailstones with diameter of 2 to 3cm rattling the aerial and unsettling car panels. Rain and hail was driven horizontally. Visibility was so poor that I had little time and no choice but to drive over a small branch. In fact driving further north was dangerous of hydro-planing so I proceeded with care. The intention was to get the storm east of Armidale - but the storm seemed to weaken from outflow confirmed by Michael
After pondering what to do next and whether to head back home - not another a 1am arrival. A severe thunderstorm warning came through and Michael confirmed that a cell was situated near Gunnedah heading northeast. Heading to Tamworth would place me in position to this cell depsite the risk of it dissipating. What more evidence do I need now to stay overnight!
The cell came into view as I made my way towards the last descent off the Northern Tablelands. It had rounded top to a leaning updraft - anvil streaming southeast. Based on its perspective the storm was headed on a track north of Tamworth.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd30.jpg)
It was about 7:30 in the evening - I did not feel like making the treck to Manilla. But I just had to see if there was some interesting structure given the inflow. The storm was rather lightning active. However, by the time I got to Manilla - you guessed it - it was in a weakening phase! Taking pictures with dogs barking around the place and pure darkness just did not make it an attractive prospect. I was hungry and also needed to get accommodation anyway. Lucky this was just prior to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. The road to Tamworth showed some very nice anvil crawlers becoming less frequent. By the time I was in Tamworth, lighning seemed to cease altogether with only distant flashes.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd33.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0114jd36.jpg)
This was another surprising day - incredible structure and some awesome opportunities to photograph and video. It took me some time to crash out - not until I browsed that footage. Suddenly the disappointment of the worst start to a storm season in storm chasing history seemed to fade away - lost in the past.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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A little bit disappointed with this mornings 00z run from GFS for Sunday. It has scaled back the shear in the lowers a bit for our region. CAPE still looks pretty good (around 1700) and LI's are still nice too (-5). There is a CAP in place, which has had me a bit concerned from the start, but with forecast temps set to reach 34 deg at Casino it should be overcome hopefully. Looking at the forecast sounding for Sunday it has the temp and DP lines closing in on each other moreso than previous runs. Whether this will result in cloud cover remains to be seen (its apparent for 03z as well). Anyway we'll see what happens and all things aside its just good to be talking about possible stormage in our region, which has otherwise been a lacklustre season so far.
BTW great stuff Jimmy good to see someone able to get out there and document storms in other parts of state. Hopefully us guys in the NR's will have something to share with everybody come Monday morning ;)
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Wow Jimmy, your post is a great read. Thanks for the summary. Awesome ground hugger and incredible base features as you described!
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Hey Everyone
Just had a look at the 18z Run for Sunday at 4pm.
The models have definitely picked up overnight and it looks promising but don't want to get to excited.
CAPE is into the mid to high 2000 and shear is passable.
Looks as if it would be situated in the Northern Rivers around Casino area and maybe into the SE QLD. Still a bit early to know for sure.
Awesome Photos Jimmy glad someone was there what an unexpected storm in those conditions.
Clayton
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Today turned out to be a great chase!!! Realising how weak the shear was this morning,myself and Lightning Chaser decided to take on Goulburn. We met up with Michael Thompson, Grinch , and CanonCloud at Marulan. Here we got onto a very CG active but otherwise unexciting storm. Numerous bolts were pulsing however they were quite distant. Eventually the rain and outflow forced us to abandon this storm. We stopped in the heart of Marulan to discuss our next chase options when a 200metre flang hit just up the road. This motivated me to pull the video camera but unfortunately that was the last of the bolts. Next we drove down to the abbatior at Goulburn where we witnessed more CGs which were frequent at times but not close. Some of the structure NE of Goulburn was interesting as well with plenty of scud getting sucked up into the base. At about this time, we noticed the shear had picked up considerably compared to the morning. Seeing an especially nice updraft to the north, saw us driving to the very northern outskirts of Goulburn. During this drive CGs became freqent enough to get the video camera out, luckily I was rewarded with a CRAZY staccato which hit 3kms up the road with great contrast!!!! This storm produced nothing apart from a few more CGs which Lightning chaser nailed on video.
