Topic: NSW Thunderstorms

[Coffsseven]

Hi, I'm moving to Coffs Harbour and want to know what the best time of the year is for thunderstorms there. Do they even get many thunderstorms there or is it mostly rain? Also, do the thunderstorms mainly crank up in NE NSW and SE Queensland in spring and then tend to drift further southwards in summer? P.S. I'm from Victoria so am quite naive when it comes to weather patterns outside of Vic...

[Richary]

Welcome Coffsseven

There's another member of the group up in Coffs Harbour, and I know the area fairly well as my parents live in Woolgoolga just north (though I'm in Sydney). Yes you will get some great storms up there over the summer months, probably anytime from November to February things could be firing. There are some nice intense cells up there coming off the ranges and you will also get some great storm photo opportunities with things hanging around off the coast if you find a spot with a good view. Wish I was there.

Actually the only time in summer the place doesn't get storms is when I go up to visit my parents armed with the good camera, tripod and lightning trigger 

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Coffsseven,

You very much covered the transition well of the southward projection of storm climatology throughout the season. I can assure you, the move will probably scare you in relation to what you normally experience in Victoria (low frequency of storms). The region near Coffs Harbour often experiences the first of the supercells in most seasons and the frequency may be surprising. Most storms occur to the west along th ranges of course. The typical storms you are likely to experience are of the HP supercell variety as more of the classic supercell structures would be more common further south. Enjoy and explore the area. Enjoy the trees as well.

Rainfall wise, it does get some incredible rainfall events but mostly along the ranges to the west.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Coffsseven]

Thanks for the replies.

It certainly seems like an interesting and complicated area in regards to thunderstorms. I scrolled through the Grafton and Brisbane radar loop archieves last night. Some patterns certainly emerged. From what I observed from October through to December a lot of the storms that develop in Dorrigo tend to make their way up through Grafton, Maclean and Evans Head, whereas the storms that develop near Jackadgery tend to end up around Casino, Lismore, Kyogle and then make there way up to SE Queensland. From January through to March they tend to get really fair dinkum and start up to the southwest of Dorrigo and head all the way up to the NE corner of NSW where they turn into real monsters.

Admittedly, I only went through the last two summers radar loops but still got enough info to get a rough idea. Seems like Grafton would be an ideal spot to intercept some of the storms. Its a realistic drive from Coffs but I think the likes of Kyogle and Murwillumbah could be a bit far.

On a side note, I noticed Coffs almost completely missed out on the action from January onwards last summer. But I will take your word for it David and consider this a mere aberration to the norm.