Topic: Saturday a/noon storms (Western Sydney) 2/12/2006 - Wrecks my shoes:

[Harley Pearman]

Saturday afternoon storms (Western Sydney) - 2/12/2006

Saturday afternoon delivered a surprise thunderstorm. Actually where I live, I experienced 4 thunderstorms and the last one ruined my pair of shoes I was wearing.

Given that I have had such a poor season, the afternoon storms provided a little excitement for otherwise a dull season and while I was able to watch the whole event none of it was photogenic and there were never any spectacular photographic opportunities.

The first one delivered a moderate rain shower and numerous intra cloud lightning flashes (About 1 flash every minute) and the second storm cell which followed delivered a heavier shower but less lightning. No hail was observed and interestingly the SE wind eased as the cells passed overhead.

At around 6.30 pm that same evening an embedded thunderstorm ripped across Blacktown and Prospect and was travelling at reasonable speed.

Beforehand, I decided to go out and investigate as to why the low level stratus clouds were rapidly darkening and becoming lower. I decided to walk up to Bungarribee Road and barely made it to a shelter. A brief but sudden torrential downpour occurred with a few more intra cloud lightning flashes. This storm produced some moderate downdrafts but no damaging wind. It featured a brief but very heavy downpour.

Thinking that the rain had eased I decided to walk home but became drenched because I did not see the fourth thunderstorm cell that followed it. This storm delivered another very heavy but brief downpour. This storm ruined my shoes and I became drenched. I now have to buy a new set of shoes following that one.

There was no hail and there was no wind while the fourth storm cell passed over.

So Blacktown and Prospect finished up with 4 thunderstorm cells that delivered 19 mm of rain and slightly higher falls around Parramatta. Judging by the rainfall readings it seemed that the four storm cells were confined to the Cumberland plain.

It was so hard to tell the cloud structure or the base due to the amount of low stratus clouds around as as I said, no photographs could be taken because the cells were embedded above the low level stratus cloud.


Harley

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Harley,

Thanks for the report.

Paul Graham reported marble sized hail at North Ryde from Saturday.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Dave Nelson]

 I saw the first line of activity approaching in the weatherzone radar. Grabbing the camera gear Cindy and I went to the
rooftop carpark at the Rhodes shopping center which is my new lookout!!! it gives 180 deg unobstructed view from South
through West to North

  as Harley mentioned,  a large amount of the lightning was intracloud and was hidden in the cloud, only occassionally standing
out as a CC or CG,  but it was VERY active with almost constant flashes and rumbles. It was the low level skud cloud racing in
from the E - SE that destroyed  the ability to see/photo the real storm clouds and lightning.
 No hail in our area, just some heavy rain and a little wind

Around 6pm we headed through to Newcastle area and passed under the storm front that an hour earlier had passed over us
in Rhodes/Ryde area. It was still putting out a few zaps in that area but not as actively, and the low-level easterly cloud was still
obscurring much of the activity. Driving for a short time was difficult in the Wyong area. The rain was very heavy making it difficult
to see.
 After dinner in Maitland and for a short time considering heading towards Singleton to intercept a cell in that area, but it hinted
that it was gonna die out soon ... and it did !  got back home ~ 9.30 pm

although not spectactular ... have seen more photogenic cells this season after so little inactivity it was just a
simple joy to see some lightning and hear the thumder

cheers
Dave N

[David Brodrick]

We had a nice storm at Narrabri (North West Plains, NSW) last Saturday as well. Some places recorded >30mm of rain, including near Mt Kaputar where a fire continues to burn. A location between Narrabri and Wee Waa got 44mm!

What really stood out was the amount of lightning activity. We have a Viasala lightning detector at work and it peaked at 3000 strikes over a 15 minute period within just a 50km range. I've heard numerous reports of home electrical equipment being damaged as well, fortunately no new fires were started.



We stuck a brief storm report on our site:
http://narrabriweather.net/events/02Dec2006.html

Unfortunately a blackout meant that our webcams went down as the storm approached - but my co-conspiritor Chris just gave me a UPS for an early xmas present, so hopefully we'll be ready to get the next one!

[Michael Bath]

Wow - that's a huge amount of lightning in a small area !   

Here's the VIS image just before sunset (08z):



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