Checking the lightning tracker on the laptop we were excited to see a strong line developing to our southwest. The strongest cell appeared to be heading for Tarago, so off we went. Eventually this line came into view with the western and southwestern horizon getting darker with occasional CG. In Tarago itself we found a hill that had good views to the west. Here the storm was looking quite organised with healthy inflow bands feeding into it,and even a mid level funnel at one brief stage. Eventually a nice guster became apparent to the west, however this didnt look special at first as it was quite distant. CGs were less active compared to earlier in the day unfortunately. Rain from a nearby and totally unrelated cell had us considering a move but we stuck it out, and were rewarded with an amazing rapidly rotating guster that pumped out a couple of massive staccatos. The rain even stopped completely for about two minutes when the best structure was available!!!! As it moved overhead we were hit with outflow winds estimated at 70-80km/hr. With no other option we core punched it heading to Goulburn encountering torrential rain and several close strikes. Hail was dissapointing small, only about 2cms. We encountered a few more nice CGs near Goulburn, but the storm was quickly weakening. After grabbing maccas we headed for home.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/pingtang100/IMG_8591.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/pingtang100/IMG_8594.jpg)
Heres a short video clip from today
awesome guster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1JSRYFZa-4#normal)
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Nice action there guys! Glad you had an enjoyble chase and some nice structure! Great consolidated shelf cloud.
Chase Report Cowra Grenfell and Bathurst 16th January 2010
Not much excitement for me really today.
Earlier convection of the storm near Portland
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd03.jpg)
I attempted to get to the very large storms out west but once I got to Grenfell, it was clear they were already embedded in cold outflow!
Developing cumulus SW of Bathurst
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd12.jpg)
Ahhhh! Dust... time to turn around
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd15.jpg)
I hate these situations and made an effort to go northeast but the gusts were catching up. So I made my way briskly towards Cowra once more to get into better cumulus fields building on the higher terrain. This was when the chase began.
The cumulus that had quietyly develop towards the east rapidly developed and organised dumping rain.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd16.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd19.jpg)
It seemed this may have been developing in response to the upper trough - increasing lighning and anvil streaming over. But my excitement of a very spectacular storm was short lived once I knew the line from Grenfell and Cowra had caught up and overtaken the line. The cores quickly became embedded towards the back with the lightning. Still I filmed a nice gurst front close to the ground for timelapse. Some intense pulsing bolts were now embedded in this cell. I suspect with the cool outflow there was hail in these cells.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd27.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd30.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd32.jpg)
Heading further east, Bathurst provided some brief excitement when I stopped for a look at the approaching gust front. A loud thunder deafended my from behind me - scary stuff. A developing shower had formed to the northeast. This simply developed rapidly and dumped some intense precipitation just north of Bathurst.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd45.jpg)
Whilst making a turn and moving down the road in Bathurst a massive flash brightly lit behind me with an instantaneous deafening bang! My head shook - it was most likely from the anvil!
I turned towards Sofala and it took me to nearing Sofala before I was ahead of the gust front.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0116jd51.jpg)
This provided some artistic opportunities and to relax a little. Once I made Ilford, the sunset provided some scenery and I missed a nice chaotic anvil crawler on camera in between pressing the camera button! I got so close to kicking the tripod!
Even whilst I passed through the rain, occasional bolts and anvil crawler would light up the side window just to tease. Home I went.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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A video from the 16th at Tarago. If you watch in the HQ size you may be able to pick up the rotation in the rare bits I have the camera still
Severe storm Tarago, NSW 16th Janaury 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YjyW7Ki-yU#normal)
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Thanks Jimmy.
Looks rather interesting today but i wouldn't write off yet. Theres a possibility for those thunderstorms to be severe.
One question, why BoM not plotting any rainfall for us today? They forecasted 'showers and thunderstorms' as usual but without precipitation?
Mathew
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Some more footage from Goulburn yesterday, some timelapse of scud movement and a couple of nice lightning strikes.
