Hi Macca,
As discussed this morning during our brief chat, we were already in what seemed to be our target. However, it once again became somewhat frustrating at least for a little while trying to pick the weather conditions and to position yourself with the cumulus that may rapidly develop into storms.
Chase Report January 26 2009The early storms glaciated but remained weak with a few rumbles of thunder. Eventually, I saw anvil to the south and so I gave chase just to see what was going on. With the storm near Black Mountain south west of Guyra, I could make out an interesting base briefly but never again did I get an opportunity. The feature most likely had to be scud rising to the base. After a little while, I noted that winds were cooler east to south easterly. So I headed on the road to Inverell. Convection was teasing to the north probably on the border. But after a little while, I noted the anvils were transparent indicating multiple updraft histories. The anvil to the northwest though was more substantial indicating some 'relatively' explosive activity. By the time I got to 10km south of Inverell, a nice structure of a right moving cell came into view. I am not sure whether it had split but it was in a weakening phase. I tried to chase the cell retreating to the west but after about 30km W of Inverell, I let it go. It seemed to weaken and I was not enthused by the south to southwest winds in the area even if it was from outflow.
It was near Inverell that another area of convection intensified. The two cells seem to merge and positioning on the road to Ashford, I watched as a nice base developed and precipitation curtains approached. Hail to pea sized or perhaps even 1cm was observed as I punched the core in Inverell. Gusty winds accompanied the hail.
By the time I headed on the road to Yetman, the storm was in decline with outflow undercutting the original storm and producing new updrafts. With limited heating and also disrupted moisture source, the cells were never impressive.
The return of moisture during the evening encouraged the development of weak cells. We called it a day and had dinner at Inverell. Whilst awaiting the dinner to be served, I took the opportunity to get a few more photographs.
As Macca said, I too was interested in the way the shear would react and which storms would dominate.
However, it seems that the anvils also cut off the heating on the eastern side and many cells competed for what energy was available. A stronger cap would have been ideal and more energy.
Following are some of the images for today:
