Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum

Severe Weather Discussion => Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing => Topic started by: Michael Bath on 15 March 2009, 09:10:50 AM

Title: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 15 March 2009, 09:10:50 AM
Hi all

Been quite a bit of activity through Victoria, a large part of NSW and parts of TAS already today. Some great rainfalls in central VIC with many locations in the 15 to 25mm range as a pre frontal trough and cold front moves east.

Warnings have been out since late morning. Some inconsistency in the warning products this arvo with the NSW warning including winds/flash flooding while the VIC warnings has large hail/flash flooding ...

Next few days look active in parts of the east.
Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: FindTheTornado on 15 March 2009, 11:36:17 AM
Every now and then I check in and see whats going on in Australia and I just happend to notice the severe thunderstorm warning out and went to the Yarrawonga radar site. Several storms showing up there some look very strong. Have a nice day.
Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: TroyVR on 15 March 2009, 12:11:50 PM
Nice storm passed over the Sutherland area between 4-5 dropping 2mm of rain with it, Got some nice photos of the storm passing over, some intermittent lightning was in the storm but unfortunetly it was hidden by the rain.

Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Richary on 15 March 2009, 02:54:42 PM
This afternoon's storms came over but the main part tracked well south of here (Rydalmere), though as I was coming home down Windsor Road I could see a nice core of rain down towards Bankstown. Not much here. The later ones that have been going for a bit over an hour provided lots of lightning but all up in the clouds (I suspect above a thin lower layer of cloud) and very few ground strikes. Very few bolts were visible. It bucketed down for a while but I only recorded 10mm, surprising as Olympic Park not that far away got over 20.

The storms is now off to the NNE and now has better lightning than it did when near here with a few more ground strikes than we got.

EDIT: 9 News had a nice view of a shelf cloud to the south of the Harbour from their chopper on the weather report.
Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: TroyVR on 15 March 2009, 03:07:33 PM
This afternoon's storms came over but the main part tracked well south of here (Rydalmere), though as I was coming home down Windsor Road I could see a nice core of rain down towards Bankstown. Not much here. The later ones that have been going for a bit over an hour provided lots of lightning but all up in the clouds (I suspect above a thin lower layer of cloud) and very few ground strikes. Very few bolts were visible. It bucketed down for a while but I only recorded 10mm, surprising as Olympic Park not that far away got over 20.

The storms is now off to the NNE and now has better lightning than it did when near here with a few more ground strikes than we got.

yes we got similar conditions here with the later storms

At first it bucketed down very heavily before lightening up for the the massive lightning display, although as Richary said most of the lightning was intracloud i did still see a few nice strikes and some beautiful bolts, unfortunetly i wasnt able to go and get photos of the 2nd storm as i had been drinking and camera batteries were flat. Also i recorded 8mm of rain from the 2nd set of storms.
Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 15 March 2009, 05:00:32 PM
Hi guys,

I was contacted by David Croan that he enjoyed some very impressive and frequent lightning activity this evening. We missed out on most of the lightning but I was able to capture a few pictures of lightning:

Title: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: pingtang on 16 March 2009, 01:15:31 AM

March 13 2009 lightning off Nowra

Some weak storms developed off the Illawarra coast on Friday evening continuing throughout the night. These storms would shoot up an updraft and drop a barrage before weakening,this cycle seemed to repeat itself through the coarse of the night. The lightning was very impressive, with numerous high quality cgs observed including alot of CA bolts. Unfortunately the storm was 50kms away from us at first,but amazingly still close enough to hear some distant booms coming off the water. I put the 70-200mm lens on,and grabbed some decent photos.

(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/pingtang200/IMG_5627.jpg)

(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/pingtang200/IMG_5579.jpg)

(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/pingtang200/IMG_5589.jpg)



March 14 2009 Gerringong and then Ulladulla

Today's chase started off quite well. With storms developing on the Southern Highlands we made the decision to intercept these storms between Kiama and Gerringong. We found a good view and watched a weak storm move off the escarpment. Eventually a nice guster came into view making for some nice timelapse.