Timelapse and lightning, storm near Goulburn, 16th January 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiavsIVs5bA#normal)
Some stills of the strikes
(http://ozthunder.com/chase/160110v3.jpg)
(http://ozthunder.com/chase/160110v1.jpg)
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Just got back from a 750km chase (or so) to Grafton and back. Decided that there was better moisture and cooler upper levels down there leading to better instability. Also better shear down in NE NSW today than SEQ so all things pointed to down there.
Managed to get an eyefull of that cell which moved N up the coast from near Coffs to Grafton and it displayed some pretty tasty updrafts. At the same time, a line of cells developed near Grafton itself and moved NE. These looked nice for a while (refer photos earlier in this thread) before it gusted out quite wildly. Winds estimated up to 80km/h in the biggest gusts. This outflow pushed well ahead of the storm so I headed back up to near Casino and the outflow boundary from the Grafton storm then kicked off a nice storm S of Coraki so I went after that. This had some great structure for a short(ish) while before it suffered the same fate as the Grafton storm. This was to be expected given the strong instability and weak shear. I eventually pulled the pin quite early and kinda missed the stuff which went up close to Casino/Kyogle area later. ALl storms in this area today exhibited some really nice updrafts and overshoots at times but they all suffered from the same outflow fate. All in all a really nice chase day - was good to get out there amongst it again. I'll try and get some photos up but don't hold your breath...next weekend might be the first time I get a chance (assuming I'm not TC chasing).
I heard a report of 3cm hail near Coraki from the earlier storm.
Macca
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Hey guys today was a great day by far. It all started out with a humid morning and it was 30 by the time the clock struck nine. At around 1:20pm the first cells started to develop in the Bonalbo area. They moved northeast towards Murwillumbah and dissipated very quickly. Now by the time it reached 1:40pm a cell developed west of Woolgoolga. It intensified and took a north north-easterly track before going directly north. By 3:50pm the cell made impact at Wooli.
At 5:50pm the cell that originated in the Woolgoolga area made it all the way up north to Coraki where a deep brown core developed. The cell had overshooting cumulonimbus growth above the anvil. At 7:10 another deep red cell developed east of Bonalbo and moved east causing a mushroom bomb look with the anvil. At the same time another cell just southwest of Coraki had developed with a deep dark brown core. It and the Bonalbo cell got near each other and then another cell had developed between the two at around 8:30pm.
By 9:00pm the cell had made its way east towards Lismore, Ballina, Alstonville, Byron and Lennox head with many CG’s and a never ending lightshow. The cell moved Closer to Byron bay but made impact as far south as Ballina.
Overall a good day. Nice to see those structures and especially witness the sound of present thunder.
The images are as follows:
1) At a lookout in Ballina overlooking the development and movement from the Woolgoolga cell near Yamba.
2) The anvil stretched out as far as the eye could see.
3) A snap shot of the overshooting cumulonimbus development bursting through the anvil.
4) The Cell nears Ballina.
5) with a nice Structure before completely collapsing.
Unfortunately I have no images of the lightning from tonight’s cell due to my cameras batteries going flat but I’m pretty sure Mathew Townsend has got some of the cell.
Below you will find a link to today’s Grafton Radar.
Antonio (storm boy)
See : 128km Radar Loop for Grafton, 13:00 16/01/2010 to 13:00 17/01/2010 UTC
(http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-thumb/IDR283/2010-01-16-13/2010-01-17-13/300.s.png) (http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-loop/IDR283-grafton/2010-01-16-13/2010-01-17-13)
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Hi Stormboy,
Can you please provide some more details on the "tornado sighting" near Wooli. Where did you hear this report? What time? Where was it? Any photos?
