Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum
Severe Weather Discussion => General Weather - all topics not current severe weather. => Topic started by: Steven on 05 March 2008, 04:29:58 PM
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Jimmy & Michael, I hope you have no problem with me creating a general weather thread?
So anyway this thread will cover general day-to-day weather in various places throughout Australia from anybody that opts to share their local weather details, Post your daily weather conditions, temperature, wind and rainfall reports and anything else related to the day's weather events, any significant weather reports can be summarised here but should be posted in a relevant thread when available in the breaking weather forum.
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Given the lack of any interesting weather systems there is still a need to talk about more minor weather events. Sure is in a rut along the east coast with the only interest being from heavy falls around Far North QLD. Isolated showers continue around the NSW Northern Rivers most days though yesterday was fine.
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Well looks like Sydney is finally getting a touch of summer (now it's autumn) with forecast temps in the mid-high 20s for the next week or so and little if any rain. Apparently temps near the 40s out west for the next few days which is unusual after a cool summer.
All caused by the current high sitting near us bringing northerlies down from warmer climes.
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Given the lack of any interesting weather systems there is still a need to talk about more minor weather events. Sure is in a rut along the east coast with the only interest being from heavy falls around Far North QLD. Isolated showers continue around the NSW Northern Rivers most days though yesterday was fine.
Ahhh Michael...I feel your pain. What happened to the joys of October and very early November? If this is La Nina, I never want this again. Sure it has been fantastic in helping to break the stranglehold of the dry/drought conditions but it has KILLED our storms....completely. You know its going to be a long autumn when you load the 1-7 day GFS outlook and see the ridge continuing up the east coast to the end of that outlook and then you move to the 8-14 day outlook and it doesn't change again. Surely this will create some records for lowest summer time average temps or something? Something at least so we can say we lived (survived...just) through something special (yet so unspecial).
Here's hoping to a smashing end to the season as was the start way way way back in October.
Macca
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Didn't El Nino kill our storms as well? I remember in 2006 was when all of a sudden, activity almost began to cease by January.
Anyway were stuck in a rut of a weather pattern ourselves, cloudy mornings, sunny afternoons with the occasional shower at night.
Temp was 17 to 26 today with no rain to report, pretty boring....
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Indeed, I echo the sentiments! Although La Nina has given us our wettest month on record (690mm) it's been a shocker for storms. January and Feb 2007 was storm heaven with them every night in town without fail. This year the monsoon just made it damp for six weeks straight - boring! I'd much prefer the El Nino period given the storm activity. But on the flip side at least 'most' portions of the country received some welcome rains for the dams etc. Could be worse!
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Mike,
I was under the impression that this season seemed to be a more active season in the tropics than most past years? So you are suggesting it is not? El Nina threw out patterns like you would not believe across the country - well with an extended drought and little moisture to deal with.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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I've seen wetter years, Jimmy. In 2001-2 it was extremely wet. Granted the rain has been widespread, but even with the active monsoon we had that lasted a month, it only produced generally 2 days out of 7 with significant rainfall of more than 180mm in the general Darwin area, rural areas copped a bit more due to the lows that were inland stationary.
Seasonally from what I've seen since living here storm production is off a little. The last two years were more storm active by a long mile, which is surprising considering La Nina encourages more severe weather!
It's one of those grey areas amongst conversation here at the moment 'Is it wetter or has it changed' type talk. A lot say it's on average weatherwise, which is pretty broad considering the seasonal pattern shift. The monsoonal troughs really make things difficult to judge whether there's a dramatic change, if we get more cyclones then it's obviously a shift in patterns and the break periods have tended to be the norm - a few weeks without any notable precip/storms until the monsoon returns.
We've had a lot of moisture taken from the ECLs and cyclones to the west which has a dramatic impact on our wet season thus far. Even with the La Nina influence it doesn't seem anything out of the ordinary i'd say. I could gauge the rainfall as say for sure, it's been very wet, but one month or two perhaps would be wrong to attribute this season as a severe shift. In reality what is suggestive of a dramatic change here is difficult at best because our months change so surprisingly even in dull periods and when it does fire up one compares it to other years, for me this year is quieter apart from an extended monsoon this time around which is the norm...
I don't know if that answered your query JD, but there's no 'stand out' feature that I can pinpoint to say it's better or worse for us apart from an early cyclone and a couple of lows, sorry!
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Mike,
You just said:
In 2001-2 it was extremely wet.
and previously said:
I'd much prefer the El Nino period given the storm activity.
I was refering to the El Nino component of your previous statement. Can you refer to many years in El Nino that you thoroughly enjyed Storm wise or even wet season wise. I am curious.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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I probably lost my train of thought in the last post and I think I must add too Jimmy, I've not had any interest in storms/chasing or weather whatsoever or photography wise till end of 2006, so you'll forgive me if I seem a bit vague on what the seasonal conditions were back then. I'll have to check on line to get a graph of either nino/nina we had between 2001-05
Back to your question: The last two years have been more storm active with el Nino, rather this season with the change to La Nina. I don't know why this is. Whether the MJO, SOI/ENSO or even the Walker circulation has had something to do with it and they might be the key ingredients. The previous 2006/7 monsoons were 'dry' as we call them, short lived - even with CAT5 Monica - we had very little rainfall Top End wise from her. But thunderstorms were much more vigorous and frequency was moreso. Remember also that we had an EF3 tornado in Kakadu from pre-cyclone George also during el Nino!
For this year with La Nina - what I expected was much more severe weather as has been experienced elsewhere with this cycle and what they told us to prepare for more severe weather, yeah right! it's been the opposite! Sure we've had a couple of lows etc to enhance prolonged monsoonal troughs and more rainfalll, but storm wise it's been disappointing. Storms have been not been as - what's the word - a 'daily occurance' so to speak.
Everyone here has commented on how the last couple of years had seen more storms on a week to week basis. This season it's been week-to-month waiting for something to fire up with any gusto.
So yeah in a nutshell el Nino years that i've seen produced the better storms - monsoons are a given anyway - I've only taken say 200 photos thus far compared to over 800 last season. I think that gives me a measure about how many storms we've had in el Nino to La Nina.
It's an interesting comparison when you think about it, I'll have to get onto my BoM people and find out some more info as you've sparked my curiosity also.
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Mike,
I guess I was judging on others that do live in Darwin and suggesting that each season was a crap one - 'we normally get much more than this'. Each season seems like it was not the norm and much lower than average and the quality not as ideal. We get massive storms.
I can suggest that 2000 to 2001 was definitely not El Nino from memory and there was inland rains that year because I was out there.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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hi,
I can't tell anything about that out of experience, because its my first time to Australia and I've been here just since 4 weeks.
But for the rainfall I can show you this site BOM Rainfall (http://www.nt.bom.gov.au/ntregion/ccs/weekly_note/rainfall.htm) (I hope you can open it). And as you can see there, the rainfall in Darwin is second highest this year.
Actually I do some research (really really small) on MJO and ENSO, and so I can agree with Jimmy. 2000 to 2001 was no El Nino, it was in 2002 to 2003.
2000 to 2001 was a neutral season. Neither El Nino nor La Nina.
Thats all I can see, go on ;)
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Steven,
I think my original thread.. "Lets look to the other side...." was one of these types of threads, but i feel better if the general stuff ended up here, as my original intention of the thread i started was relating to VIC weather in comparison to NSW/QLD weather when rainfall events occurred. There are some people who do neglect some of the southern part of Oz's weather when they live and work in NSW/QLD/NT, and my thread was to allow those in southern states to share their views too, not just for it to be dominated by the two main rain states (for all year round rain that is - sorry Mike (NT)). Please if anyone else has general weather events relating to southern states, feel free to post in the other side thread, else post here!
Again, thanks Steve!
Big Pete.
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Cloud Fairy - thanks for your great pics from the weather you have studies up north Oz. Love for one day for you to observe Vic (esp Melbourne) weather sometime. Maybe you can put to bed the myth here that Melbourne has unpredictable weather one day!
Big Pete
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Well very late in the season for Adelaide, Melbourne and western NSW to be getting the temps they are. Channel 9 news in Sydney tonight reported that tomorrow Adelaide will have had the most over 30 days for 19 years in March (if memory serves me). Maybe the move to Sydney was a good thing - he says as a rain band moves over quickly from the SW with a few flashes and rumbles going on.
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No worries Pete. ;)
I knew what the other thread was about so I decided to leave it for you and create this one. :)
Nothing to report here, it's been like the same stuff for over a week now, and what gets me is the constant 26C days since the start of March!
Hmmm must be pattern.
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The very active mid-upper level trough that gave Sydney more storms Fri 7th - storms that continued until about 5am on the 8th throughout the Mid North Coast - managed to produce NOTHING on Saturday further north. Straight back to SE winds. The GFS instability forecast was quite poor with a reanalyse very different.
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It's annoying! Because it hardly rains MUCH but enough to make the ground mouldy, and now we have strong SE winds.
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The very active mid-upper level trough that gave Sydney more storms Fri 7th - storms that continued until about 5am on the 8th throughout the Mid North Coast - managed to produce NOTHING on Saturday further north. Straight back to SE winds. The GFS instability forecast was quite poor with a reanalyse very different.
As was proven by my 350km return journey from Brisbane to Warwick where I expected the upper trough to fire off some more storms as it had done the previous two days further S. Still...I purchased a birthday card and some lunch in Warwick so the day was not a total loss :D.
There have been some gusty showers around Brisbane today (moreso this morning). One hit my place (inner south west) at around 9:30am or so which probably had gusts up to 25knts and some brief heavy rain. Probably the most interesting weather we'll see for March.
Macca
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Thanks for the years for el Nino/neutral etc guys...that would confirm some things. Jimmy, I agree also...locals up here tend to gauge rainfall on the monsoon only and not the storms and every year is a bad one unless Katherine gets flooded at least twice and the rivers are overflowing with Barramundi....
