Hey there Jimmy.
Perhaps 'critics' was the wrong word per se - but i'm referring to those folk who 'think' they know all but remain silent and generally speaking of those who like to 'think' they're as knowledgable as you - to which they're not!
Anyway, the monsoon is due tomorrow, although looking out of the office window now you'd think it was here. We've had several large scale storms over the last few days.
The storms we're getting now are not continental squall line or pulse severe/storms, as the previous day's storms have come from over land from the SE into Darwin.
It's typically large monsoonal lines with the fronts spreading over about 10-30km wide (or more). This morning driving around town on the coast the front was typically from the NW right around to the NE - covering a far greater zone, I live 22 km from Darwin and the edge of the front was there and right around to Darwin harbour coming from the N/NW and NE.
So you could say it's part of the monsoon shear or monsoonal squall line. There is 'some' electrical activity from this at the moment as you'd expect, but these storms tend to 'hang' over Darwin a lot longer rather than push through and blow out. Mid level wind values of >30 knots appear to be the norm with the monsoon trough nearby. Possible severe storm types are from monsoon westerly squalls, but from what i can see and hear it's a fair bet that that is what we can expect from Wed onwards.
The monsoonal rain squalls come with such frequency that if there are storms embedded in the lines you can't take photos of them anyway - the skies overcast to the max with constant heavy showers coming every half hour reducing visibility to zip.
Hope that helps. I can't give you any in-depth CAPE values or anything (as much as i'd love to) but I'd look like an idiot if i attempted it!
I will get some technical info from the met office and pass them on to you and the forum.
Mike
