Topic: Wild weather for SE Australia - windy, cold, snow : 29 June - 3 July 2009

[Colin Maitland]

From gathering information from various sources, the mercury will be up a few degrees across the southeast over the next day or so. Brisbane has a predicted 27C for Wednesday.

A cold front will start moving across resulting in wild weather from either late this afternoon or Tuesday Morning  for Victoria and by late Wednesday for SE QLD.

Warnings have been issued for Vic : Coastal Waters Wind Warning
for Victorian waters between SA-VIC Border and Lakes Entrance.

Issued at 03:31 am EST on Monday 29 June 2009.


Weather Situation
An intense low pressure system south of Western Australia is moving steadily
eastwards. An associated cold front will move over the Bight tonight, and will
cross Victoria on Tuesday.
  Weather Zone warning.

NSW warning from BOM:NSW Sheep Graziers Warning
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
New South Wales
Issued at 0528 on Monday the 29th of June 2009
Graziers are advised of WET and WINDY weather in the following districts late
Tuesday.

SOUTH WEST SLOPES
southern parts of the CENTRAL WEST SLOPES.

Wind is expected to increase throughout the state during Tuesday ahead of a cold
front. Showers are also likely to develop throughout southwestern NSW on Tuesday
afternoon, and will become widespread across the South West Slopes and southern
parts of the Central West Slopes on Tuesday night. Windy and showery conditions
are expected to continue through Wednesday with temperatures falling in the
airmass behind the front.   

There is an expectation of 15cm of snow to fall from Wednesday through to the weekend.

Western Australia is presently being battered by strong winds and rain.

So a cold windy start to July could be the go.

Stay safe

Col

[Peter J]

Looks like some wild weather arriving soon... I might get some photogenic ops some time during this event - with the greater chances with thursday's forecasted cold-snap.

Big Pete

[Peter J]

Just received an SMS from the Early Warning Network (www.ewn.com.au) reading:

"Severe Weather Warning for Damaging Winds:

Averaging 60-70kph with peak gusts around 110kph expected during Tuesday.

www.ewn.com.au"

This is the same group that gave me warning about Black Saturday's weather and fires.

Big Pete
(so we're in for a WILD one)

[Colin Maitland]

South Australia has been given a severe weather alert at 8.45am this morning from BOM

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for DAMAGING WINDS
For people in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Lower Eyre Peninsula, Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Flinders, Mid North, Riverland, Murraylands, Upper South East, Lower South East and parts of the West Coast, Northwest Pastoral and Northeast Pastoral districts.

Issued at 8:43 am Tuesday, 30 June 2009.

A deep low pressure system south of Western Australia will move slowly eastwards today. A vigorous front extending from eastern Kangaroo Island to Cleve at 8:30 am is moving east and will reach eastern districts, the Mid North and Flinders districts late morning. Thunderstorms are occurring on the frontal line.

Strong to gale force northwest winds, averaging 55-65 km/h with localised gusts in excess of 90 km/h, mainly associated with showers and thunderstorms, reaching eastern districts and the Flinders and Mid North districts late morning. Winds will then shift westerly following the front. Locations which may be affected include Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Kingscote, Clare, Strathalbyn, Maitland, Renmark and Mount Gambier.

Gusts around 95 km/h have been observed at Minnipa, Wudinna and Port Lincoln.

The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move vehicles under cover or away from trees;
* Secure or put away loose items around your property.
* Stay indoors, away from windows, while conditions are severe.

The cold front has caused havoc in WA and now continues its way across the South East. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/29/2610973.htm

[Colin Maitland]

Weather Zone news has reported that the strongest winds in at least 7 years have lashed parts of South Australia causing widespread destruction. In the article Brett Dutschke has stated :Trees and powerlines have been brought down and roofs ripped off over a large area of the state in 100km/h plus winds. Power has been knocked out in thousands of homes.

Winds peaked at 115 km/h at Whyalla, 113 km/h at Nuriootpa and Loxton, 107 km/h at Coles Point, 105 km/h at Adelaide airport, 104 km/h at Mt Lofty, 102 km/h at Port Augusta and Lameroo and 100 km/h at Minnipa. This is the strongest recorded wind in at least seven years for Minnipa, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Nuriootpa and Loxton.

For many other locations in western and central parts of the state, winds have gusted 90 km/h or more, making it the windiest day in at least nine months.  

ABC news reports Storm damage to power lines has left about 30,000 homes across South Australia without electricity.
The Transport Department says it has closed four metropolitan jetties because of the storms.

Truck driver Darren Paynter says his vehicle was bowled over by a strong gust of wind at Harbour Town near Adelaide Airport.

"I drove into McDonald's this morning, out to do a delivery and get some breakfast, and as I got back into my truck the wind blew it over," he said.

Photo from ABC  news.

Doppler wind radar for SA as at 2.10pm Tuesday 30/06/09

At present 2.21 pm  snow is falling on the Alpines in VIC.

[Kristy Norman]

Getting pretty wild here. Wind blowing a gale and strengthening. our house is solid but it feels like it's going to blow away! Really dark clouds and lots of thunder and lightning coming in quickly from the west. Our new kelpie pup seriously not impressed with thunder! Hopefully get a few photos.

[Colin Maitland]

I used to have a cat that would go berserk an hour or so before a storm, it was a good warning, Kristy84, you may have a good dog there.