The low that has been moving across us has been dismal...a lot of areas inland further toward Pine Creek and adjacent communities have been getting over 100mm in places, but this low is tagged onto the end of a very weak monsoon trough that is waining by the day. The conditions just are conducive to storms for the next day or two. Perhaps by Wednesday we'll see them start to come in the arvo again. Although it's hot, the humidity is down a tad. With only about 4 weeks left of the storm season we'll either see another monsoon late March or nothing - albeit we had Monica in April 2006 - but the dragonflies are out - that's an ominous sign to chasers that the dry is on the way. :(
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Well although this "event" fizzled we totaled around 10mm from short and sharp bursts of showers, there was also thunder this morning.
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Unusual weather phenomena - 14/3/08 and 15/3/08
Hello
Not specifically a severe weather event but an unusual weather event has taken place over the past two mornings here in Blacktown worth mentioning.
Friday morning 14/3/08 and Saturday morning 15/3/08 have both started off with thick fog. I cannot recall two consecutive foggy mornings occurring during the month of March where I live. On both days, the thick morning fog has lasted till well after sunrise only to clear to a warm sunny day with temperatures well into the mid to high 20s.
The greatest incidence of fogs usually occur from April to July. However, I have already observed 3 foggy mornings for 2008 and we are not in the peak season for fogs. It seems that there is a higher incidence of fog occurring this year than in past years.
Harley Pearman
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Hi Harley
No fog here at Rydalmere, but I am guessing a combination of warm temperatures during the day, and high humidity are contributing to the air having enough moisture in it to condense into fog over night. The dew has certainly been quite heavy here the last few days.
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Actually,
Fog behaviour across the Sydney basin is interesting to study. The circulation of the airflow I guess partially influenced by the ranges to the west and synoptic conditions all impact on what regions experience fog. Obviously the Nepean Valley experience quite a few fog days each year (Harley will remind us of these statistics I guess). However, certain areas are more susceptable to fogs than others. In my opinion, this is in response to the atypical airflow that dominates creating regions of higher moisture and also cooler air. Schofields where I live does experience extensive fogs but I doubt as much as Richmond does. I am sure the urban heating has a significant effect on the occurrences of fog.
We experience a fog here this morning which seemed to clear during the late morning - moreso than yesterday's fog which seemed to be breaking just after sunrise.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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Hello
As suggested, I have found some statistics for fog formation in Sydney to add to my previous post regarding the recent fog.
The average for Autumn for Sydney is roughly four days per year.
A study by Edward Linacre and Bart Geerts (1997) (Page 158) Climate and Weather explained has shown that Sydney can experience up to 17 fogs per year but the average number has fallen from 31 (1931 to 1935) period to as low as 5 (1976 - 1980) period. The number seems to vary but a figure of 17 is what I could find.
Harley Pearman
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Finally had a clear day since Mar 14. But the changing weather accompanied with gloominess is taking it's toll.
I'm NOT looking forward to winter!!
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Hello
Further to my earlier posts regarding fog formations, the high incidence of fog this year has continued at Blacktown.
There was a fog on the morning of 25/3/2008 and following the evening rain and thunderstorm of 25/3/2008, another significant fog occurred early morning 26/3/2008.
The tally for the month of March now stands at 4 which is above average for the month of March and the whole of Autumn to date.
The more moisture around this year seems to be contributing to the high number of fogs.
Harley Pearman
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Overnight cool change 27/3/2008
Not a severe weather event but worth a mention here.
The cold front or cool change that moved through Sydney overnight 26/3/2008 / 27/3/2008 delivered the coldest morning to date this year at Blacktown being a minimum of 11.3 degrees Celsius. Actually, this change seems to have been the first this Autumn in which the wind direction switched to a drier but colder SSW direction. I noted this morning that the air was colder but drier and had a true Autumn feel to it.
It seems that this change has marked the transition from a summer weather pattern to a more Autumn like weather pattern of cooler mornings than what we have experienced over the past several months.
It resulted in a clear Autumn sunny day with cool SSW winds and cooler temperatures.
Harley Pearman
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As this is for general weather.
On my way back from swimming there was a storm coming across the country in direction to the sea. (Darwin, Nightcliff)
And I observed this ....
Can anyone of you tell me what happened there in the cloud? Is that a rotation???????
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Renate - the cloud looks to be spreading out, perhaps from some descending air or just horizontal winds fanning out at that point. Or it could be just a random effect in that cloud, but not rotation.
Regards, Michael
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Looks like winter arrived early this morning, I'm shivering under my bedsheets trying to get warm and I am stunned to find how low it's gotten this morning I could swear it dipped below 11 between the half hour reports, definitely a record breaker for March minimums. Brisbane is quite low too, 12.7 there. I probably should hurry and throw the blankets on.
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I agree with Michael B. It's fanning out. I see it regularly observing storms in NT I've got a lot of shots of updraught swirl and your photo shows definite spreading of the cloud mass.
Here's a couple of shots I got last night as a nice bunch of storms flanged Darwin and surrounds. Some very regular strong CGs, and I found it impossible to be in three places at the one time - so many strikes in so many areas was very frustrating.
This photo is one of two I took. Great structure and long lived. A larger cell was to the opposite side of this one and it pushed out no less than 5 positive strikes from the dome outward to infinity - There was no way I was going to stand outside and take photos after seeing the first two leap out - very powerful bolts and extremely long in jumping out.
(http://www.stormscapesdarwin.com/userimages/IMG_1768.jpg)
This one shows quite a nice strike and direction of it.
(http://www.stormscapesdarwin.com/userimages/IMG_1793.jpg)
This shot was taken at a new location - a peculiar shape to the CG - I did hear that there were strong gusts with this particular storm, perhaps the wind was bending the lightning channel?
(http://www.stormscapesdarwin.com/userimages/IMG_1833.jpg)
one more - just a nice strike which seems to go horizontal at ground level at the point of grounding!
(http://www.stormscapesdarwin.com/userimages/IMG_1826.jpg)
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one more - just a nice strike which seems to go horizontal at ground level at the point of grounding!
(http://www.stormscapesdarwin.com/userimages/IMG_1826.jpg)
Excellent shots Mike! Imagine lying on the ground, looking up and having that zip above your head before striking something 300 metres away from you! Crazy bolt.
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Again you impressed me, Mike!! I like the first two pics!!!! These strikes through the whole height of the cloud.
And at the third photo...is this strike going like a half-loop? (I don't know how else to describe)
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Mike,
Those lightning pics at night with little or no light were fantastic! Almost the impossible shots! Well done!
In your opinion, do you think the wet season end is far off?
Big Pete
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Hi guys, I paticularly liked the second shot because if you look close at the cloud base you can see soooo much step leader action it was not noticed until now! No wonder it pumped so many bolts out.
The wet is just about done and dusted, Pete. The last couple of days have been hot yet dry - the high pressure cells moving across the country are really extending up into the NT with the easterly winds. MB knows how I just love those systems...:)
Forecast is for afternoon storm for the next four days - we may get a couple of last hooroo's from the storms and the next morning you wake up and it's fine and sunny ....for six months....oh dear.
It's been a mediocre storm season as I've mentioned earlier, some nice big storms in the latter months but guess I should not whine about it, I've got some great shots, cyclone damage and almost been struck twice! Can't ask for too much more excitement than that.
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March 2008 Weather Review
Given that this thread is related to general daily weather, I provide some fascinating insight and review of the weather for March 2008 experienced at Blacktown where I live.
I describe the month as "Very unusual" for the following reasons:-
a) There were 4 fogs which is above average. However parts of Blacktown around Glenwood had a fog on the 29/8/08 that I observed. Thus it could be said that there were 5 fogs that I observed.
b) There were 3 days when a thunderstorm passed overhead. However I observed storms on the 24 and 29 that passed close to where I live in which thunder was heard. That makes it 5 days when a storm passed overhead or close enough for thunder to be heard. I also observed distant lightning on the 28 to the NW and a storm cell passed well to the south earlier on that same day. This is a high number when compared to recent years for this month.
c) It rained on 7 days producing around 75 mm. Although official Seven Hills readings and Prospect readings vary from 70 to 79 mm. Interestingly, this is the first month since October 2007 when rainfall was less than 100 mm in any given month.
d) Temperatures - Official BOM temperatures (My ones are quite close to this) stand at 27.1 Celsius Maximum average and 14.8 Celsius Minimum average.
Incredible that this may seem, March 2008 was warmer than November, December and February. The month of March was almost as warm as January 2008 being only 0.9C cooler than that month.
e) It reached 30 degrees on 8 days which is more than that occurred in November 2007, December 2007 and February 2008 and only 2 less than that of January 2008. The month of March was 1.75 C warmer than November 2007, 1C warmer than December 2007 and 1.3 C warmer than February 2008.
Thus I experienced 48 days above 30 degrees for the October to end of March period which is well down on past years.
The hottest day occurred on the 20 when the temperature reached 32C.
f) Blacktown experienced its first night of the year on 30/3/2008 in which the minimum temperature fell below 10 C being 8.3C.
Thus in conclusion, March had a high number of thunderstorms, fog, less rain than the previous 4 months but was warmer than much of summer.
A Sydney Morning Herald report dated 1 April 2008 has stated that Sydney City enjoyed its sunniest March on record with each day averaging 8.8 hours of sun compared with the normal 6.8 hours.
That actually made March sunnier than the normal December average which is usually 7.9 hours per day.
Rainfall across Sydney was generally lower than normal for the month with most localities recording lower than normal figures.
Harley Pearman
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Curse those damn showers! they're back again, so it seems like another few weeks of mostly boring showery weather patterns, no storms or anything else exciting whatsoever. I haven't even had the opportunity to capture any sunset shots because the atmosphere has been too humid and damp to allow any dust to accumulate in the upper levels of the atmosphere allowing for those real killer sunsets, I'll never forget the absolutely stunning sunset on May 2nd last year.
In April, so far the weather has been far cooler and the nights are getting progressively colder as well, I won't be surprised if we get below 10 sometime soon. So my prognosis for this month? I think we'll see more of the showery weather continue until the end of this month, I don't expect anything exciting to eventuate unless another rain depression makes it's way on us again, I also don't expect thunderstorm activity to occur until spring again.
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I won't be surprised if we get below 10 sometime soon.
