Topic: Severe Thunderstorms SE QLD and NSW 14 - 18 January 2010

[pingtang]

Heres some timelapse of the Storm activity on Sunday. This is looking south from Singleton towards the central coast. Some strong updrafts and pilius caps were evident at times. Eventually we went east and intercepted a decent storm near Cessnock, which pumped out numerous clear air CGs. Unfortunately this storm was too quick for us, moving at a rapid rate towards Newcastle. After this the sky looked horrible to the west with the dryline impending, so we headed for home.

Thunderstorm timelapse- Central Coast NSW

[enak_12]

Enak,

Did the storm in the first and second photograph show rotation and structure for an extended period of time? Very interesting.

The photograph of one of the storms Michael et al got also showed interesting structure.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

I thought I could see some for a little while but it was slow and was hard to tell for sure, as for how long I dont know but it maintained this structure, actually it was better before these shots, for 15-20 mins or so. Heres a shot not much earlier but, I was still charging my camera batteries while I was watching it for 10 mins before these when it was best.

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Pintang,

Unfortunately this storm was too quick for us, moving at a rapid rate towards Newcastle.

I know the feeling! Been there and done that several times over the years. The Hunter can be your best friend or your worst enemy in storm chasing.

Try this in 2001 November 18th

http://www.australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2001/jd20011118.html



Do you notice the surroundings! Yep Singleton!

By the way, those were the two main storms I (sort of) intercepted and mention in my reports. Even whilst I was in Newcastle - well I should have been beyond Newcastle - I had no hope of overtaking it. This means it was elevated. I can assure you I let the fist do the talking in my vehicle once I realised what I had done wrong.

Can I please see some pictures from your perspective please. I want to see it's structure before it weakened. I was just before it and in the core when it perhaps looked the best.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Michael Bath]

The barrel updraft is impressive on that Woolgoolga cell Kane. What time were the pics? Radar shows it to be the right mover after the split.  Our first few photos during the Grafton chase is the left mover.

All the pics I took on the day are here:
http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2010/mb20100117.html


Attached below are a few photos taken by Halden Boyd at Evans Head :

[Paul D]

Few cells fired up on the coast yesterday (18th)
1st to fire was out near Melrose
Looking toward Melrose storm under anvil 2-01pm

a bit later 3-56pm

A storm fired up over Eumundi 3-26pm

and another, Cooran storm 4-20pm


but then moved off the coast

time to call it quits with dry air above although the receding storm developed some nice pileus



PD

[enak_12]

The barrel updraft is impressive on that Woolgoolga cell Kane. What time were the pics? Radar shows it to be the right mover after the split.  Our first few photos during the Grafton chase is the left mover.

Hey Michael..Oops made a mistake I meant to say the right split of the Woolgoolga cell.
the first shots were taken around the 2:40pm raqdar image and the barrel shaped updraft around the 3:00-3:10pm image..

[Harley Pearman]

Katoomba Storms 16 January 2010

Saturday I had prior commitments and hence I could not venture out of Sydney until 4 pm. After 4 pm, I had free time and I drove up to Katoomba from Granville to see what was happening. Given that I had limited time, I decided to go to Echo Point. There I was able to watch a few distant thunderstorms as well as various cloud formations develop and move off the Oberon Plateau only to see them dissipate by the time they reached Katoomba.

The first photo is looking south from Echo Point towards developing storm cells south of Mt Solitary. This cloud formation moved south east along the ranges. I saw occasional lightning flashes within or close to the cloud formation but it was not significant. Eventually it became hidden by falling rain and nightfall.  

The second photo is looking west north west from Echo Point and shows a broadening dark cloud base over or near Katoomba prior to the storm reaching the town. By the time the storm did reach Katoomba, it weakened significantly. There was a final burst of lightning including a few cloud to ground strikes but that soon tapered away to nothing. No thunderstorm activity crossed into the Sydney basin.

The photos are attached below.  

Harley Pearman

[pingtang]

Hi Pintang,

Can I please see some pictures from your perspective please. I want to see it's structure before it weakened. I was just before it and in the core when it perhaps looked the best.

Hey Jimmy. I'm sorry,I have no pictures to show. The storm was still small as it bypassed us just 2kms to our south. It did however contain an intense and very well defined rainshaft with a developing rain free base ahead of it. Clear air CGs were spitting out in all directions including a few relatively close to us. A few hit 5km out the back of the storm into sunny skies!The storm strengthened as it moved eastwards, however being behind the storm at this stage we weren't in the best position to view any structure.

[Harley Pearman]

Thunderstorm clouds Outer NW Sydney 17/1/2010

Early Sunday afternoon following my morning commitments, I observed a developing thunderstorm over outer North West Sydney and decided to try and chase it. The storm at first was to the north west near Richmond. I took my friend Shelley Tan with me. I drove out to Richmond and closed in on it to a point where we could observe lightning strikes. One lightning strike was observed emanating from the anvil into clear sky.

By the time I reached Richmond, the storm had fully developed and had moved at speed over National Parks and or bushland to the north and north east. I made a further attempt at catching it by driving a short distance along Putty Road to a locality approximately 10 km north of Wilberforce where I then realized that I had no chance of catching it. I pulled off the road to watch the storm continue to develop to the east.

The first photo is showing the storm looking north from Richmond. This was the closest point to the storm that I could get. The storm was moving east at speed but given its position and my position, I was unable to get any closer.

The second photo is looking east from Putty Road approximately 10 km north of Wilberforce showing the profile of the thunderstorm. Unfortunately due to the speed of the storm and its position over National Parks and bushland as well as my position, I was unable to close right in on it.

The photos are provided below.

Harley Pearman

[Jimmy Deguara]

Harley,

Yes it was a day very difficult to catch storms particularly once they became elevated. That was the back-end of the storms that were passing us on the freeway around midday. Good to see action so close to Sydney though! the storms near Oberon look rather interesting - any updraft shots Harley?

Pintang, it is a pity as I wished to see how large storm got as became mature - it was certainly larger than other cells I had observed through the area.


Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Harley Pearman]

Jimmy

Upon my arrival at Katoomba light rain was falling from a decayed thunderstorm overhead although I heard one thunderclap. Once that had cleared over and the rain ceased, I was able to view the storms moving off the Oberon Plateau. The photos of it including some updrafts are attached and shown. I am looking west from Echo Point (2 photos).

I decided not to venture further west because there was not a significant amount of lightning and the storms looked more like a squall line. I would have lost any opportunities I had for photographing storms and risked driving back into light rain as there was still light rain or showers falling further to the north of town.

The storms shown did reach Katoomba and produced a significant shower and some renewed cloud to ground lightning strikes but the storm quickly decayed.

Harley Pearman

[Mathew Townsend]

Here the report of night lightning show on 17th Jan 2010 in Ballina.

























Enjoy!

[Jimmy Deguara]

Here finally is video from the Walcha supercell: 14 January 2010,

Specatcular supercell at Walcha with dangerous lightning, large hailstones and damaging winds

It is not ordered - in fact in reverse order. It begins with the lightning activity.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara


EDIT: added the date

[pingtang]

Excellent Jimmy! Thanks for posting that up.

Wow Great structure,ground scraping inflow!!  and the lightning at the start looked quite dangerous and very intense. The bolt at 34seconds is incredible! whats arking up along side that bolt? my guess is an electric fence?

[Michael Bath]

There's also something at 1.20 where the fence glows but no bolt or sound?      I was surprised at the traffic jam in the hail