Tamworth Thunderstorm - 10 February 2009
Early Tuesday morning 10 February 2009, I drove to Tamworth and arrived there after midday. Although I am on my summer holiday I made sure that my travel included Tamworth.
Quite a contrast to Sydney which was experiencing low cloud, cool south east winds and drizzle post southerly change, Tamworth experienced a top temperature of 37C with hot north west winds blowing.
After 3 pm, I went up to Oxley Lookout and set up my cameras and prepared for the afternoon thunderstorms. There I watched large but high based cumulus towers form between Gunnedah and Tamworth. One cloud tower eventally evolved into a thunderstorm cell west south west of Tamworth.
The photos taken below show the thunderstorms that occurred. The photos were taken from Oxley Lookout on Scenic Road looking south and south west across Tamworth and the Peel Valley. Elevation is approximately 630 metres above sea level and the time is between 3 pm and 5 pm.
Photo 1 is showing some storm structure looking south. From the lookout I watched some cloud to ground lightning but I did have trouble capturing bolts.
Photo 2 is showing a distant heavy shower and possible microburst. I noted the rain shaft having a distinctive curl at times.
Photo 3 shows a cloud to ground lightning bolt.
Photo 4 is showing the storm at its peak. The storm produced shelf clouds during its peak intensity.
Photo 5 captures another lightning bolt.
The storm produced a strong outflow gust front being strong gale force southerly winds that moved north east. I include photo 6 because when that outflow boundary passed over Tamworth, it kicked up a substantial amount of dust that blasted much of the city. Moments later, the gust front hit me and I experienced cold gale force southerly winds. I had to retreat behind a wall because the winds were too strong. Leaves and bark were stripped from the trees. This lasted for around 5 to 10 minutes before waning.
Afterwards, a new thunderstorm cell formed closer to Tamworth that reached me. It produced a short moderate shower with big raindrops but there was no wind or hail. Tamworth had 2.2 mm of rain from that storm.
The storm continued in a north easterly direction but weakened and died once it was over the New England Tableland.
On 11/2/2009, I also chased down another thunderstorm cell from Armidale to a rural area between Ebor and Dorrigo (Approximately 110 km) but I have not downloaded or prepared my photos. That will be included in a separate post.
Harley Pearman