Here in Rydalmere my thermometer showed 3 when I woke up on Friday morning. Despite Parramatta only going down to 7.
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Unusual weather for Sydney for April 2008
I have been looking at some April weather statistics for Sydney and have found some unusual weather phenomena particularly for maximum daily temperatures that is worth a mention including:-
a) Sydney city - The Observatory Hill weather station recorded 7 days in a row from 4 April to 10 April where the maximum daily temperature fell between 22.2 C and 22.7C. This is a very uniform maximum temperature range for Sydney over a 7 day period (The range is just 0.5C).
b) For the period 14 to 17 April (Same place), maximum daily temperatures for Sydney city varied from 18.9C to 21 C (The range is 2.1C).
C) Sydney airport recorded maximum temperatures varying from 18.7C to 19C for 14 to 17 April (A variation range of 0.3C). Very stable range.
d) Sydney Olympic Park (Same period - 14 to 17 April), the maximum daily range fell between 18.6C and 19.9C (A range of 1.3C). Also quite stable.
e) Prospect (Same period) a maximum daily range of 19.2C to 19.5C (A range of 0.3C).
When one looks at the average temperature ranges for many areas across Sydney for much of April, maximum daily temperatures are quite uniform and relatively stable for a number of days in a row.
A greater number of days this April have failed to reach 20C when compared to recent Aprils is becoming apparent.
It seems that we are in a rut in which a constant ESE airstream, cool winds, cloud and coastal showers is contributing to a fairly uniform range of maximum temperatures for April 2008.
Harley Pearman
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Nothing to report here, except calm and clear days, pretty warm too, they say 28 for today, but the nights are really nippy. No rain in sight for a while.
Steven
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Coldest night for 2008 for Western Sydney
Following the passage of the recent cold front coupled with clear skies and light winds, the overnight minimums recorded across large areas of western Sydney fell to their coldest level so far for 2008.
The minimum temperature at Blacktown for 29/4/2008 was 4.3 degrees Celsius, Penrith 4.8 degrees Celsius while at Richmond it was just 2.3 degrees Celsius.
I heard a weather report on 2GB stating that overnight minimums for 30/4/2008 could drop to 1 degree Celsius in some outer areas.
Thus, the recent cold change is being felt in Western Sydney especially during the mornings with below average temperatures being recorded.
Harley Pearman
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Ahh,
So I was not dreaming when I thought I saw frost this morning. It was reasonably widespread in the lower parts of the valley from my view point.
Very nippy indeed.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara
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8.2 this morning and 8.8 yesterday though it was 17.1 as the minimum the morning before ! Quite a few record low April temps in NE NSW by the looks.
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Weather for the month of April 2008 at Blacktown:
I will post a run down of the April 2008 weather experienced at Blacktown where I live. The month of April 2008 can be summarised as being significantly cooler when compared to recent years. In particular:-
a) There was 1 thunderstorm on the 13/4/2008.
b) It rained on 14 days (That represents 46.6% of days when it rained). The majority of that fell in the form of showers rather than rain periods.
c) There were 3 fogs. The number of fogs this year is rather high.
d) There were 10 days in which the maximum temperature failed to reach 20 degrees Celsius. That is 33% of days during the month of April failed to reach 20 degrees Celsius. This is very significant. In April 2006, the temperature on every single day exceeded 20 degrees Celsius and during the same month, it reached 30 degrees on 5 such days. In April 2007, the temperature failed to reach 20 degrees Celsius on only 4 days but it did not reach 30 degrees once.
Average maximum temperatures were 21.69 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 11.7 degrees Celsius (BOM 2008 for Prospect about 3 km away). My figures vary slightly being 21.4 Celsius and the minimum being 11.5 degrees Celsius. Compare that to April 2006 where the average maximum daily temperature was 24.6 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 10.03 degrees Celsius. Compared to 2007, the average maximum temperature was 23.5 degrees Celsius and the average minimum was 12.8 degrees Celsius (Note 2006 was an El Nino year).
Thus the daytime temperatures for April 2008 have been significantly colder than in recent years (For this month) but night time temperatures were OK.
Off course the minimums of 4.5 C and 4.8 C on the mornings of 29 and 30 made things feel colder. Then again, a minimum of 2 degrees occurred on the morning of 23/4/2006 so the coldest April minimum of 2008 was warmer than the coldest April minimum of 2006.
e) Rainfall:- There was around 68 mm of rain. However, the official nearest rain gauges at Seven Hills shows 83 mm and Prospect shows 79.9 mm. This is a big variation. This can be largely accounted for a thunderstorm on the 13/4/2008. When analysing rain gauges from that, the storm intensified just to the east of Blacktown and rainfalls 1 to 2 km away to the east were significantly heavier (more than double the 6 mm that fell). This explains the variation.
Not specifically to Blacktown, rainfalls across Sydney showed very large variations during the month (BOM). The wettest areas include:-
Riverview 172 mm, Avalon 171 mm, Turramurra and Belrose 167 mm each, Gordon West and Canterbury 163 mm each, Marsfield 149 mm, Sydney 147 mm, Rose Bay 137 mm and Randwick 135 mm.
The driest areas include Glenmore Park 48 mm, Badgeries Creek 51 mm, Glenorie 65 mm, Prospect 79.9 mm, Seven Hills 83 mm and Bankstown 84 mm.
Some rainfalls were below average and some were above average.
The colder than normal temperatures, cool cloudy and showery days are repeated right across Sydney and this is in stark comparison to 2006. April 2006 shows one extreme during an El Nino year in which April was overall dry and warm (3 mm of rain fell on 2 days) but April 2008 shows another during a La Nina year where it was cool and it rained on 14 days that produced moderate to high rainfall totals. April 2006 and 2008 provide interesting comparisons between an El Nino and La Nina year.
Harley Pearman
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I'll be in Brisbane for my apprenticeship training for the next month (gads!) and noticing the temps at around 24C to 7C this poor tropical being will no doubt feel the cold even more so! Just by chance...does Brisbane have any storms during May? I'm none the wiser with the weather in this part of the country - any advice?
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Yes - it happens (even today) though you're more likely to see storms just offshore this time of year. There's no set pattern for May June - you can gets weeks of fine weather when fronts are active over SE Aust, or showers and even rain events if a blocking high occurs.
MB
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Thanks for that info, MB. I'll have to keep an eye on the obs for fronts etc and the forum for anything likely to happen. At least Southbank is a nice place to photograph......:P
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Hey Mike,
southbank is a nice place to photograph, but if you want really nice photogenic spots, moreton bay or the goldcoast is the place to be. At the moment we have a few nice looking cells(well they were last time i checked) just offshore from surfers paradise. It looked like a really picturesque(spelling?) scene as i was on my way home today.
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A dry sunny May for 2008 - Blacktown
May 2008 was totally opposite to April 2008. We had a fairly dry stable and sunny May. In particular, the following was noted:-
Rainfall. The lowest rainfall tally for a month this year to date being around 3.1 mm over 6 days. Prospect had 3.9 mm with the long term average around 73 mm.
No thunderstorms either. A storm did pass over parts of Sydney 28/5/2008 but this had no impact whatsoever on Blacktown. That storm did produce lovely contrast and cloud towers but it was observed well to the south east.
There were 3 mornings when I observed fog and the fog of Saturday morning 31/5/2008 hung around to mid morning.
Average temperatures:
Maximum 20.4 C
Min 8 C
Official site at Prospect 3 km to the south
Maximum 20.5 C
Minimum 8.1 C
The official normal averages are (From Weatherzone)
Maximum - 20.2 C
Minimum 10 C
Thus daytime temperatures were slightly above average but night time temperatures were below average. Lack of cloud cover played a part in this.
The warmest day was 15/5/08 and 16/5/08 where it reached 23 C. The coldest day was 18/5/08 where it reached 17.4C.
It failed to reach 20 C on 7 days. In April, it failed to reach 20C on 10 days.
Overall, a very stable dry sunny month with sunny days but colder than normal nights.
This is certainly likely to change this week given that a wet week is expected that will turn this pattern around. To highlight this, light rain has been falling where I live for an hour.
An article in Weatherzone (Checked 1/6/08) has confirmed that Sydney City has endured the driest May since records begun in 1859 with 3 mm falling compared with an average of 122 mm. Sydney city also did well in temperatures with the average of 21 C (Maximum only) being above the normal of 19C.
Much of the state has had a dry May and many towns have recorded unusually dry conditions including Camden, Narrandara, Bega and Ulladulla. This is raising further concerns in the drought affected areas as well.
Overall, May across NSW was drier and there was a lack of NW cloud band.
Harley Pearman
Posted on: 01 June 2008, 08:12:03 PM
Inland Australia rain event 9/6/2008
This rain event may have gone unnoticed given that most weather posts relate to weather events in the more settled parts of Australia. Over this long weekend 7/6/08 to 9/6/08 some big rain fall totals have occurred over the inland desert regions of far north west New South Wales, south west Queensland and north east South Australia worth posting here as a record of the event.
Some areas of far south west Queensland have had some very good rainfalls especially around the Diamantina Basin and Coopers Creek such as:-
Birdsville 57 mm
Roseberth 56 mm
Ballera Gas Field 59 mm
Orientos 61 mm
Thargomindah 26 mm
Far western New South Wales
Tibooburra 26 mm
Broken Hill 14 mm.
White Cliffs 20 mm
Burta 20 mm
Amazingly, it has rained in Broken Hill on the 5/6/08 (4 mm), 6/6/08 (58 mm), 7/6/08 (0.2 mm) and 9/6/08 (14.2 mm). The total for June so far for Broken Hill stands at 76.4 mm which I think would be rare given the location of the town.
In North East South Australia falls around 20 mm has been common such as Moomba.
In southern Northern Territory over the last 7 days 2/6/08 to 9/6/08, the following rain falls have occurred:-
Rabbit Flat 39 mm
Coniston 29 mm
Alice Springs Airport 16 mm
Anzac Oval 19 mm
Arltunga 45 mm
The Garden 45 mm
Alice Springs East 22 mm
Gemtree Park 42 mm
Mt Skinner 38 mm
These are reasonable falls given the location and time of year that this has occurred.
Harley Pearman
Posted on: 09 June 2008, 03:59:47 PM
20 Degree Celsius days in June - First since June 2005
A small but significant weather event for the week where I live in western Sydney. On Wednesday and Thursday 11 and 12 June 2008, the top temperature reached or exceeded 20 degrees Celsius on both days.
The maximum daily temperature of 20 degrees has not been reached in June since June 2005.
Overall it has been a warmer start to June when compared to June 2007 and 2006 and the nights have been warmer but this recent cold change of Friday 13/6/08 seems to have signalled the onset of winter.
Harley Pearman
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but this recent cold change of Friday 13/6/08 seems to have signalled the onset of winter.
Harley Pearman
Just be glad you didn't have a need to leave Glenorie at about 3am this morning. It was absolutely freezing up there with a bit of altitude! Unluckily Richmond is the closest station out of suburbia and that was just over 8 degrees at that time. I was about 150 metres higher in altitude so colder with more wind!
Pretty windy yesterday too, I was on the roof of Prince of Wales hospital at Randwick (12 floors up) and on the western side of the roof the breeze coming around the central structure was almost enough to make it hard to work. Luckily the northern side where I had to work was a bit more sheltered.
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The last month has been fairly mild and unseasonably wet for late May-early June, that of course only lasted several days and for the last few weeks it's been more or less the same typical dry and mild winter pattern bar some spring like temperatures in the last week or so. Rainfall so far is around 227mm which is very impressive for June.
Steve
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Some useful inland NSW rainfalls 19/6/2008
A small area in SW New South Wales centred around Griffith to Wagga Wagga, south to about Culcairn, across to Urana including Narrandera scored a useful rain event Thursday morning. Some of the best rains for a while worth reporting and it fell where it was needed most being the drought affected farming belt. Falls include:-
Narrandera 36 mm
Grong Grong 29 mm
Griffith 24.6 mm
Jingellic 21 mm
Wagga Wagga 20 mm (Plus another 7 mm in follow up showers).
Junee 17 mm
This was limited to this area but anything like this will help. Isolated useful totals outside this area include 25 mm at Eugowra and 16 to 18 mm at Parkes in the Central West. Not drought breaking but helpful and it fell where it is needed most. Allot more is required.
Sydney:
Thursday night isolated moderate falls occurred including Fairfield City Farm 33 mm, Horsley Park 31 mm, Toongabbie 18 mm, Prospect 17 mm and Seven Hills 12 mm. The rest of Sydney had between 2 and 9 mm.
Harley Pearman
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June monthly weather features for where I live (Blacktown) 2008
June 2008 turned out to be a warmer than expected month with both the minimum average and maximum average temperatures being "above average".
Looking at Weatherzone readings:-
The 40 year average maximum June temperature for the Prospect area is 17.3 Celsius and the minimum average monthly temperature is 7.4 Celsius. (These are based on 1965 to 2006 figures that I found from Weatherzone).
The official average maximum temperature was 18.2 Celsius and the official average minimum temperature was 9.7 C.
Thus maximum temperatures were 0.9 C above average and minimums were 2.3 C above average.
Compare to June 2007
Av Max - 16.15 C
Av Min - 7.2 C.
June 2008 was 2 C warmer when averaged out daytime and warmer at night when compared to June 2007.
Rainfall:
The average rainfall is 73.3 mm for the month. This year 102 mm fell. Rainfall was also above average. Rain fell on 14 days at Prospect. The warm cloudy nights in the first couple of weeks helped to keep minimum temperatures above average.
For the second month in a row, no storms occurred.
Where I live 3 km away to the north, it rained on 13 days that produced close to 96 mm. This was less than June 2007 where some 290 mm of rain fell on 17 days (BOM).
Temperatures for Blacktown are similar to Prospect and there is little variation.
I did not see any frost but observed 2 fogs in my locality.
A big feature missing from last year was that 5 days this June reached 20C. This was a big turnaround from June 2007.
Overall, June 2008 saw warmer days, less rainfall and more pleasant conditions for winter.
Harley Pearman
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At Rydalmere had our first serious frost for the year Tuesday morning. Water frozen on the top of the hose and while the frost wasn't obvious on my back lawn it was on the front lawns of some of the neighbours. As for the last two days, the wind has been interesting. I was on a roof today at Rosebery doing some work and it was quite gusty, the Sydney Airport site shows gusts got to 76 kph at the time I was up there. Annoying!
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Weather in Brisbane QLD @ 5:40pm on the 3rd July 2008
Current temperature: 15.2 degrees and dropping
Current weather: Fine
Weather outlook: Showers developing and increasing to rain over the weekend and early part of next week
Storms this month: 0
Rainy days / nights this month: 0 (0mm)
Foggy mornings this month: 1 (isolated but thick - Delaying traffic at Brisbane Airport)
That's about it...looking forward to some rain over the weekend :)
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Some really nice soaking rain hanging around...The Mount Stapylton radar appears to be down though >:(
10.2mm as of now :)
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Yeah ... radar unavailability has sure been annoying. Grafton was down until 4pm Friday when there were offshore storms and showers developing during the day, then Mt Staplyton went offline that night.
Received 30.2mm here at McLeans Ridges until 9am Saturday and 3.7mm to 9am today Sunday 6th July.
MB
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Current NSW drought - July 6 2008
I found an excellent storey on the drought gripping inland NSW. While I have been finding articles and posting about the current drought situation and referring to Victoria, it is best that this one be placed here as it relates to the NSW situation only.
Drought Extends it's Grip SMH 6/7/2008
at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/drought-extends-its-grip/2008/07/0
Most critical elements are:-
a) Many drought ravaged farmers are now expecting a locust plague on top of crop failures. Rain desperately needed as another 2.3% of the state slips back into drought. In total 65% of the state is in drought with another 20.9% marginal.
b) Yet 14% is satisfactory which is the coastal belt.
c) During June, it was a horror month in some areas where 10 mm of rain fell. Although a useful rain event did occur around Griffith and Narrandera but those areas outside this region fared badly.
The exception was broken Hill where a staggering 80 mm fell but its average June rainfall is 17 mm (This is one anomaly).
A rain event is forecast this week but falls of 50 mm is required to put enough moisture into the ground to see out the rest of winter. Currently, most of the 5.2 Million hectares of crops planted is under incredible threat of failure.
As the drought tightens its grip across New South Wales, new areas to be added include Hillston, parts of Mudgee, Narribri and northern New England. This brings the total area of the state to 65% affected.
To reinforce this in the Riverina, some rainfall Tally's include:-
Corowa - Normal 48 mm, Received 14 mm
Culcairn - Normal 46 mm, Received 26 mm
Griffith - Normal 35 mm, Received 40 mm (Above average due to the single rain event).
Howlong Normal 45 mm, Received 12 mm
Narrandera Normal 34 mm, Received 62 mm (Well above average due to a rain event).
Albury - Normal 73 mm, Received a little over 21 mm.
Wagga - Normal 42 mm, Received 40 mm (There was some rain rain / shower activity here that helped).
(This concentrates in a region very badly affected by the drought).
Compare this to Sydney for June and no wonder why the coastal areas and Sydney is completely free of drought.
Belrose 206 mm, Turramurra 200 mm, St Ives 198 mm, Gordon West 165 mm, Avalon 146 mm, Berowra 142 mm, Glenorie 138 mm, Rose Bay 135 mm, Sydney 127 mm, Marsfield 125 mm.
(Top 10 wettest suburbs in Sydney)
(Driest localities in Sydney)
Ashfield 6 mm (I think this might be an error and might need to be verified as it does not look right), Badgerys Creek 67 mm, Sydney Olympic Part 73 mm, Liverpool 82 mm, Bankstown 85 mm, Richmond 86 mm, Glenmore Park 87 mm, Concord 91 mm.
Looking at this, good rainfalls continue to occur on the coast like Sydney however good solid drought breaking rains continue to fail to reach the inland in the worst affected areas.
Harley Pearman
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Just a quick post to comment on the high quality foreast by the QLD BoM yesterday. Morning forecast was for "a few showers". It started raining at 9am and was still raining (and looked like continuing for hours)...BoM's 11am forecast..."a few showers". Nice one. Not sure if they updated it later or not but it basically rained ALL day yesterday. Bit of an oopsie by the BoM.
Macca
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Friday was like that in Sydney. The forecast was for showers to start late in the day and persist into Saturday morning. Showers were on and off from about 9am, with a quite heavy fall about 1pm in the city (6 inch deep water outside NSW Parliament as I drove past). It then lightened up from about 3pm with only a couple after that and Saturday was dry. Obviously the system came onto them sooner than expected.
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Hi all, have not posted in yonks because of commitments but thought now would be apt to get into the throws again. Weather in Darwin is ever so slowly warming up. The sun has more bight in it and there are the occasional cloudy period with definite CU structure which is an early sign even in late July that the weather is getting moisture.
Anyway, the reason for the post...I took this photo on the way to work this arvo and it is smoke from a scrub fire silhouetted against the sun and a cloud. I thought it looked so cool i had to take a few photos. It's like the sun is exhaling the smoke!
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It looks like next week is going to be quite rainy and cold. The models predict an upper level trough enhancing the development of a rain band in SE QLD and surrounding areas. It's looking positive for the Brisbane dams, but overall isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. If it is anything to go by, I'm eager to know the prognosis for this summer... in the way of storms.
Steve
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Hi all,
Just starting to receive a nice drop of rain (4:38pm) after a day of extremely gusty winds. I can't give a reading from it as my little weather station is out of action for the moment but I would imagine they are up in the 20 - 30kph region. It was (and still is) quite warm today reaching 26ºc at 3pm. I don't think that will last after the more southerly cold front approaches behind this rain front currently coming in from the north west.
Good to see a bit of the wet stuff about for a change! We're just hoping that we receive a little more than the usual 1mm in total lol :)
Cheers guys,
Shauno
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Rain event in inland New South Wales 20/7/2008
The same frontal system that blasted south west Western Australia bringing gales and rain and causing some property damage brought some good rains to inland New South Wales and much of Victoria Sunday.