(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/pingtang200/IMG_5650small.jpg)

There was alot of lightning,but unfortunately all of the bolts were well behind the guster and rainwrapped. As the storm moved overhead,we found a bus shelter and hoped to nail a ridiculous flang on video. Unfortunately there were no flangs,but there were plenty of bolts within 2-3km with nice booms. The outflow became quite gusty for a while possibly reaching 60km/hr,rainfall was never that heavy.

As the storm moved offshore,we went to the beach in the hope of some cgs on video,this proved quite successful. The storm turned very lightning active producing some high quality staccato cgs many of which were captured on video.

Once the Gerringong storm had finished we pushed southwards in the hope of intercepting the Ulladulla storms. It looked great on radar,and we were confident of some great lightning but it proved to be a HUGE letdown. We only witnessed a handful of cgs and numerous pink ccs. Another cell moved in from the west briefly producing some nice cgs some within 2kms creating great booms. Unfortunately this was heavily embedded,so we found a shelter in Mollymook. Unfortunately,the good lightning stopped as soon as we pulled the cameras out leaving me with this dissapointing pic.

(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp197/pingtang200/IMG_5661small.jpg)

Cheers
Michael
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: James on 16 March 2009, 04:02:19 AM
Great storms everyone, nice to see Sydney/Illawarra finally got some storms yesterday. For a while there, I thought the Illawarra would never see storms again.

I would imagine storms will fire late today in the Northern Rivers today, perhaps after 5pm. Mlaps doesn't want anything to do with precip falling in far SEQ whilst Laps shows precip from after 06z. 500 temps cool down from around 5pm with a small increase in 700 winds from the SW. This may be enough to get storms further north.

I'm hoping for a evening/overnight light show here before the main action starts tomorrow with a bit more wind shear.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Harley Pearman on 16 March 2009, 11:20:25 AM
Afternoon thunderstorms in North East Victoria turned deadly 14/3/2009. I found this article in the Border Mail:-

"Mum dead in freak accident" - Border Mail 15/3/2009 at:-

http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/mum-dead-in-freak-accident/1459497.aspx (http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/mum-dead-in-freak-accident/1459497.aspx)

A 39 year old died at Bright at 2.30 pm after being struck by lightning at the Bright Pony Club. Another person was injured and taken to Wangaratta.

I was taking particular interest 14/3/2009 of thunderstorms in North East Victoria and southern New South Wales. Short but fast moving thunderstorms with some containing hail for short periods of time moved through the region. Albury was hit by up to 4 fast moving thunderstorms that dropped 11.6 mm of rain at the airport weather station between 2 pm and 7 pm.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for these thunderstorms across North East Victoria and southern NSW.

The town of Narrandera in the Riverina scored 14 mm from one thunderstorm.

The benefit of these thunderstorms is that the upper catchment of the Ovens River in North East Victoria (Where the town of Bright lies) scored some good rainfalls that may produce runoff into streams with some falls in the 20 to 32 mm range.

A thunderstorm also occurred over Sydney 14/3/2009 between 7 and 9 pm although I was out with friends so I could not go after it or take photos of it. I was at Baulkham Hills driving to Castle Towers and the rain was not heavy where I was although it was heavier in other places. I mainly saw intra cloud lightning when driving towards Castle Towers. Looking at the Bureau of Meteorology weather stations for this event:-

Seven Hills and Strathfield scored the heaviest rainfall of 28 mm but only 8.5 mm where I was. Other falls include:-

Bankstown 27 mm, Warragamba Dam 26 mm, Toongabbie 24 mm, Sydney Olympic Park 23 mm, Auburn 22 mm, North Parramatta 20 mm, Prospect Dam 18 mm, Richmond 14 mm, Penrith 10 mm.