Thanks,
Macca
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Hi all, Jason,Michael and myself got out for a chase on sunday. We set off with expectations as much as one can jam the amount of model guideance and on the ground Obs with thoughts of the best outcomes to see a few storms. We took off to Grafton and watched some stuff getting organised and decided to "Core Punch" in south grafton. Now that was fun!! destructive winds and small hail with some very close lightning! Drove out of that and proceeded to head north again and basically had a lovely drive back to Coraki where back near Casino we set up and took a few more pics. Thanks for a great arvo fellas! Was nice to get "Hammered" as normally i stay out of the storms Here's a few of my pics good to see a few others got amongst it rather then sitting at home.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/rodney/20100117rwa.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/rodney/20100117rwb.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/rodney/20100117rwc.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/rodney/20100117rwd.jpg)
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Storm Chase Report: NSW Northern Rivers 17 January 2010
Indications were that the northern parts of the region would not fire until later so Rodney Wallbridge, Jason Paterson and I headed south to Grafton. This was the sky near Casino just before we left.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011701.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011701.jpg)
A storm had gathered strength west of Woolgoolga by the time we arrived in Junction Hill (just north of Grafton) and was tracking NNE.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011702.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011702.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011703.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011703.jpg)
The updrafts were powerful with some overshoots though the base was a bit elevated.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011704.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011704.jpg)
Other storms were gathering in a more favourable location to the southwest around the Nymboida area. Despite the heat (and a bit of sunburn!) we enjoyed this developing storm system which would be our target for the next three hours.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011705.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011705.jpg)
There was not a great deal of observable lightning but the high contrast structure was very nice. Microbursts were certainly a feature today.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011706.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011706.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011707.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011707.jpg)
We let the storm develop just enough before the decision was made to see what the storm was producing - ie. I wanted to get some hail. We drove through Grafton and by the time we were crossing the Clarence River strong gusts were hitting. The lightning had certainly ramped up too.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011708.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011708.jpg)
A shelf cloud structure was to the west but we proceeding south through South Grafton then out the Raleigh/Nymboida Road (almost exactly the same location as the chase on 28th November 2009). Wild torrents of wind blown rain battered the area. The visibility seemed to be zero at times. We crawled southwards to find a spot clear of any immediate danger from falling trees. Wave after wave of microburst energy smashed around. Numerous shotgun CGs hit - it was awesome! The only disappointing part was the lack of large hail - only some 1 to possible 1.5cm stones fell. The initial W-SW gusts switched to E-NE from the rear flank.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011709.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011709.jpg)
The slow moving nature of storms today ensured the onslaught lasted quite a while - but did cause damage in Grafton and South Grafton.
We drove back north and out the core then took the Lawrence Road from Grafton northeast and moved straight back into the wild weather. Again torrents of rain fell in the microbursts and some small hail.
Just near Lawrence we were clear of the rain and able to see a spectacular microburst to the west.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011710.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011710.jpg)
A couple of pics then we had to race northwest to get through a tree lined road before that microburst caught up with us. We just made it although it looked dodgy at times.
Back on the Summerland Way at Whiporie the storm was again looking beautiful with powerful new updrafts. Other activity to our SW only had our attention briefly.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011711.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011711.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011712.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011712.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011713.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011713.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011714.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011714.jpg)
The aim now was to get back into the main storm. We took a gravel road which cut across to Coraki saving over 30ks of driving had we gone to Casino then back ESE. The road was actually quite good (for gravel) and our timing ended up fairly ideal, exiting the forest straight into the storm's core again! Another microburst and some 1 - 1.5cm hail too.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011715.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011715.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011716.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011716.jpg)
This storm weakened very rapidly after that.
We moved WNW to near Casino as the sunset drew near. Other cells were developing - one initially southwest of Casino had some lovely structure though high based. The lightning was not very frequent but there were a number of clear air CGs.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011717.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011717.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011718.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011718.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011719.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011719.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011720.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011720.jpg)
Another storm developing very quickly to the west of Casino and ended up tracking over Lismore Alstonville etc into the evening. This gave an awesome display of lighting, though infrequent at first. Being around sunset produced some lovely colours.
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011721.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011721.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011722.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011722.jpg)
(http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/thumbs/2010011723.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/forum_images/photos/2010011723.jpg)
At great chase and a nice way to mark the 9th anniversary of the Casino Supercell.
Michael
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I do not have any photos the tornado was reported By EWN in an SMS alert according to the sms it was a land spout and made touchdown for 20 seconds. Matthew Townsend might have more on this as he told me about a tornado first.
or it may be on EWN site http://www.ewn.com.au/ (http://www.ewn.com.au/)
Antonio
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I seriously doubt that Antonio. EWN only sends out BoM warnings and no additional info unless the BoM put that in the text of their warning product - which it didn't as far as I can see from the warning archives. Can you please paste in what you have, or type what the SMS had?