The rains spread through the Murray Darling Basin and in New South Wales some good falls include:-
25 mm at Young, 25 mm at Orange, 20 mm at Albury, 17 mm at Wagga Wagga and Forbes. There were many totals in the 15 to 25 mm range (BOM weather stations).
A large portion of the wheat sheep belt received something from this system although falls tended to increase towards the ranges with a distinct rain shadow anywhere east of the Great Dividing Range.
The same system brought solid snow falls too on the higher ranges and reading Weatherzone News today, the snow pack reached 161 CM at Charlottes Pass early 21/7/2008.
There are also good prospects that with the recent shower events that been, occurring, many inland centres should now approach or reach their monthly July average rainfalls.
Not related to New South Wales but good falls also occurred in much of Victoria from the same rain event.
Harley Pearman
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Friday 25 July 2008
Up to 64mm since 9am yesterday with moderate showers persisting. Local creeks are certainly well up this morning.
Almost 100mm since the rain started Wed arvo which is more than I expected for here.
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Queensland rain event 23/24 July 2008
The rain event of 23 and 24 July 2008 in Queensland has produced a spate of amazing rainfall reports and a few new weather records have been set for July. While reported extensively on Weatherzone, I have verified many of these and have checked several weather stations in the affected regions. Some do vary but the most amazing aspect of this event is that it has occurred in a region that is normally dry at this time of the year.
Charters Towers:
This town has recorded up to 145.4 mm of rain from 1 July to 25 July which is found to be a new July rainfall record.
Mackay:
An area west of Mackay recorded over 100 mm of rain which is four times its July monthly average.
Townsville:
Ayre south of Townsville has scored its wettest July on record (Weatherzone)
Some rainfall figures for the 7 days 19 July to 25 July which captures the event include:-
North Coast:
Cairns 34 mm, Greenhaven 67 mm, Kareeya 93 mm, Cardwell 77 mm, Cardwell Range 105 mm, Halifax 84 mm, Ingham 81 mm, Tully Sugar Mill 144 mm, Paluma 119 mm.
East Central Coast:
Blue Mountain 106 mm, Byfield 112 mm, Cardowan 127 mm, Dalrympie Heights 135 mm, Doraville 109 mm, Mirani 120 mm, Samuel Hill 136 mm (Samuel Hill picked up 105 mm in one day which appears to be the new highest one day tally for the month of July since record keeping commenced 7 years ago (From Weatherzone News), Yeppoon 89 mm, Rockhampton 72 mm.
West Central Coast:
Charters Towers 123 mm, Mt Mc Connell 152 mm.
South Coast:
Bundaberg 80 mm, Childers South 92 mm, Gin Gin 95 mm, Gladstone 89 mm, Hervey Bay 122 mm.
Even places like Maroochydore scored 119 mm.
Numerous other centres scored more than 50 mm right up and down the Queensland Coast including the south east.
Temperatures:
With the rain came a rather unusual cold snap for the whole area. Checking official weather stations, the maximum temperatures for the places mentioned below are noteworthy:-
Charleville - On July 20 it reached 27.2 C with the minimum being 11.5 C. On 23/7/08 the maximum temperature was just 12 C and the minimum was 8.1 C. A rather large difference in the maximums just 3 days apart.
Roma - Maximum temperatures for 23 and 24 were 12.5 C and 12.2 C with the minimums being the same at 7.7 C.
The places mentioned are not normally associated with maximum daytime temperatures being this low.
Toowoomba - The maximum temperature struggled to reach 10 C on 23/7/08 with the minimum being 7.7 C.
Rockhampton just inside the tropics struggled to reach a maximum of 16.2C with a minimum of 13.3 C (Same day).
Maximum daily temperatures were well below average due to this event.
While this weather event was unfolding in Queensland, I also found out that a cold snap occurring in the Snowy Mountains has delivered the coldest minimum temperatures by a weather station on mainland Australia so far this season at Charlotte Pass being:-
Wednesday 23 being -14C
Thursday 24 being -15.5C
Friday 25 being -15.5C
Overall, it has been a cool to cold 7 days for Eastern Australia and in many places, a wet week.
Harley Pearman
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Thanks for that terrific summary Harley.
I ended up with 119mm in the 48 hours from Wednesday 3pm to Friday 3pm. Quite a few centres around the NSW Northern Rivers received between 100 to 150mm over two days. The highest 24 hour fall I found was 103mm at New Italy (south of Woodburn) to 9am Friday 25th July. Max temps Wed to Fri were typically 13-14 - it is unusual to get more than a day or two of cold maximums here.
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Blacktown weather review - July 2008
Given that I reside in Blacktown, here is an analysis of how July 2008 turned out.
From weather zone, the average maximum July temperature is 16.8 C and the average minimum is 6.1 C.
July 2008 has turned out to be cooler than the long term averages. In this regard:-
Average maximum was 16.6 C being 0.2 C below average.
Average minimum was 5.4 C being 0.7 C below average.
When compared to 2007
Average maximum was 16.5 C and average minimum was 4.6 C.
This makes it 2 years in a row in which average temperatures in July have fallen below average where I live.
Despite having 2 days when it reached 20 C being 14 and 31, there were two periods during the month when temperatures consistently fell below average being 8 to 13 and 22 to 29.
There were 8 days during the month when the maximum temperature for the day was 15 degrees or colder. The coldest was the 28 when the maximum temperature struggled to reach 13 C.
One important feature I have noticed is that while there have been some cold nights, the lowest overnight temperature did not plunge to 0 C unlike 2007 where 2 such nights plunged to 0 C or below. The coldest night was the 12 when the minimum temperature dropped to around 1.5 C.
Rainfall
It rained on 9 days that delivered 31.4 mm across much of the area such as Prospect although it does vary. I got 26.9 mm. Rainfall was below average. The average July rainfall at Prospect is 57.9 mm so rainfall was clearly below average.
Rainfall fell mainly from shower events rather than steady rain periods.
Fog
I observed fog on two mornings being the 7 and 15.
Storms:
While a storm cell passed over part of Sydney on 27 July, no thunder was heard and no lightning was observed where I live. There was no storm during the month. July marks the third month in a row without a thunderstorm and it has been 109 days since the last thunderstorm.
Harley Pearman
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Friday was surprisingly warm with 6.4 to 26.4. It was our first taste of spring.
In early August 2007 similar weather occurred as a result of Northwesterly winds.
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Look at these minimums. Now you tell me, is that cold or what?
August 2008 Minimums
3: 4.6
4: 6.5
5: 8.8
6: 6.5
7: 4.2
8: 3.6
9: 1.8
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I'm in Southern NSW, near Bega.
We went -2.1 last night and it hasn't gone above 10 all day.
BRRR!
I'll be waving enthusiastically goodbye to Winter..soon.
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For a coastal location, it never ceases to amaze me how cold it gets of a night. 5pm boom, already down in the low teens. 2.8 and 2.6 are the respective minimums.
We're stuck in this never ending pattern of cold south westerlies that shows no signs of abating! Hurry and bring on spring and the storms.
Oh and this static electricity is giving me the... uh well it's annoying.
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Greetings from sunny Darwin.
Has been ages since i posted anything so apologies there to all.
General weather gearing up for the transition period from dry to build-up soon, so the humidity will be creeping up slowly from September onwards. A Kimberley heat low is developing to the west and this will have an impact on the buildup starting date from what BoM says when I chatted to a met officer/chaser there. SST's are rising and flowing further southward which, whilst does not have a 'major' impact on storm convection, it does aid the sea breeze's ability to give some moisture for all this land based heat flowing from the east, sou'east.
Given what is likely to be a neutral phase for us as far as ENSO goes, these periods always bring better storm frequency and more cyclones to our area.
I'll keep everyone up to date with the change in weather for us and no doubt the odd photo or two - so here's being optimistic for lots of these (photo) again close !!!
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Rumblings from the bureau today saying that our spate of dry surges will end this week and will be the last. Overnight temps of 17c will be no more and we can expect things to warm to 20c from next week. (yeah i know it seems warm to you guys!)
We actually had a decent storm last neutral event a couple of years ago and copped 40mm out of it, so the outlook is looking good for an early build up and early storms perhaps.
time to open the cage again!
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Brisbane's forecast to reach 26 tomorrow, then its all rain for the rest of the week. We'll have the rain thanks, fire danger is moderate to high.
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Instability very slowly getting there as the days pass. There's been some decent storms/showers overnight through the central parts of the NT towards Alice and the heat low through WA/NT is doing nicely. Humidity levels are only around 40%, but much higher down the track - up to 70% in some areas. There's just not enough moisture in the mids just yet to get storms and is a few weeks away yet. But the soundings are gradually showing positive signs as they do during the transition period and dew points are in the high teens to 20's now and then. A fair cloud cover during the mornings, but burns off toward sunset and then reappears from nighttime heating around midnight onwards.
Really a lot of high based scattered CU with low tops...a bit like the pic shows - NOT!
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A colder than normal August for Blacktown NSW
August 2008 where I live in Blacktown much like much of SE Australia will go down as a colder but relatively dry month.
Daytime temperatures were below average, averaging 17.5C with night time temperatures averaging 4.4C. This is well below the long term maximum average of 18.6C and minimum average of 6.8C.
Actually this is significantly colder than August 2007 where the average maximum was 20C and the average minimum was 8.23C.
The biggest feature for August 2008 was the lack of days where temperatures reached 20C. There were 15 such days in 2007 but this year there were 4 such days.
There were 2 days where maximum temperatures failed to reach 15C. Of interest there were 5 such days during August 2007.
The warmest day this August occurred on 26 when it reached 22C. The coldest day occurred on 22 when it reached 12C. For comparison for 2007, the warmest day occurred on 27 and 28 when it reached 27C.
The coldest night occurred on the 9 when the minimum was 1C and 1.1C occurred on the 19. For comparison for 2007, the coldest night occurred on 8 when it reached 2C and 3C on the 7.
It rained on 6 days that produced 24.9 mm. This is below the long term average of 58 mm. August 2007 saw 74.5 mm fall over 9 days. The heaviest fall occurred on 30/8/08 - 31/8/08 rain event where 13 mm fell.