The storm appears to have peaked around the Seven Hills to Auburn area. I cannot comment too much on it because I was indoors for much of the time.

Harley Pearman
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jeff Brislane on 16 March 2009, 11:35:25 AM
Hi All,

I wasn't paying much attention yesterday to the storms that developed over the mountains until I started hearing thunder. I went outside and wished I has gone out earlier as the first cell that passed just south of Penrith had some very interesting structure and evidence of possible rotation. I could see what appeared to be a well defined notch on this storm with the heavy rain area to it's north west. The cloud in the inflow notch area was extreemly green and the motion in the cloud base was very strong. I went in and grabbed my camera and drove to a nearby clearing but it was too late for the most impressive structure.

The second line of cells produced some very powerful lightning which has been a common feature of early march storms in Sydney in recent years.

Jeff.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Shaun Galman on 16 March 2009, 12:27:25 PM
Hi guys,
Great to see a bit of captured action from around the states! Nice lightning captures also :D
We had a small but high-based cell form over town yesterday. Nothing as far as lightning but a real nice little RFB on the northern edge for a time. Only a brief shower of rain that didn't even register lol. Temps are still quite warm out here, around the 36-38c mark.

There have been quite a few storms out west (near Bourke and Cobar) lately. We have only just seen distant cells on the horizon from these recent systems unfortunately. Not even worth getting the camera out for?

I'm hoping for a last decent "big" storm to say goodbye to Lightning Ridge with as we are in the middle of a house move to Southern NSW (near Tumut or there abouts)
I will be intermittent until we get down there and settled in again so please excuse my lack of Upper Western/North West storm info for the time being. I sold my pc so I'm relying on my laptop for now, minus photo processing software?

Take care and kindest regards,
Shauno.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Richary on 16 March 2009, 02:17:17 PM
While Sydney missed out today with the Central Coast, Hunter and further north getting the action - one has developed off the coast and intensifying as it moves out to sea. Currently about 60km offshore but even from here it is lighting up continuously with ICs - if there are any grand strikes I am too far away to see them though someone in a more coastal location might get a better view. Pretty nice view even from about 90km away.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 16 March 2009, 02:20:38 PM
a real deal of storms south from us here Ballina. strong cells and moving northeast
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 16 March 2009, 04:01:13 PM
Hi all,

Had a half decent chase today. I left home very late - by  1:00pm and headed up the Freeway. Storms had begun developing in the Hunter but I decided to leave this once I saw a congesting cumulus to the north. My target was the coastal areas generally east of Maitland. This cluster eventually exploded with very thick anvil eventually showing. The storm became severe very quickly and a split occurred - photographed!

Further north, I intercepted hailstones near the turnoff of the Thunderbolts Way and Pacific Highway. Some large hailstones were spitting out of the anvil of the order of 2 to 3cm in diameter. The main core remained west of the highway until just south of Bulahdelah. The storm then gradually weakened and collapsed. I forgot to me mention that is did develop an interesting updraft in the last hour of its life cycle.

Further west, more rapid development of updrafts organised into a line and approached Bulahdelah. It produced a spectacular shelf cloud structure though this also gradually gusted out.

I was treated to a display of constant thunder later on.

Photographs further in this thread

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Richary on 16 March 2009, 04:20:23 PM
Hi Jimmy

An interesting side effect to the storms was enhanced FM conditions to Grafton. I was hearing 2JJJ 91.5 in short meteor scatter like bursts of signal. This is a known propagation method called lightning scatter but the first time I have experienced it. The storms either near Newcastle or further north near Crescent Head at the time would have been responsible. The signal reflects briefly off the ionised air trail left by the lightning bolt.

Note this would not be audible on a normal FM radio/car radio setup. A good receiver and high gain antenna are needed.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 17 March 2009, 03:00:00 AM
NSW Northern Rivers Sunday 15th March 2009

Jason and I went out to Rodney's place near Casino during the afternoon to wait for some decent development to occur.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031501.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031501.jpg)

By about 5pm the activity over the Dorrigo Plateau was creeping closer to Grafton and also started to look a lot more powerful. So the chase was on with Jason driving. We headed straight down the Summerland Way to just north of Grafton. As per usual the trees along that road are very annoying with only a few viewing opportunities.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031502.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031502.jpg)

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031503.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031503.jpg)

Near Junction Hill things looked a bit ordinary for a while with a weak shelf cloud over Grafton, but again took off towards sunset with a few cells slowly moving ENE or NE through the Clarence Valley.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031504.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031504.jpg)

The lightning was continuous but almost all of it was updraft or anvil lightning rather than CGs. With a few storm targets around, there was no luck having our cameras pointed when and where the few big CGs did happen. Despite the lightning not being user-friendly there was some lovely structure to be seen.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031505.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031505.jpg)

Including this very large horse-shoe vortex which persisted several minutes. A second smaller one formed next to this.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031506.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031506.jpg)

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031507.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031507.jpg)

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031508.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031508.jpg)

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031509.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031509.jpg)

We repositioned a little north of Junction Hill. A few CGs were captured here but the rain soon arrived.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031510.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031510.jpg)

This forced us north to Whiporie. The lightning was continuous but even less of it was visible now despite some interesting inflowband like structure being illuminated.

(http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/thumbs/2009031511.jpg) (http://www.lightningphotography.com/forum/photos/2009031511.jpg)

Storms continued to spread further north during the late evening and early am with the last cell passing through Ballina. I spotted a couple of clear-air CGs from that but was not able to photograph them. Though storms have started again on the Northern Tablelands already this morning.

Michael
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 17 March 2009, 04:37:25 AM
Looks like a interesting day is ahead of us there are already storms in the northern rivers around grafton and some in more-tenterfield-stanforpe area and already a severe storm warning.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, FLASH FLOODING and DAMAGING WIND
For people in parts of the
NORTHERN TABLELANDS and
NORTH WEST SLOPES Forecast Districts.
Issued at 8:48 am Monday, 16 March 2009.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Inverell, Tabulam, Baryulgil and Jackadgery.

Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: coastalstorm on 17 March 2009, 05:33:16 AM
Went on a storm chase yesterday through the Northern Rivers region yesterday. This was taken from in between Casino and Lismore looking towards Grafton:

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/3-10.jpg)

Then drove down to Grafton but wasn't too sure what the storm was doing because I couldn't really get a good view due to the trees. Arrived in the Clarence Valley and saw something trying to get organised:

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/6-5.jpg)

This storm had a fair bit of lightning:

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/7-4.jpg)

Nice structure:

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/9-4.jpg)

Stormy sunset:

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/8-5.jpg)

The lightshow was amazing. I didn't get any good photos because I kept feeling my hair trying to stand on end. I don't think I was in a good place to take lightning photos - quite dangerous :)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/10-4.jpg)
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Ben on 17 March 2009, 08:08:46 AM
Great photos there people!! Nice stuff in the NR! Jimmy your photos do not load? Glad you got onto that cell.. we suspected it may have been an LP SC due to its amazing backend structure but going by your post maybe it wasn't! We targeted upper hunter.. probably not the best spot, still managed to get close to that one that went through swansea (huge guster). Would have been magic to watch it roll over but not to be! A nice little lightning display off the coast at night too.
 rfb Aberdeen (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28009095@N05/3356428014/#)
Guster overhead
   (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3356428206_e96571746c.jpg?v=0)   
Base to south
   (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/3355609119_832d4c0797.jpg?v=0) 
   Big updrafts  (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28009095@N05/3356437966/#)
Sunset clear air CG
   (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3452/3355540129_693c08a095.jpg?v=0) 
  Larger version (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28009095@N05/3355540129/o/#)
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 17 March 2009, 10:56:00 AM
Thunderstorms have been developing all day in central northern rivers and finally developed strong near ballina. We do not get hail often but today was spectacular we copped a huge dump of rain and quiet nice size hail for ballina area. There was a lot of rotation and greenage in the clouds my friend in Lismore said that they were golf ball size there. Here are the pictures.

Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: enak_12 on 17 March 2009, 12:20:47 PM
On Monday the 15'th of March a number of storms developed near Coffs. I went out and took some shots as usual.

Some of the convection to my south was quite explosive:
(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/March%2015%202009/IMG_4404.jpg)

Later these storms weakened but remained lightning active after dark and I was also treated to a nice sunset. If only these storms were a few kilometers closer to me on sunset these photos would be more spectacular though still very nice always got to love twilight lightning:

(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/March%2015%202009/IMG_4766copysmall.jpg)

(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/March%2015%202009/IMG_4764copysmall.jpg)

(http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/enak12/March%2015%202009/IMG_4763copysmall.jpg)
   
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 17 March 2009, 12:51:33 PM
Hi,

I seems like a nice event with quite a few images from up and down the coast. Here are the images I promised and could not deliver because of server issues.

Photographs from the March 16 2009 - Part 1 The first storm - splitting cell with large hailstones Chase from Karuah to Bulahdelah

Note the storm split picture with a gap in two updrafts. This is the first time I have photographed such a feature from so close.

Also, note the base of the latter cell - there is the formation on the left hand side that shows the formation linked to the possible rotation region. This activity was there for 5 minutes.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Dandy on 17 March 2009, 01:10:40 PM
Gorgeous photos everyone!

The past two days have been decent for me. Here in Warwick in SE queensland, we had some nice storm activity both yesterday and today.

Ill reply more on todays later when I transfer all my files over. For now heres Yesterdays.
Following some intense vertical deveolpment earlier in the day, several cells  began forming around the region. Luckily (due to my lack of transportation) one passed right over us. Didint bring any photographable lightning, only some very large drops of rain (sounded more like hail from inside) that lasted about 2 minutes. I missed some great structure shots as i was hurrying to get the washing in, but cant dwell over the ones that got away eh?
Anyway, heres the ones I did manage:

(http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt73/YoungDandy/150309_4.jpg)
...Then my camera died. So I raced back to get my sisters.

(http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt73/YoungDandy/150309_2.jpg)

(http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt73/YoungDandy/150309_3.jpg)

this next came out really weird
(http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt73/YoungDandy/150309_1.jpg)
I was dissapointed no lightning shots were possible but I was pleased to get anything!

Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 17 March 2009, 01:12:19 PM
Photographs from the March 16 2009 - Part 2 The second storm - spectacular shelf cloud This storm occurred west of Bulahdelah and weakened as it approached.

This storm showed signs of being rather nasty and in perhaps higher wind shear situations could easily have become nasty.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 17 March 2009, 01:29:33 PM
after a stormy afternoon a nice sunset with clouds illuminated orange and red

sorry about darkness
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 17 March 2009, 01:37:11 PM
Some very severe storms in southeast QLD and warnings too.

For people in the MORETON BAY and parts of the BRISBANE CITY, LOCKYER VALLEY, SUNSHINE COAST, SOMERSET, TOOWOOMBA and REDLAND Council Areas.
Issued at 6:13 pm Monday, 16 March 2009.
The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 6:15 pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Dayboro, Moreton Bay, and northeast of Toowoomba. These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to northeast. They are forecast to affect Caboolture, Moreton Island, the area west of Esk and the area northwest of Esk by 6:45 pm and Esk, the area south of Esk and Beerburrum by 7:15 pm

Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jason(pato) on 17 March 2009, 01:50:23 PM
March 15 2009


Gday All,

Just got a few pics to add to MB's from yesterday (March 15) chase with him and Rod to Grafton. Was going to add some in from today but by the time I got out it was just a grey rainy mess. Anyway heres the pics from yesterday.