I guess it's a Matt Townsend message..... not EWN !
regards, Michael
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I seriously doubt that Antonio. EWN only sends out BoM warnings and no additional info unless the BoM put that in the text of their warning product - which it didn't as far as I can see from the warning archives. Can you please paste in what you have, or type what the SMS had?
I guess it's a Matt Townsend message..... not EWN !
regards, Michael
I apologise for I misread my SMS it was as part of a warning. Next time i will read it more carefully. Apologies again.
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ABC North Coast did an interview this morning at about 8.35am
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/18/2794609.htm?site=northcoast (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/18/2794609.htm?site=northcoast)
The State Emergency Service received 50 calls for help after a violent thunderstorm ripped through parts of the Clarence Valley yesterday afternoon.
Dave Mackie, from the Clarence-Nambucca SES, says roof damage was the major problem, especially in the South Grafton area.
He says a motel lost parts of its roof and several houses and industrial sheds were also damaged.
"No injuries which was quite fortunate, but we did have seven teams of SES working up until midnight last night putting tarpaulins up and doing temporary repairs to a lot of roofs and removing a lot of trees that had fallen over," Mr Mackie said.
The manager of the Jacaranda Motor Lodge, Tony Stackhouse, says a 12-metre-long section of his roof was ripped off.
"And it was in one full section, and it travelled probably 50 metres over the top of the trees and it landed on the pool fence about 50 metres away, in one piece," Mr Stackhouse said.
"The grounds here they look, they certainly look like a tornado hit them, there's tree branches from one end fo the place to the other, it just stripped quite big branches right off the trees," he said.
Wollongbar-based storm chaser Michael Bath drove to the Clarence Valley to witness the wild weather.
He says although the winds were extreme, the storm itself moved slowly and he was able to follow its path for several hours.
"There wasn't a huge amount of lightning apart from right in the core and there was a number of close bolts that hit so close to the car that the whole thing vibrated from the effect of the lightning bolts hitting trees adjacent to us," Mr Bath said.
"Joe Public wouldn't want to put themselves in that situation but you sort of know the safe spots and certainly being in a car is one of those," he said.
Tags: storm, grafton-2460, south-grafton-2460
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Hi,
Good to see some action up and down the coast yesterday. Nice interview Michaal (good to see the message was passed on when she called me:)) Antonio, thanks for changing the message to a more accurate one - accuracy is paramount on this forum. That does not take it away from the chase you had - great stuff! Just report what you see out there and only report terminology you understand.
Chase Report coastal Hunter 17th January 2010
After pondering whether I should chase yet again, I suddenly realised that this was not your typical SE change. Winds had come into Sydney but it seems there was evidence of a possible meso-low (or at least some form of circulation) on the central coast to be situated near Newcastle later. The Hunter Valley was out of my chase territory on this day though the Bulahdelah was another possible target. So with the promise of fish and chips for the family later (evil grin), we headed up towards Newcastle.
Some crisp updrafts north of Sydney
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd05.jpg)
Taking the turn-off just after the last anvil, we remained in the Toronto area. The storms were producing nice anvils but then the bases would become less organised. Remaining in this region for about an hour, the pattern persisted with cores passing to our south.
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd23.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd26.jpg)
We decided to check out one of the cores relocating in Belmont. Suddenly I looked up and there was a nice anvil's southern edge observed through a gap. Was this just another false alarm? A bolt rips down from this anvil perhaps 2km away. The rain eases and the base across the lake begins to consolidate. One bolt followed by another. A wet microburst descends and more bolts follow. The two dense precipitation curtains were merging.
A move north was in order and immediate. Before we knew it, the storm was closing in rapidly. Bolts including multiple staccatos were now hammering down from the side anvil. A green tinge seem to be devloping in the rain free base. A main intersection - Newcastle or the Link Road? We changed lane to head for Maitland in hope to get the storm northeast of Newcastle.
Precipitation curtain and base consolidating west of Belmont - this storm also was changing direction slightly
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd28.jpg)
Nice side anvil
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd29.jpg)
Base with green tinge
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd31.jpg)
Unfortuntaely, it was too slow. Newcastle may not have been much better regardless but at least we may have been in a better part of the core. Extremely heavy rain occurred in the immediate suburbs west of Newcastle. Once on the road east of Hexham, the storm was already to our east and we gave chase.