One thunderstorm occurred on the afternoon of 7/8/08. However distant thunderstorms over Sydney's east were observed on 2 other occasions.
Generally August 2008 saw some colder than usual conditions which have been reported in other posts. What happened in Blacktown where I reside is a snapshot of the bigger picture where colder than normal conditions prevailed.
Harley Pearman
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Darwin Sept6 2008
Weather is still nudging towards typical buildup days. Today especially there were several towers to the SSE at around 17,000ft and a couple over the Tiwi's. Stuff over the Tiwi's is a good indicator to go by as Hector convection always precedes storms inland or near Darwin and you know it's not long to go. Last year Hector storms formed a little later in September through to the wet, so to see decent towers this early is encouraging.
Structure of the CUs seems to be good and visible height even with the ones close by. The SOI numbers have gone through the roof for this time of year. Last time we had numbers this positive we had decent storms early and the wet came in before xmas.
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Mike
I have been keeping an eye on weather up your way - humidity levels have increased quite a bit of late - I believe from a BoM report on weatherzone.com.au that Darwin sweltered through a day of 37deg C?
Big Pete
(keep that ice-jacket on, mate)
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Hi Pete.
Indeed the last three days peaked at over 37.5 in the city! Even BoM were perplexed as we had an afternoon sea breeze during lunchtime and I don't know what happened but the DP's went in the minus figures dramatically, temps soared to 37 and that has not happened for many, many years - not since I was born anyway! We've been under the influence of a savage dry flow and even with some moisture coming in from the NW it did not stop whatever caused this rash heat wave. A high pressure flow I suspect really had some impact big time for those three days.
BoM say we're def in the build up period now, but it's still 'dry' with only the odd cloud about. All indicators are that we're in for an early wet/storm season. We've had Hector convection twice already during the past week which is a month early for him to show his head over the Tiwi's.
Humidity is rising but you only notice it very late at night into the early hours, once the sun comes up it's almost non-existent. Temps have returned to normal and things have 'calmed' down and that usual feel about the place.
It won't be long, but I'm going for October before any storms form and they'll form inland first anyway...still, I'm chaffing at the bit as you'd imagine!
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Had a bit of a big night last night with a reunion and people I haven't seen for 8-10 years. So didn't surface this morning until about 11am, to find it was already 29 degrees. Hang on, this is September! It peaked at 32 here at Rydalmere, and the official temperature in Sydney matched the highest recorded this year back in January with 30.6. Certainly felt nice and summery today. Only 12 degrees above the monthly average.
Off to Perth tomorrow until Thursday for work. Hmmm, 12 degrees cooler tomorrow with showers. That's a downer.
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Richary
Yes, I noted the temperature readings in Sydney 13/9/2008 while watching the events unfold in Texas. Yes, it did reach 31 degrees in many areas and 32 degrees in a few locations. Most of the 30 degree temperatures occurred in western Sydney for our region.
It is the first 30 degree day of the spring / summer season and the warmest day where I live since March 20 when it reached 32 Celsius.
I have noticed in recent Septembers (Did not occur last year) temperatures will reach 30 degrees on at least 0 to 3 days where I live. For example:-
2000 - 2 days
2001 - 1 day
2002 - 2 days
2003 - 3 days
2004 - 3 days
2005 - 0 days.
2006 - 4 days.
2007 - 0 days
2008 - 1 day to date.
It can occur where I live but the number of days is always limited.
Harley Pearman
MB Edit - changed 14/9 to 13/9
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Noosa Heads reportedly had 125mm from a freak rain cell, as reported by Wz. Having assessed the radar, it's incredible how nothing else spawned except a downpour, not even lightning!
---> Gympie radar loop (http://australiasevereweather.com/storm_news/2008/radar/20080918/gympie128.htm)
There was a bit of a downpour here last night too, but not much to add up that amount. The AWS obviously wasn't under one of these things.
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Darwin 20Sept2008
Never seen an early thunderstorm forecast this early in the piece for a long time. BoM say inland and rural thunderstorm on the cards. A stalled trough moving through from WA is generating some instability. Dew points are in the 20's with temps around 33. Sounding does not look much and even re-plotting with several numbers only changes things a little. A dry layer at 500mb is apparent so I'm confused about that as i don't fully understand how to read them. (any advice helpful at this time as to what to look for as key indicators)
There's plenty of cloud and low based stuff also. We had a nice CB in the rural area yesterday arvo with a hefty anvil spread. Convection rising is no problem today as the CU's are bubbling away. I may go for a recon drive in the rural area later on once things get 'thicker' and showing signs of def towers.
We'll see what pans out - the camera is charged anyway!
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30 Degree days in September - Sydney 20/9/2008
There are two famous winds that affect Sydney with one being "The southerly buster" that brings the summer time cool changes and the other being "The NW Brickfielder" that brings warm / hot and dry weather. The name came from a time when the hot NW winds that fanned over the city in spring and summer would loft dust from the NW and raise the temperature above the average.
Today 20/9/2008 for the second time this month the hot dry brick fielder winds fanned over the city pushing the temperature to over 30 degrees and lowering due points to very low levels.
Even though there have been 2 days this September now when it has reached 30 degrees put in context, it is only an average September temperature wise to date where I live. Out of the 20 days gone, maximum temperatures have failed to reach 20 degrees Celsius on 9 days so far. The few summer like days we have had put in context, has only resulted in an average September to date and it has not been a hot month at all. Average temperatures where I live to date are best described as average or typical for a September to date.
Some maximum temperature recordings for 20/9/2008.
Sydney Airport 33.6C - Dew Points 1.5C, WNW winds maximum of 63 km/h.
Observatory Hill 32.8C.
Sydney Olympic Park 33.8C - Dew Points 1.7C, W winds of maximum gust 50 km/h.
Badgerys Creek 32.7C - Dew Points 6.5C, W winds maximum gust 56 km/h.
Campbelltown 32.3C - Dew Points 5.8C, NW winds maximum gust 43 km/h.
Penrith 33C - Due Points 7.3C, NW winds maximum gust of 57 km/h.
Richmond 32.6C - Due Points 7.4C, WNW winds maximum gust of 50 km/h.
(Sourced from BOM weather stations / data sheets)
Most of Sydney would have had a 30 degree day and where I live it is the second such day for this month.
Harley Pearman
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Did not even attempt going out 'chasing' today given what I observed (although some here did - I laugh!)
Weak but tall CU behind my house with a nice double rainbow and precip falling - something for the camera lens anyway. Will upload images later..
Tuesday could see Darwin get a storm as opposed to the inland areas I see, so that would be nice.
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Darwin - Dry season for 2008
Mike, as you live in Darwin you may be able to provide additional comments here.
An interesting weather record may have unfolded this week at Darwin Airport. I read on Weatherzone that Darwin Airport has just gone 167 days without rain.
Today I have verified that. Since the end of the wet season 2007/2008, the last fall of rain at the airport was indeed April 9 when 0.4 mm of rain fell. On the 23 September 5.4 mm of rain fell at the airport. That is indeed 167 days at the airport without a drop of rain.
I note April was a very dry month and the wet season ended early. I am reading that this is the longest and driest period ever experienced at Darwin Airport.
I lived in Darwin in 1995/1996 and during that time and based on records that I could find and despite the notion of "The dry", Darwin has never truly had a true "Dry, dry season". That is, there would always be a shower of rain at some point. That happened when I lived there.
Yet this year, the notion of a true dry, dry season appears to have almost occurred. If this is the driest period ever for this city, then I think it is truly amazing considering that Darwin is Australia's wettest capital city.
Mike, if you have any comments on this, I would be most interested especially considering that I am familiar with the climate regime in this part of Australia.
Harley Pearman
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Hi Harley.
You are correct with the stats re the rainfall or lack of. Now that the dry will be officially over as of Oct1 this season's dry spell was certainly dry. We usually get the odd shower during the dry season, but this year I don't think we even got anything that registered in the gauges let alone a shower. Whether it's a combination of the la Nina cycle moving to neutral or the MJO having stalled somewhat of late I am not sure.
I don't take a lot of interest in stats as far as rainfall amounts or temps during both seasons here - mainly because I am more interested in chasing storms but I did find this stat...the longest period without rain being recorded in Darwin 205 days (25/4/1896-15/11/1896)
From what I have seen of the weather patterns the easterly dry winds have been vicious and strong. The large high pressure systems that dominated the country certainly had an effect on alienating any moisture that happened to be drawn into the Top End.
I know from what the bureau has mentioned of late is that this has been quite a dry 'dry' and it's something that comes around every few years, but they don't pinpoint any particular reason for it. Locals have all commented on it being very dry and hotter than previous years. I've only been in the Territory 7 years and honestly, did not take much interest in the weather up until 2 years ago - so my knowledge is a bit limited re specifics.
The monsoons for 2007/8 - albeit rainfall record amounts during cyclonic activity we had - were pretty average and suddenly in April it definitely switched over to the dry season very quickly. Storm action for last season was dismal - regularly up to a week or more without storms in some months, something which had not gone unnoticed by the BoM.
I'll get some info from BoM during the week to see if they had noticed anything out of character for the dry spell which they have been able to analyze now that it's gone.
Sorry I could not give you any specifics!
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Mike
Thank you. Your comments are terrific. I have also read that Darwin this year is facing a torrid build up being hotter, drier and with more humidity than usual.
Actually since my post yesterday, I found on the BOM site that 1976 was quite dry too, something that I was not previously aware of. Apparently in that year, the city went 164 days without rain from 7 May to 17 October. That year the build up was torrid and drier than normal. A repetition of that in 2008 is not expected but it is expected that the build up will be more torrid than normal.
I have noted that it reached 37 degrees in Darwin on the 10 September and 36 degrees on the 8 and 9. When I was there in 1995 and 1996, temperatures did not exceed 35 degrees. I have noted that inland areas are reaching 38 degrees Celsius already which may indicate a hotter and more torrid build up than normal.