Early development looking west from Rods place.

(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/IMG_5212.jpg)

Structure near Grafton

(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/IMG_5219.jpg)

A large and small horseshoe vortex (you can just make out the smaller one to the right)

(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/IMG_5233.jpg)

Distant CG thought this would be a taste of things to come, but sadly it didn't turn out that way.

(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/IMG_5249.jpg)

This one with my newly acquired 50mm f/1.8 Mark 1 lens.

(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff315/jaypat75/IMG_5304-1.jpg)

Overall I'm glad we risked taking the drive to Grafton but a bit more CG action would of been nice. Still, great to get out again and might I add that whilst we were waiting for things to develop at Rods house his partner Sonya had whipped up the nicest blueberry muffins I've had in a long time..........mmmmmmmmmmm Blueberry (cue Homer Simpson drool here). Anyway I digress, hope you enjoy the pics

Cheers Jason
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Steven on 17 March 2009, 03:15:16 PM
Getting pretty wild here with numerous close CG's and anvil crawlers. A lovely end to "summer". :)
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Richary on 17 March 2009, 03:17:07 PM
Sounds like the north coast/SE Qld was the place to be today. Oh well.

Reports of 3cm hail just west of Evans Head on the news tonight so whatever went over there must have been a nice cell. Great photos all. Maybe by next summer the curse of the new camera will have worn off and the photogenic storms will stop avoiding me!
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Colin Maitland on 17 March 2009, 03:17:49 PM
we had storms come through the northside of Brisbane from about 4.30pm, not a great deal of action, a bit of wind, sheet lightning and some good rain. I would say the southside of Brisbane faired worst than we did. The radar image shows the storms generating up from northern NSW this afternoon. Experimenting with new camera, the storm was spectacular than I was able to capture it.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: coastalstorm on 17 March 2009, 03:37:30 PM
Had a ripper of a storm today. Gotta be one of the best I've ever experienced. These photos are taken near Lismore.

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7183.jpg)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7201.jpg)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7224.jpg)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7238.jpg)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7250.jpg)

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7255.jpg)

Raced it into Lismore.

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7261.jpg)

Then drove east of Lismore and it exploded. Whiteout conditions, flash flooding, super close cg lightning, branches on road. Most people were pulled over on the side of the road but I didn't want to pull over in case a branch landed on my car.

I could barely see 2m in front of me. Then drove to Ballina an it started hailing. This is the dusty sunset from Ballina this arvo.

(http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk2/Jai69haha/DSCF7309.jpg)

Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Antonio (stormboy) on 17 March 2009, 04:09:32 PM
my friend was visiting his mum north of coolangatta today and captured this nice blot he said use it on that forum thingi you go on.

copyright friend.....
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Chris. on 17 March 2009, 06:47:01 PM
Warwick Qld 15th March. 9.30pm.

Yes, great storms from everyone. Sorry I am late with a report, too many photos so will start with yesterday and this storm that was sitting about 30 km south east of Warwick and these photos taken from near Cheerebah. The storm sat there all night and the activity in it was intense. I was surprised to see it still there this morning. The activity today was nothing short of spectacular and followed by a very cold front around 3.30 and what appeared to be 3 cells coming together and heading over Cunningham's Gap to the coast.

I will put up another report when I download today's photos.

Regards,
Chris.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Chris. on 19 March 2009, 05:36:17 AM
Warwick QLD. 16th March.

Hi again, as promised here are photos of three storms that were to the North, South and East here in Warwick. I could not get over the size of these things and the dark storm from the south dropped hail in Stanthorpe and you could see the green hue in it as it came over us but no hail here. With it came a freezing cold wind. There was a lot of rotation in it and cg's. I can't be sure, but, in my opinion they joined and went over Cunningham's Gap as one cell. That's what it looked like.

The storm to the east had moved over town one hour earlier and the rain was like a monsoon event, just torrential. It was pretty amazing to watch and again I just could not get over the size of it.