Updrafts with storm to our east
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd32.jpg)
Precipitation curtains
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd36.jpg)
Next updraft keeping the storm alive along the flanking line
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd40.jpg)
The storm exhibited some nice updraft structure and a nice possible hail shaft descended from the back side lit up by sunshine. Perhaps a nice severe multicell. Heading east seemed to make difference though we ran out of road ending up in Nelson Bay. The structure had weakened briefly but another solid updraft had developed on the northwestern flank. The base was drawing in some easterly to northeaserly inflow but we never got a good look at the base as it headed off the coast.
Storm off the coast of Nelson Bay
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd40.jpg)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd44.jpg)
After some photographs, it was time for fish and chips! More storms would approach and head off the coast and intensify accordingly.
Another storm arrives and intensifies
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/0117jd55.jpg)
The trip home was interesting too. A line of storms (low-topped and no anvils) was once again moving through the southern Hunter centred near Toronto. Would have made for some interesting lightning photography but I decided against with a later night arrival already in order for the family.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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Hey all
Great lightning show after sunset last night. I managed to capture over 5 lightning bolts, some were just retina burning! I gave up after MB gave me message that long lived cell died on our footsteps. This new cell formed over Lismore gave me a surprise!
I will post my photos later this week.
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I've got a few pics to add to Michaels. I won't go into to the details of the chase as it already has been covered pretty well by all who chased the area. Suffice to say that I had a very enjoyable time with MB and Roddy, and some of those car shaking flangs were just incredible. Anyway heres a selection of my favourite shots from the day, sorry if I double up on a few of the other quality pics in here.
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8487.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8496.jpg)
Closer view of one of the incredible microbursts we experienced.
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8510.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8519.jpg)
There was some very photogenic structure around at times as highlighted by this shot
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8535.jpg)
And some nice lightning to finish the night (jpeg compression does no favours to this pics :( If someone can point in the right direction for not losing quality from RAW to JPEG compression I'd be most grateful
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8609.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8603.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/17%20January%202010%20Northern%20Rivers%20Storm%20Chase/IMG_8602.jpg)
Once again another enjoyable day storm chasing, which has been all too infrequent this season. Thanks to MB for driving.
Cheers Jason
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Sweet shots everybody great stucture on these storms :) to bad the shear wasnt a bit stronger...this is what I photographed from home, had no petrol to head out far but oh well..
First two images are of the left split from the Woolgoolga cell
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9893copy.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9908copy.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9915copy.jpg)
This is Boambee Headland on fire, some kids did it apparently, I thought it was from lightning.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9928copy.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9950copy.jpg)
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9963copy.jpg)
Not much lightning to photograph later but I did find a flipped 4wd with some very lucky occupants escaping any injuries, got to be careful on slippery roads!!
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Enak,
Did the storm in the first and second photograph show rotation and structure for an extended period of time? Very interesting.
The photograph of one of the storms Michael et al got also showed interesting structure.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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Some more fantastic storms everyone. I held some hope for action in Sydney given the BoM warning that went down as far as Wollongong initially and the EWN SMS I received. Unluckily action stayed north of my location and kept going further north. I did spot some pileus on one of the cells to my north, probably after it's best display would have been.
Will drag the camera out in the next day or so and download the pics.
The Sydney chasers should be right next week for action as I am off to Victoria (Warrnambool) for a few nights, camping a couple of nights along the way each direction - assuming it isn't either a heatwave or bucketing down!
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Heres some timelapse of the Storm activity on Sunday. This is looking south from Singleton towards the central coast. Some strong updrafts and pilius caps were evident at times. Eventually we went east and intercepted a decent storm near Cessnock, which pumped out numerous clear air CGs. Unfortunately this storm was too quick for us, moving at a rapid rate towards Newcastle. After this the sky looked horrible to the west with the dryline impending, so we headed for home.
Thunderstorm timelapse- Central Coast NSW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nj-50UI8GA#normal)
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Enak,
Did the storm in the first and second photograph show rotation and structure for an extended period of time? Very interesting.
The photograph of one of the storms Michael et al got also showed interesting structure.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
I thought I could see some for a little while but it was slow and was hard to tell for sure, as for how long I dont know but it maintained this structure, actually it was better before these shots, for 15-20 mins or so. Heres a shot not much earlier but, I was still charging my camera batteries while I was watching it for 10 mins before these when it was best.
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/January%2017%202010/IMG_9888copy.jpg)
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Hi Pintang,
Unfortunately this storm was too quick for us, moving at a rapid rate towards Newcastle.
I know the feeling! Been there and done that several times over the years. The Hunter can be your best friend or your worst enemy in storm chasing.
Try this in 2001 November 18th
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2001/jd20011118.html (http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2001/jd20011118.html)
(http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2001/1118jd17.jpg)
Do you notice the surroundings! Yep Singleton!
By the way, those were the two main storms I (sort of) intercepted and mention in my reports. Even whilst I was in Newcastle - well I should have been beyond Newcastle - I had no hope of overtaking it. This means it was elevated. I can assure you I let the fist do the talking in my vehicle once I realised what I had done wrong.
Can I please see some pictures from your perspective please. I want to see it's structure before it weakened. I was just before it and in the core when it perhaps looked the best.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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The barrel updraft is impressive on that Woolgoolga cell Kane. What time were the pics? Radar shows it to be the right mover after the split. Our first few photos during the Grafton chase is the left mover.
All the pics I took on the day are here:
http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/mb20100117.html (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/mb20100117.html)
Attached below are a few photos taken by Halden Boyd at Evans Head :
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Few cells fired up on the coast yesterday (18th)
1st to fire was out near Melrose
Looking toward Melrose storm under anvil 2-01pm
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/2-01Melroseanvil4-01UTC.jpg)
a bit later 3-56pm
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/3-56Melroseanvilpan5-56UTC.jpg)
A storm fired up over Eumundi 3-26pm
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/3-26Eumundistorm5-26UTC.jpg)
and another, Cooran storm 4-20pm
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/Pan4-23Cooranstorm6-23UTC.jpg)
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/4-20Cooranstorm6-20UTC.jpg)
but then moved off the coast
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/Pan4-50cooranstmline6-50UTC.jpg)
time to call it quits with dry air above although the receding storm developed some nice pileus
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/Pan5-30cooranstmline7-30UTC.jpg)
(http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/ae277/DavJR17/Storms%202010-01-18/Pileuscap5-397-39UTC.jpg)
PD
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The barrel updraft is impressive on that Woolgoolga cell Kane. What time were the pics? Radar shows it to be the right mover after the split. Our first few photos during the Grafton chase is the left mover.
Hey Michael..Oops made a mistake I meant to say the right split of the Woolgoolga cell.
the first shots were taken around the 2:40pm raqdar image and the barrel shaped updraft around the 3:00-3:10pm image..
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Katoomba Storms 16 January 2010
Saturday I had prior commitments and hence I could not venture out of Sydney until 4 pm. After 4 pm, I had free time and I drove up to Katoomba from Granville to see what was happening. Given that I had limited time, I decided to go to Echo Point. There I was able to watch a few distant thunderstorms as well as various cloud formations develop and move off the Oberon Plateau only to see them dissipate by the time they reached Katoomba.
The first photo is looking south from Echo Point towards developing storm cells south of Mt Solitary. This cloud formation moved south east along the ranges. I saw occasional lightning flashes within or close to the cloud formation but it was not significant. Eventually it became hidden by falling rain and nightfall.
The second photo is looking west north west from Echo Point and shows a broadening dark cloud base over or near Katoomba prior to the storm reaching the town. By the time the storm did reach Katoomba, it weakened significantly. There was a final burst of lightning including a few cloud to ground strikes but that soon tapered away to nothing. No thunderstorm activity crossed into the Sydney basin.
The photos are attached below.
Harley Pearman
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Hi Pintang,
Can I please see some pictures from your perspective please. I want to see it's structure before it weakened. I was just before it and in the core when it perhaps looked the best.