October thunderstorms start to develop but they pulse up drop their moisture and decay quickly. They tease the locals and storms are usually short lived. One has to be almost underneath it to enjoy the cooling breezes that they bring. You get beautiful cloud formations though but the humidity and heat can be tough when outside getting the photographs of the storms during the daytime.
Harley Pearman
30 degree days in September - Blacktown 2008:
Another interesting weather feature for September 2008 that has not gone unnoticed is the number of 30 degree days that have occurred in September where I live. There have been 5 days to date where I live for the month occurring on the 13, 20, 22, 27 and 28. On the 28 it reached 33 degrees. This is the highest number I have experienced in September since moving to Blacktown in 1997.
What is more interesting is that 4 of those days have occurred on a weekend.
Interesting, a strong southerly change moving across Sydney at 2.25 pm saw 33 degrees in Sydney's west under north westerly winds but only 19 degrees Celsius at Sydney Airport where southerly winds were occurring. The temperature contrast between the two air masses is quite amazing to see being as much as 14 degrees across the frontal boundary.
Note:- The southerly change arrived at my place at 3.18 pm and I can feel the temperature dropping sharply.
Harley Pearman
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and this (courtesty WZ & ABC.)
The NT Weather Bureau says it expects a warmer than usual build-up this year.
The manager of climate services Sam Cleland says it's difficult to predict how much warmer the build-up could be, but points out higher than usual temperatures in the Indian Ocean should have a flow-on effect in the Territory, particularly the Top End.
"When we've had patterns like this, about six or seven out of ten build-ups, or October to December periods, have been warmer than normal.
"So it's a reasonable expectation that this one probably will be."
The bureau is also predicting two to three cyclones in the Top End this year but says that's not out of the ordinary.
"The thing that often dictates the nature of cyclone season is that El Nino/La Nina cycle and we are in a neutral phase of that so we're not expecting anything out of the ordinary."
The build-up marks the end of the dry season, which officially ended yesterday when the Darwin Airport rain guage reported it's first readings in a record breaking 167 days.
- ABC © ABC 2008
Their comments confirm my last thread regarding the sizzler days and the haphazard seasons of late.
The majority of our storms are single air mass types, but we get good days when they are widespread and stronger - a mixed bag of storms depending on the day. As Nick Moir found out, it's really difficult to find decent storms that survive, where they will be let alone trying to chase the buggers. Makes for interesting busts!
No shortage of lightning here as you would expect with the CAPE levels. From memory we only had 2-3 SWW events and really they did not amount to much by the time they reach 40km from Darwin. The early morning squall lines are the ones to chase as the sea breeze has a positive influence on them as opposed to the regular negative influence during daytime hours. The breezes seem to up the temperature within a 40km area from Darwin and has a 'drying' affect on outflow moisture - you can see it clearly when morning to early arvo clouds convect thickly and by late arvo there's a visible blue sky barrier between the city and rural areas once the sea breeze flows outward - it's disheartening to see the CUs burn away in front of one's eyes!
But the structures are very nice and wonderfully photogenic due to their size. I had a couple from NSW chase last year here and they were just astounded with the number of storms they could actually choose from to chase - their structure left them with a great impression because they were so different compared to the big supercells and storms you guys get in NSW.
A bit like grapefruit to peanuts but they're tropical by nature and one can't expect anything else.
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Mike
Thank you. It is interesting watching the storms develop during October and November or the beginning of the wet season. I noted when living in Darwin that the afternoon ones were always the pulse variety but they would form inland east or south east of Palmerston or to the east around Adelaide River etc. They would travel a distance but collapse as they approached Darwin proper. Others did not move at all. They just dumped rain in an area then weaken. Roads are also difficult too up there and chasing them can be difficult too.
No doubt the same will occur again this October / November.
Actually Australian Geographic Volume 48 October 1997 has done an excellent article titled, Hunting Hector centred on storm chasing and the science of Hector around Darwin and Melville Island and the dynamics of it. The research was titled - The Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (MCTEX) where 50 atmospheric scientists assembled in Darwin in 1995 to monitor the early build up of Hector and to find out how this storm complex works.
It has allot to do with the collisions of boundaries being sea breezes and land breezes. for example it was learnt that:-
- If there is a northerly on Melville Island, the southern sea breeze will become very strong producing a storm on the south coast of the island.
It was also found that:-
- Early thunderstorms may be weak but the thunderstorm sea breeze interaction can produce a storm cell towering 18 km and dominating the island during the peak of the day.
During the experiment, rotating updrafts were observed under the strongest thunderstorms.
Some secrets of Hector were given up. Around Darwin, the sea breeze would have to play some role where a storm would develop and how it would play out.
That experiment (MCTEX) and the findings may be of interest to you as it helped to unlock some secrets of Hector during the build up.
Harley Pearman
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Hi Harley, and yes spot on with all your comments. We've had around 200 combined NASA and NOAA scientists in the last few years monitoring Hector and doing fly-through's with their 'Falcon' jet aircraft. The do figure 8's around the storm and gradually encircle the top and then out again to monitor aerosol contents in the atmosphere through the updraughts he has. Last season he topped 22+km on one day which was a spectacular sight. He's been around of late, displaying a very weak but thin tower & large anvil, but as the season progresses he'll be more structured and 'thicker' in appearance.
The storm motion has not changed since you were last here - it's a given really. The sea breeze usually stuffs things up but as mentioned previously it can really aid storms that form within 10km of Darwin, they are strong, tall and push out dazzling positive strikes. I recall last year a storm flanged out no less than 5 big positive strikes arched from the anvil top, outward and grounded easily 5km out from the tower - I remained in the car to photograph it because it was just so dangerous after viewing more than two within 20 seconds of each other and missed them all, but after waiting till it settled down (as they were in my vicinity) I popped the camera onto the window edge and got this from that very storm.
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September weather features for Blacktown 2008
The first half of the month where I live were characterised by cooler than normal conditions while the second half saw temperatures rise to average or exceed the average on several days.
It is noted that:-
There were 10 days when temperatures failed to reach 20C but 5 days saw temperatures reach 30C. There were significant maximum temperature ranges between the coldest day on the 6 being 14.5C and the hottest day on the 28 being 33C.
Average Max is 21.2C (This September it was 22.6C so average maximum temperatures finished being 1.4C above average).
This is more significant given that August was a colder than normal month. Actually it is a 5C rise on August so it is a big increase from August to September.
Night time minimums were near the average being 9.3C.
It rained on 7 days producing 68 mm. Majority of that fell on the period 4 to 6 September. Prospect had 50 mm on 9 days and Seven Hills scored 66 mm.
Rainfall was above average for September.
Thus it was a warmer but wetter month than normal.
There was 1 thunderstorm that produced small but brief hail on the late afternoon of 14/9/08.
I did not observe any fog during the month.
Harley Pearman
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Early hot spell October 2008
Certainly worth a post considering that on the 2 and 3 October 2008, maximum daily temperatures exceeded 38 degrees or 100F at a number of centres in north west New South Wales being:-
Bourke 38.8C and 37.5C on the 2 and 3.
Brewarrina 38.1C on the 2/10/08.
Tibooburra 38.4C and 38.1C on the 2 and 3.
Wanaaring 38.8C and 38.4C on the 2 and 3 plus 37.5C on the 5.
This is a hot start to October in North west New South Wales.
Actually it reached 36.9C at Sydney Airport and 36C at Sydney Olympic Park on the 3 and 34.7C where I live.
Amazingly it reached just 19C on the 5/10/08 where I live due to the southerly change and very low cloud cover.
Yet what was unique on the 5/10/08 is that maximum temperatures were warmer at Katoomba (19.7C) and at Lithgow (22C) than at Blacktown which I certainly noticed when driving through these areas. The southerly change created an interesting variation in maximum temperatures in coastal areas when compared to places inland and higher up in elevation.
Harley Pearman
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The weather has been so muggy today, the temp topped out at 30C shortly after 10:30am and the humidity was upwards of 70% for most of the day - Yuck.
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Wow. There is some really good instability progged for next week on GFS but sadly it keeps changing with every update. Sheer though seems to be the only real let down.
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Have put together some charts using the BOM's Daily Weather Observation data. The following shows temperatures in Sydney Sept - November. You can see the obvious see-saw in temperatures for this period when compared to the rest of the year with temps heating up as the fronts approach then the sudden change of temp as they pass.
(http://weather.wilgatree.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/sydney_sept_nov.png)
Source: http://weather.wilgatree.com/recent-weather/?filter=Sydney&id=IDCJDW3082 (http://weather.wilgatree.com/recent-weather/?filter=Sydney&id=IDCJDW3082)
If you trawl around nearby locations it is interesting to observe how this effect is even more pronounced (higher max temps) at Homebush (http://weather.wilgatree.com/recent-weather/?filter=Homebush&id=IDCJDW2061) and Penrith (http://weather.wilgatree.com/recent-weather/?filter=Penrith&id=IDCJDW2111).
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Rhett
Thanks for posting that graph. In October 2008 I certainly noticed the large swings in maximum daily temperature where I live in Blacktown. For example:-
It reached a maximum of 30 degrees on 7 days during the month with the hottest being the 31 when it reached 35C. At the other extreme, it failed to reach 20C on 5 days.
For the rest of the time, the maximum temperatures fell between 20c and 29C.
The 30 degree days have to date preceded the next cool change and so far this spring, only one or two such days in a row have occurred prior to the arrival of the next cool change.
In one instance such as the 3, it reached 34C but the next day the maximum temperature was 20C. In another instance on the 27, it reached 34C but 2 days later, the maximum temperature was just 17C.
Maximum daily temperature swings or fluctuations were large again from 14.5C on the 6 to 35C on the 31. It lends support to the graph that you found.
The average maximum for October where I live is 23.6C but in 2008, it was 25.2C being 1.6C above average. Thus it was still a warmer month than normal.
The average minimum is 12.1C but this year was 15.9C (Well above average).
Amazingly, the rainfall was 53.5 mm which is reasonably close to the long term average of 59mm and rain fell on 10 days including 4 thunderstorms. There was also one fog on the 12.
So during September and October, it reached 30 degrees on 12 days and the tally from 1 September to 16 November currently stands at 16 days (Blacktown tally). As shown, there have been large swings in maximum daytime temperatures again this spring.
