Author Topic: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007  (Read 28843 times)

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Offline Michael Bath

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Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« on: 27 January 2007, 07:15:02 AM »
Cells have fired on the Mid North Coast west of Port Macquarie sort of area and should become fairly widespread in that region. Parts of the Northern Tablelands, Upper Hunter, and southern Northern Rivers should see some storm too. Shear has certainly improved so hopefully some organised storms today !

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #1 on: 27 January 2007, 12:41:08 PM »
tornado warning  was issued on the 26th January 2007 and here is the message for those that are interested

Bureau of Meteorology
Queensland Regional Office

The Standard Emergency Warning Signal should NOT be used with this message.


TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST


SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING - SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DESTRUCTIVE WIND and VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and a possible TORNADO
For people in parts of the
Southeast Coast,
Eastern Darling Downs & Granite Belt and
Wide Bay & Burnett Forecast Districts.



Issued at 5:25 PM Friday, 26 January 2007.


THIS INCLUDES A TORNADO WARNING.


At 5:25 PM , Bureau of Meteorology weather radar detected severe thunderstorms near the area northeast of Dalby and Bunya Mountains. These thunderstorms are moving towards the north to northeast. Severe thunderstorms are forecast to affect the area west of Kingaroy, the area southwest of Kingaroy and the area south of Kingaroy by 6:25 PM .


Very dangerous thunderstorms were located near Laidley. They are forecast to affect the area south of Esk by 5:55 PM and southern Lake Wivenhoe, Esk and northern Lake Wivenhoe by 6:25 PM .


Tornadoes, large hailstones, destructive winds and very heavy rainfall are possible.


A more general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for the Central Highlands & Coalfields and parts of the Central West, Wide Bay & Burnett, Darling Downs & Granite Belt and Southeast Coast Forecast Districts.



NOTE A TORNADO HAS BEEN SIGHTED IN THE LAIDLEY AREA. PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM BETWEEN LAIDLEY AND ESK INCLUDING THE COMINYA AND LOWOOD AREAS SHOULD SEEK SHELTER INDOORS.
The Emergency Management Queensland advises that people should:
* Move your car under cover or away from trees.
* Secure loose outdoor items.
* Avoid driving, walking or riding through flood waters.
* Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
* Avoid using the telephone during a thunderstorm.
* Beware of fallen trees and powerlines.
* For emergency assistance contact the SES in your local government area, listed in the White Pages under either State Emergency Service or your local council.


The next warning is due to be issued by 6:20 PM.
« Last Edit: 30 January 2007, 01:20:46 PM by Michael Bath »

Offline nmoir

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #2 on: 27 January 2007, 02:02:49 PM »
watching a radar loop of this storm it seems quite long lived yet not the most entense storm ive seen on radar ,
jimmy is saying a chaser spotted something and i wonder if they got a little excited with the new doppler radar in the BOM
Nick Moir
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #3 on: 27 January 2007, 05:40:11 PM »
Hi,

It looks as though at this point 11:40pm not chaser spotted the tornado and there were chasers out there.

Anyway, we wait and see.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Michael Bath

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #4 on: 28 January 2007, 04:10:44 AM »
Yesterday's chase can now be dubbed "Trapped at Jackadgery" !!  Headed off with Rodney, and Beck (in a separate car) down to Grafton area. Early cells on the Dorrigo Plateau looked quite promising with some nice updrafts observed at a distance. But it pretty well collapsed by the time we got close. Beck decided to head back to Lismore at this point.

Rodney and I headed out to Jackadgery where a weak cell had formed (this morning I see on radar it was a cell split). It gave off a few rumbles and quite a decent shower before completely dissipating.

The main show soon started to come into view. Very high tops could be seen to the S and SW above low cloud and developing base features.  We were treated to a spectacular show as this severe storm seemed to "fall" down the escarpment into the Mann River Valley to our south. Ragged base features, green tinge and regular lightning indicated this was a strong thunderstorm. The timelapse sequence of this will be spectacular.  We took off west about 2ks as the storm struck a couple of ks east of Jackadgery. A couple of close CGs hit nearby too.

Winds were quite strong at our location (maybe 70km/h) but little did we know how wild the storm was just to the east.

Moving back to assess the damage (and with the aim to keep tracking this storm NE) we soon found the Gwydir Highway littered with branches. A nearby creek was a raging torrent from the torrential downpour. More branches over the road, then.... no go. Two very large trees were right across the road, a semitrailer on the other side and one two other vehicles on the western side. There was no way anyone was going to get around this.

Instead of waiting, we eventually decided to try a gravel road to the north which connects back to the highway further east. What an adventure this turned out to be, a few ks in and full on smashed up trees, constant debris over the road. We kept trying, dragging trees off the road in the hope of getting through then after about 10ks, another massive tree completely blocked this route. It was now almost dark, we headed back the way we came. I think we only covered 15km in a whole hour due to the extensive debris field slowing the drive.