Hey Jimmy. I'm sorry,I have no pictures to show. The storm was still small as it bypassed us just 2kms to our south. It did however contain an intense and very well defined rainshaft with a developing rain free base ahead of it. Clear air CGs were spitting out in all directions including a few relatively close to us. A few hit 5km out the back of the storm into sunny skies!The storm strengthened as it moved eastwards, however being behind the storm at this stage we weren't in the best position to view any structure.
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Thunderstorm clouds Outer NW Sydney 17/1/2010
Early Sunday afternoon following my morning commitments, I observed a developing thunderstorm over outer North West Sydney and decided to try and chase it. The storm at first was to the north west near Richmond. I took my friend Shelley Tan with me. I drove out to Richmond and closed in on it to a point where we could observe lightning strikes. One lightning strike was observed emanating from the anvil into clear sky.
By the time I reached Richmond, the storm had fully developed and had moved at speed over National Parks and or bushland to the north and north east. I made a further attempt at catching it by driving a short distance along Putty Road to a locality approximately 10 km north of Wilberforce where I then realized that I had no chance of catching it. I pulled off the road to watch the storm continue to develop to the east.
The first photo is showing the storm looking north from Richmond. This was the closest point to the storm that I could get. The storm was moving east at speed but given its position and my position, I was unable to get any closer.
The second photo is looking east from Putty Road approximately 10 km north of Wilberforce showing the profile of the thunderstorm. Unfortunately due to the speed of the storm and its position over National Parks and bushland as well as my position, I was unable to close right in on it.
The photos are provided below.
Harley Pearman
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Harley,
Yes it was a day very difficult to catch storms particularly once they became elevated. That was the back-end of the storms that were passing us on the freeway around midday. Good to see action so close to Sydney though! the storms near Oberon look rather interesting - any updraft shots Harley?
Pintang, it is a pity as I wished to see how large storm got as became mature - it was certainly larger than other cells I had observed through the area.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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Jimmy
Upon my arrival at Katoomba light rain was falling from a decayed thunderstorm overhead although I heard one thunderclap. Once that had cleared over and the rain ceased, I was able to view the storms moving off the Oberon Plateau. The photos of it including some updrafts are attached and shown. I am looking west from Echo Point (2 photos).
I decided not to venture further west because there was not a significant amount of lightning and the storms looked more like a squall line. I would have lost any opportunities I had for photographing storms and risked driving back into light rain as there was still light rain or showers falling further to the north of town.
The storms shown did reach Katoomba and produced a significant shower and some renewed cloud to ground lightning strikes but the storm quickly decayed.
Harley Pearman
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Here the report of night lightning show on 17th Jan 2010 in Ballina.
(http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021243805_583953805_3416245_4789151_n.jpg)
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19636_268021333805_583953805_3416256_2922969_n.jpg)
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021353805_583953805_3416258_2625604_n.jpg)
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19636_268021363805_583953805_3416260_2114977_n.jpg)
(http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19636_268021373805_583953805_3416261_2566100_n.jpg)
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021393805_583953805_3416264_7253313_n.jpg)
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021258805_583953805_3416247_2502273_n.jpg)
(http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19636_268021268805_583953805_3416248_5108212_n.jpg)
(http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021278805_583953805_3416250_886648_n.jpg)
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021298805_583953805_3416252_2047996_n.jpg)
(http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs189.snc3/19636_268021313805_583953805_3416253_2085484_n.jpg)
(http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs169.snc3/19636_268021323805_583953805_3416255_5554468_n.jpg)
Enjoy!
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Here finally is video from the Walcha supercell: 14 January 2010,
Specatcular supercell at Walcha with dangerous lightning, large hailstones and damaging winds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvrLuwmaLw#normal)
It is not ordered - in fact in reverse order. It begins with the lightning activity.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
EDIT: added the date
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Excellent Jimmy! Thanks for posting that up.
Wow Great structure,ground scraping inflow!! and the lightning at the start looked quite dangerous and very intense. The bolt at 34seconds is incredible! whats arking up along side that bolt? my guess is an electric fence?
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There's also something at 1.20 where the fence glows but no bolt or sound? I was surprised at the traffic jam in the hail