Harley Pearman
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November weather conditions for home (Blacktown) 2008
Further to this thread, November where I live is best described as "Warm and moist" as shown:-
Av Max 25.4C (Normal maximum averages 25.2C). Roughly average.
Av min 14.5C (Normal minimum averages is 14.1C). Slightly above average.
There were 3 days when it reached 30 degrees. Actually, this is less than September and October when there were 5 and 7 days respectively. Quite amazingly, the average maximum temperature was almost the same as October 2008.
There were 15 days in spring when it reached 30C Celsius.
As generally highlighted by the graph in a previous post, large temperature swings continue from 20C on the 4 to 35.8C on the 14 but for the first time this season, no single day recorded a maximum temperature below 20C.
Rainfall - 73 mm on 10 days at Prospect.
Where I live - 75.8 mm fell over 9 days.
There were 4 thunderstorm days but a total of 6 storms occurred with one producing hail up to 2 cm (brief fall of flat shaped hail on the 29/11/08) and another brought strong gusty winds and a brief power blackout 19/11/08. The storm on the 19/11/08 brought the heaviest single rainfall event of the month being 32 mm.
There were no fogs.
Harley Pearman
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Current pea soup conditions.
Weather here is quite atrocious as far as any decent storms. Although we have a trough over the Top End and connected to a weak but maturing monsoon trough with embedded low near the Kimberley region things are quite messy. The low is not expected just yet to form into anything significant, although Thursday looks like the betting day for the formation of a cyclone perhaps.
There's been showery thunder type weather of late. One or two half decent storms in clean air during the day but by nightfall a lot of cloud blnakets the region and the storms that are in them are weak and quickly dissipate. You'd be lucky to catch a single clean CG amongst all the quick flash and rumble and annoying shower activity is always a pain. Quite a lot of moisture in the soundings of late and for me it's this type of weather I do not particularly worry about with regards to chasing. Widespread storms/showers may sound appealing, but as far as chasing...mmm not for this black duck. I'd much prefer it when I can see structure and know what condition or stage the storms are at, at least it gives me something to evaluate.
The rest of this week sees not much change in the forecasts and the steering of storms and lines changes daily now, either from the NW/NE and the presence of convergence areas inland always draw the storms to it - last night was no different. An inland low was pulling the storms during the night to the SW and then swung them around to the W/NW. What's difficult is seeing nothing on radar or by observation during the night and then 10 minutes later there's a bunch of cells forming where you just looked - lots of nice colors on the radar but not enough to convince me that there's any storms that will stay 'up' and produce some really visible lightning.
Apart from all that it's much the muchness with the monsoon lingering and you have to be in the right place and the right time - often by chance - to nab some CG's.
Here's another spout photographed 14 December at Lee Point - not far from Darwin - photo credited to Nolan Caldwell who was out that way waiting for God knows what as he primarily is a nature photographer! He likes the storms though since meeting me and has nabbed some corker shots - this one is quite envious!
(http://australasiaforum.net/australasia/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4426.0;attach=3242;image)
Courtesy: Nolan Caldwell
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Weather review for December 2008 (Blacktown)where I live
The weather for December 2008 where I live is shown below:-
Average Maximum 28.6C (Long term average 27.4C) - 1.2C above average.
Average Minimum 15.8C (Long term average 16.4C) - Minus 0.6C below average.
Compared to December 2007:
Average Max 26.1C. Average Min 16.5C.
The daily maximums were 2.5C warmer but the nights were 0.7C cooler when a comparison is made to December 2007.
There were 14 days when it reached 30C (December 2008). In December 2007, there were 6 days. The hottest day was 6/12/08 when the maximum temperature reached 35C and coldest day was 11/12/08 when the maximum temperature was 19C.
So far since 1/9/08 to 31/12/08, it has reached 30C on 29 days.
There were 4 thunderstorms during the month but on the 28 and 29, thunder was audible from two storms that passed to the north and south of Blacktown City.
On the 9/12/08, substantial morning fog was observed which is a rare event for December.
Rainfall
At Prospect, 71.5 mm fell on 11 days but where I live, the rainfall was lower at around 63 mm across 10 days. That can be explained when on the 28, a thunderstorm and shower passed over Prospect but missed Blacktown city and immediate surrounds.
When compared to December 2007, 103 mm of rain fell over 14 days. Thus December 2008 was drier than December 2007.
In 2008, 914 mm of rain fell at Prospect on 134 days.
Where I live, approximately 880 mm fell on 114 days.
In 2007, 1,050 mm fell and in 2006, 607 mm fell. February 2008 was the wettest month with 233 mm of rain and May was the driest month with 3.1 mm.
Southerly change:
Of interest as I prepare this, a strong southerly change is moving north along the New South Wales South Coast with interesting temperature gradients. At 2 pm, the temperature was nudging 21C at Merimbula and Bega and barely 19C at Gabo Island in cool SSE winds. Sydney being north of the cool change is experiencing 32C to 34C. That shows a strong temperature gradient as much as 15C across the southerly change boundary.
Harley Pearman
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Hot weather for SE Australia 5 to 7 January 2008:
This is worth a post because a surge of hot air has progressed into south east Australia and temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s have been occurring or are expected to occur during this period in many areas of NSW.
On 5/1/2009, Penrith in western Sydney reached a peak of 39C and on 6/1/2009, the expected forecast maximum for Penrith is 41C.
Where I live in Blacktown, it reached 38C on 5/1/2009 and on 6/1/2009, the expected forecast maximum is in the order of 39C to 40C.
The last time such temperatures were recorded in the Sydney basin was on 21 January 2007 when it topped out at 41C where I live and including other inland Sydney suburbs.
This appears to be the strongest burst of summer heat to reach the Sydney Basin in almost 2 years.
Similar temperatures occurred in many areas of inland NSW 5/1/2009 and again forecast for 6/1/2009.
A southerly change on Thursday will end the hot spell in the southern areas.
Harley Pearman
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It is also looking to be a pretty hot week over here in the Mid West. The small inland town of Mullewa, which is 92 kms ENE of Geraldton have the next six days forecasted between 41 and 45 degrees! Yesterday made it to 42.5, and so far this month (only five days in) they have not had a day below 40.0.
Here on the coast we are looking at mid to low 30s, thanks mostly to the roaring southerly seabreeze.
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a blast from the past, mid February we had a week of 40's, 45 on one day, that was in 1971, my son was born 28.1., I sat in the bath with him all day to keep cool, one couldn't touch the door handles in the house, it was in Lansvale NSW on the Prospect River, the heat wave broke with a hail storm, about 5-8cm from memory, did a lot of damage to the car yards on the Hume highway.
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Hot spell - Western Sydney 5 to 7 January 2009:
Over the past 3 days the maximum daily temperature at Blacktown has been in the order of:-
38.9C on 5/1/2009.
37.7C on 6/1/2009.
38.5C on 7/1/2009.
Taken from the Prospect weather station. Prospect is approximately 3 km south east from where I live. It highly likely that it reached 38C in the centre of Blacktown on the 6/1/2009 given that nearby surrounds actually topped 38C to 40C on all 3 days.
In Penrith the maximum temperature over the same period was:-
39C on 5/1/2009.
41.6C on 6/1/2009
40.5C on 7/1/2009.
The strongest burst of heat to affect the Sydney basin in almost 2 years has been limited mainly to Campbelltown, Penrith, Richmond and Blacktown (Certainly west of Parramatta) or areas where the sea breeze had less of an impact.
Interesting between 1 pm and 3 pm 7/1/2009, it was around 25C to 26C along parts of Sydney Harbour due to the sea breeze but over parts of western Sydney west of Parramatta, maximum temperatures were topping the 38C to 40C mark.
The highest maximum temperature in NSW 7/1/2009 appears to have been Narranderra and Wagga Wagga on 42C and nearby regions topping out between 38C and 41C.
As at 6pm 7/1/2009, the cooler southerly wind change was located around Batemans Bay thus for coastal areas, this will end the current hot spell.
Of interest on both mornings of 6/1/2009 and 7/1/2009 between midnight and 6 am, very weak shallow SE changes or SE sea breezes affected much of eastern Sydney. While they were shallow, they were strong enough to generate a layer of very low stratus cloud at around sunrise that burnt off after 7 am. I am not sure if they were sea breezes or weak southerly changes but it is something that I have not seen occur in previous years. The cool changes that occurred on both mornings at around the same time were not forecast the previous day.
Harley Pearman
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Way to dig up an old thread but I think it's relevant to today's weather events.
Such as it being unseasonably cold, considering how warm and dry it has been (in SE QLD). Not so much inland, but the near the coast in particular found some very interesting temperature inversions.
Early this morning, the following centres recorded the following (as per BoM's website).
Brisbane 8.7C
Brisbane AP 10.1C
Amberley 8.7C
Archerfield 9.5C
Coolangatta 5.8C
Gold Coast Seaway 9.7C
Maroochydore 4.5C
Nambour 9.8C
Redcliffe 13.8C
Toowoomba 5.8C
I'm not sure if they broke any records, but I don't think so.
Skimming over the obs, there were Southwest to Northwest winds prevailing and these were very dry. Dew points all round were under 0C for most of the day with humidity levels crashing to 10%.
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My my, I had no idea it was going to get this nippy tonight. They had only forecast a low of 19°C, but it is already much lower than this.
It's possible to break a December record (for minimums) given the current conditions.
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my station got to 12.6 last night brrrrrrrrrr
Antonio
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Lismore nsw has beaten its lowest minimum on record last night before it was 11.3C and last night it was 9.1C
My place in Ballina reached down to 12.6C but Ballina airport 11.2C so for December wow it was chilly
I wonder how your place went Michael Bath since you live in the hills.
Antonio.
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Hi everyone. Think we have been stuck in a timewarp and gone back 3 months ago! The minimum here this morning was 9.9c, not a new record though but cool enough. Long term average minimum for December is about double that. Monday mornings minimum was 13.4c and apparently we got the lowest in the state! Not quite a 'White Christmas' but looks like it could be a wet one in a few places.