Regards,
Chris.

Ps..I still have not sorted out why exif data on images is incorrect with dates and time. These were all taken in the afternoon between 3-4pm.
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 19 March 2009, 08:08:24 AM
I've put up galleries of pictures for the two chase days in the Northern Rivers:

---> 15 March 2009 (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/mb20090315.html)

---> 16 March 2009 (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/mb20090316.html)

The 16th was a bit disappointing with storms developing around dawn on the Northern Tablelands and then just persisting and spreading through the Northern Rivers too early. There were some impressive and powerful updrafts during the afternoon period but the shear profile was unable to sustain anything. Consequently strong and quite cool outflow killed any chances of some nice structure. There was one cell of interest developing on the northern edge of the line (around Drake/Tabulam) that exhibited a wallcloud for quite some time but it was also undercut by outflow.

(http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/thumbs/2009/0316mb07.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/0316mb07.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/thumbs/2009/0316mb10.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/0316mb10.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/thumbs/2009/0316mb14.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/0316mb14.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/thumbs/2009/0316mb18.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/0316mb18.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/thumbs/2009/0316mb21.jpg) (http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2009/0316mb21.jpg)

Even the cell that managed to drop golf ball sized hail on Alstonville and nearby areas was fairly featureless and lacking lightning. These two hail pics by Chrissy:

(http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/20090316hail.jpg)

(http://australiasevereweather.com/temp/forum/20090316hail2.jpg)

Title: Re: RE: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: David C on 19 March 2009, 01:02:00 PM

I was contacted by David C that he enjoyed some very impressive and frequent lightning activity this evening. We missed out on most of the lightning but I was able to capture a few pictures of lightning:



It was very active locally at home, Jimmy - a lot of close bolts. In the middle of preparing dinner I took some rubbish out to the bin and with the ominous skies to the west and north-west, hopped in the car and headed on up to Bankstown airport for a look. Once there, shot a few minutes of video before being summoned back to continue on with the dumplings :) Not a bad storms for us...........well, by this year's standards.

Seems this new multi- large- video plugin for uploading has got the aspect ratio wrong so the video is squeezed to 4:3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGVZQ3B25jk


Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 19 March 2009, 02:06:40 PM
Michael,

Quote
There was one cell of interest developing on the northern edge of the line (around Drake/Tabulam) that exhibited a wallcloud for quite some time but it was also undercut by outflow.

How can this be - wall cloud undercut by outflow would of course be interesting. I would probably say that there was mid level inflow being undercut by outflow - which often ends up being the case in Australia. Do you have timelapse of this event Michael? Which direction did it rotate?

I am wandering if there is a similarity in dynamics to this event:

Timelapse of rapidly changing dynamics around a wall cloud region under the main mesocyclone (http://www.australiasevereweather.com/video/movies/2002/1223jd16.wmv)

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Michael Bath on 20 March 2009, 02:29:33 AM
Hi Jimmy - my initial description may not have been the best. Have a look at the radar and you can see the more isolated cell that developed west of Drake and north of the other activity. It was a very low contrast situation so no video but I could still see a wallcloud between 1.30 and 2.40pm (last photo I posted above). Southerly outflow blasted through from the other cells soon after that - particularly from the cells between south of Casino and Mallanganee (refer radar).

---> Grafton radar loop 16th March (http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-loop/IDR283-grafton/2009-03-15-22/2009-03-16-07)

MB
Title: Re: VIC, TAS, NSW & QLD Storms : 13 - 17 March 2009
Post by: Chris. on 24 March 2009, 02:26:49 AM
Warwick. Qld. 20th March.

We are still getting thundrstorms each afternoon up till yesterday. This one taken on the 20th March is minutes before the sun disappeared and only ten minutes before this photo the convection tower was three times the size it is in this photo.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3369496865_c72118b0e8_b.jpg)

Regards,
Chris.