We stopped at the Jackadgery shop, then back east and waited on the highway with the other drivers (only about 20). It was now 9pm and the chainsaw operator was nearly finished, then finally through at 915pm - about 2.5 hours after the storm hit !

We missed the earlier lightning show because of the drama, but then had a 3 hour lightning show from Woodburn, Lismore and McLeans Ridges, finishing up at 2am.

Michael
Location: Mcleans Ridges, NSW Northern Rivers
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Offline David C

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #5 on: 28 January 2007, 05:06:29 AM »
Was Mt Stapyleton down (?), in which case a spotter report was used as the sole basis for issuing the warning (as implied in the warning itself). I suppose we are talking about differences between the regional offices, but it just seems a funny event on which to launch a T-warning, all things considered. It must have been a significant description. Perhaps there was a landspout or maybe the warning was based on the 'funnel' picture on TWZ  ;D

We will continue discussions about the tornado warning and validity in this forum thread please:

http://www.australiasevereweather.com/forum/index.php?topic=331.msg2174#msg2174

This is so as to not degenerate from the original intent of this topic.
« Last Edit: 28 January 2007, 07:11:31 AM by Jimmy Deguara »
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #7 on: 28 January 2007, 06:50:49 AM »
Hi Michael and Rodney,

Spectacular storms and very photogenic. Obviously severe storms given the carnage - good you guys have supplied evidence.

Pictures of the storms Ray and I were able to intercept:



We then left back to Sydney arriving near midnight.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
« Last Edit: 28 January 2007, 07:38:46 AM by Jimmy Deguara »
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Offline enak_12

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #8 on: 28 January 2007, 07:42:56 AM »
Yesterday produced a week storm for Coffs Harbour. On radar a nice looking storm was heading my way but unfortunately ran into the outflow of a small cell which developed in front of it and weekend. Heres some pictures:




 

Offline Michael Bath

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #9 on: 28 January 2007, 01:42:01 PM »
What a waste today turned out to be, but as suggested by GFS - the main action would be off the coast... bit like fish swimming upstream !




Some weak cells did develop, but could not get past the 600hPa inversion - as indicated on the Bris sounding - and a drying atmosphere.

MB
« Last Edit: 29 January 2007, 09:42:14 AM by Michael Bath »
Location: Mcleans Ridges, NSW Northern Rivers
Australian Severe Weather:   http://australiasevereweather.com/
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Contact: Michael Bath

Offline enak_12

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RE: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #10 on: 28 January 2007, 05:57:05 PM »
Some pictures of todays offshore storms as seen from Beacons Hill Coffs Harbour :




Offline Michael Bath

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Re: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #11 on: 30 January 2007, 01:00:16 PM »
Thanks for posting the pics off Coffs - could not see any of those from here.

Some radar loops for Friday 26th:

Brisbane 128km
Brisbane 256km

Grafton 128km
Grafton 256km

Location: Mcleans Ridges, NSW Northern Rivers
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Offline orage

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Re: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #12 on: 30 January 2007, 01:47:40 PM »
On Saturday (the 27th), I was in Laurieton, (just south Port Maquarie) swimming in a lagoon fed by the Camden Haven inlet. There were a few weak cells around, and we received a few spots of rain. All after noon it was calm, and slowly we followed the sandbars into the middle of the lagoon. The wind swung around 180°, and within no more than 10 seconds the winds increased from a slight breeze to (at an uneducated guess) 70km/h. The previously clear water went dark and choppy, and the water moved 10m up the beach because the wind forced up the beach from the other parts of the lagoon.
The winds lasted for about an hour, before starting to subside.
In Taree (30km to the south) wind gusts of 89km/h were recorded at
four o'clock, and in Port Maquarie, winds of 67km/h were recorded. :o
Hardly any rain fell
no photos sorry - I was keen to get out of the water - and even when I was out of the water, my camera was at my grandparents place  :'(

Offline Rodney Wallbridge

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Re: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #13 on: 30 January 2007, 02:59:11 PM »
Hi everyone,after a busy Australia day chase and being away all weekend time to post a few pictures of the day  with Michael Bath and Beck at the start.
                  Mb has explained the run of events so I'll just throw  in some pictures was an awesome chase really as the Jackadgery hotspot hasn't really been seen much as we normally arn't that far south more the Casino/Lismore/Ballina/Woodburn/Kyogle area.





Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: Severe Storms NE NSW / SE QLD 26-27 January 2007
« Reply #14 on: 30 January 2007, 03:12:31 PM »
Hi Rodney and Michael,

If you choose your days as you did in this case, then it is ideal to explore an area such as this. I recall having a lengthy discussion with Michael about this point and this region. Finally someone got in and did it.

I have always been one for exploration - that is what chasing is all about.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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