VIC has a severe thunderstorm warning issued by BOM

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Victoria Regional Office
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for DAMAGING WIND

For people in the Mallee, Wimmera, Western and parts of the Northern Country and North Central Forecast Districts.

Issued at 1:42 pm Tuesday, 30 June 2009.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Mildura, Horsham, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Portland and Maryborough.

Thunderstorms have produced severe gusts to 120 km/h over eastern South Australia, including Loxton over the past hour. These storms will continue to move eastwards into Victoria producing damaging winds.

[wol]

Doesn't compare to the weather you guys down south are having
but we enjoyed some nice mammatus cloud over Schofields today.

[Kristy Norman]

Nice photos Wol. Well, I felt sorry for the pup who is now inside curled up near the fire!! Just a few photos of conditions-nothing spectacular. Looks like another storm is about to hit, we just got 12mm in minutes with the last one.

[Harley Pearman]

A band of showers including thunderstorm cells have been moving rapidly across Victoria. The main band has quickly moved into North East Victoria. The rain band and embedded thunderstorms are moving so fast that they are not dropping significant rainfalls except in the higher country of North East Victoria.

The heaviest falls from 9 am to 6 pm (30/6/2009) from this system are:-

Mt Buffalo Chalet 24 mm, Mt Hotham AWS 19 mm, Mt Tabletop 15 mm, Cape Nelson AWS, Cheshunt and Mt William 13 mm and Mt Macedon 10 mm. The other falls are below 10 mm for this period (Bureau of Meteorology Weather Stations across Victoria 30/6/2009).

Between 9 am and 7.12 pm (Same date), Albury Airport on Borella Road had 5.8 mm, Shepparton had 2.8 mm and Wangaratta had 8 mm as the system passed over.

Generally the storm cells are moving too quickly to deliver large rainfalls on the plains. During the thunderstorm at Albury between 7 pm and 7.15 pm, the Airport Weather Station recorded a wind gust of 72 km/h (Weatherzone).

A "Severe thunderstorm Warning" had been issued for regions across northern Victoria as the main system passed over but it was issued mainly for damaging wind gusts.

Harley Pearman

[Richary]

I pity my workmates who are supposed to be on top of a large council depot shed at Goulburn tomorrow. Assuming it is safe enough with the winds they will be freezing their butts off. But back here in Sydney I am supposed to get on top of a roof in Bexley, but will make a judgement call about that at the time as to whether it is safe or not to set the ladder up and then stand on the edge near the antenna and check the line of sight to the other end.

Hoping the forecast thunderstorms for Thursday/Friday bring something worth taking photos of though.

[Colin Maitland]

It was a treacherous day yesterday, 30/06/09, for South Australia and Victoria as the cold fronts moved through bringing gale force winds with them.
A 20 year old SES worker in South Australia was severely injured when a tree fell on him, his in a stable condition in hospital suffering head injuries and a broken arm.

A 49 year old  woman in Victoria died yesterday when a tree landed on her as a result of the wind.

The Alpines in Victoria and NSW are set to receive large snow falls over the next few days. In NSW, blizzard conditions have been forecast with varying reports of between 400 - 600 mm of snow to fall, just in time for the school holidays.

News reports this morning indicated that Falls Creek, Victoria received good snow fall last night and this morning.
Picture courtesy ski.com snow cam

[Brad Hannon]

Hi all, just briefly yesterday saw severe winds hit the Bendigo area with reports of significant damage including trees uprooted, tree limbs along the Calder Hwy and property damage in Kangaraoo Flat.  Of course there was also the unfortunate fatality in Maryborough and a motorist trapped in their crushed car from falling trees not far to the south west.  A regular poster on WZ states a possible gustnado amongst straight line winds in Kangaroo Flat but I am yet to see any photos to back that up.  A quick look at the radar for the event didnt seem to indicate to me that any particular severe cells or outflow features moved over the area that may lead to a localised gustnado but there was clearly a lot of wind!  Here is a link to the local newspaper online:

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/killer-storm/1555272.aspx

Regards,
Brad.

[Colin Maitland]

Here in Brisbane we have another warm day ahead with a predicted 26C. The west to north west winds are currently bringing in dust from the west, as a result the air is full of dust and is getting up every ones nose.  Currently we have to 2 coastal wind warnings in place. We have a cold front due to cross the Southeast this afternoon.

Victoria is in for another buffeting from winds and storms this afternoon.

NSW has been issued a severe weather warning from BOM.

It states :Top Priority for Immediate Broadcast
NSW and ACT SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
Damaging Winds
For people in
Alpine areas of the Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and ACT above 1200 metres

Issued at 11:20 am on Thursday 2 July 2009

Synoptic Situation: 9:00 am EST Thursday

A front will pass through New South Wales overnight bringing an increase in west to southwest winds throughout the state. In Alpine areas of the Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and ACT above 1200 metres winds are expected to average over 65 km/h with peak wind gusts over 90 km/hr tonight and on Friday.

Blizzard conditions are expected in Alpine areas of the Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and the Australian Capital Territory above 1200 metres.

Emergency services advise you to keep clear of fallen power lines, stay indoors away from windows and keep children indoors.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service recommends that people consider postponing back country travel until conditions improve.

[Steven]

I'm loving every minute of this warm weather! Absolutely beautiful and warm enough to go outside in t-shirts.

Pity the dust is giving the sky a very, very pale blue colour. It looks disgusting.