Topic: Darwin Storm events 2007/2008

[Mike]

Wednesday 27 March

Viewing some active storms from work at around 12:30am I decided to quickly head home to check the radar...what was coming was worth chasing after!!

Chased a huge line of storms in the wee hours of the morning at around 1-4am.  Headed out to intercept the line near Noonamah in the rural area.  I waited for about half an hour for the front to reach my location.  There was a moderate microburst but when it cleared there were dozens of CGs flanging around me!  Captured these shots as I got hammered.  The vibration of the thunder rattled the car windows and me inside which was just what I love when they strike close by!  One of the shots shows a bolt directly behind the pub which obliterated the shot and it's the second time in as many weeks the car has almost been directly struck - but it was so close I could hear the kak, kak, kak sound of static before it lit up!  The other shot shows twin CGs behind the pub which I managed to capture and a nice clean CGg out in the field across the road. I missed out on some awesome strikes - doubles included when i was moving the car to point towards the moving storm...man, some of them were just beautifully branched....I hate that!

The monsoon will probably not return.  It's getting late in the season and the conditions just aren't inducive of any more bursts.  We can expect the odd storm or shower about until seasons end...sadly all good things must come to an end once more.....  I had a ball out there on my own, I was wondering where all the other 'chasers' were in Darwin, I muttered quite happily during the storm that..'those that snooze, lose!'

[Jimmy Deguara]

Mike,

Quite an electrical display collection there. It seems like the lightning was coming from pretty high up in terms of depth - the storm was higher based I guess than the norm?

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Mike]

Hi there Jimmy.

I would say that the cloud bases were about average, I've since found out that there were two storms in near Jabiru that formed together and created a squall line of sorts and tracked westward.  The photos may not give an indication of the actual cloud base due to the light precip accompanying the strikes, but the base was not dragging on the ground so to speak and as mentioned, did not look like anything out of the norm for what I generally see.  I did see two decent towers imbedded in the line as sheet lightning lit the line up as it moved in and most of the lightning came from the one i saw to my left (where I originally sat in the car) hence my turning the car around and getting the flangs.

Currently there's storm activity now, usual moderate rain...constant rumbles abound but no CGs as yet.  These are slow moving storms and I'm having everything crossed that there's something maturing in the rural areas again.  Had to chuckle at the sounding this morning for Darwin...it was a mess data wise and graphically - the CAPE was indicated at over 10,000j/kg - no wonder there's storms at the moment!!!!!

[Mike]

last post for this storm season thread...

Hi all.  Well another season over for us up here.  As of Saturday the forecast is fine, dry.  We may see a goodbye storm late this evening they say, but I'm doubful!

As a short summary of the weather pattern we've experienced with La Nina i've mentioned previously that it was a bit off storm production wise.  Although I did manage to capture some of my best shots this time around, that was mainly due to the fact of me actually 'chasing' and not just driving to a location on a hope and prayer.  It certainly has paid off with doing some homework on the stats and obs before deciding to head out on that lonely jaunt down the highway at unGodly hours.

Between monsoon bursts the break periods seemed to be longer between any storms forming.  A lot of the storms we had were inland or rural with only a small percentage actually reaching Darwin.  We only had around 6-8 severe storm warnings for the whole season and only 4 of those lines came through Darwin, the rest all fizzled out very quickly at the 40km barrier to Darwin.

We're all hoping for a better season this year!  Even the armchair chasers tell me they were disappointed if that's any indication!  I've enjoyed the thread once again and the comments and the like have been very informative from all.

[Michael Bath]

Hey Mike - last post ???   Looks like you're getting the last storm now with some action within 50ks of Darwin. Certainly not dry on today's sounding.

MB

[Mike]

The last post of someone who typed it before I went to work in the arvo - indeed they went off!  CAPE values were over 3500 in the afternoon and there were widespread storms throughout the Darwin area.  I don't know where that moisture came from as it was 'dry' all day until about 4pm and by nightfall the place went nuts.

Radar was showing storms developing out of nowhere.  I had phone contact with a fellow photographer who was in the thick of things as he was talking to me on the phone whilst at work - with me sulking of course.

I followed by nose for lightning during my half hour dinner break, as the western side had died off after two hours of lightning I did see some bright flashes to the NE - I drove to an area called Cullen Bay where all the rich folk reside and managed to get two last BIG CGs from one thunderstorm.  We all say when we take nice pics that this lightning shot is the best ever we've taken, but this one takes the cake for me...it's so beautiful and it flashed in an eye blink.  Sometimes the spur of the moment captures really do turn out sweet.  Sorry I did not link the photo, my website host is way too slow at the moment...

Storms are forecast again for today (friday ) and I've got two days off - time to get seriously involved in chasing while it lasts....

[cloudfairy]

OmG!!! I really shouldn't sleep at night.  :
I keep my fingers crossed for a storm tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cya

[Matt Pearce]

Brilliant pics Mike! The transitional seasons certainly deliver when it comes to photogenic storms/lightning up there...

[Mike]

Indeed, it certainly caught my attention in the afternoon considering the dry air we had during the morning...unpredicatable Darwin weather!  A weak monsoon trough lying off the coast is the culprit.  It has been there for weeks and done nothing, but it looks like the trough has entered the Arafura Sea above us and this has triggered the action.

 Was under the guise that perhaps this wet season may go out on a whimper and really i should know better because the season always starts and ends with a bang.  Gotta go with the nose and not the computer models......

[Peter J]

I was going to say Mike, the storms are still showing up on television news reports, so I think it best to stick the head outside and look, rather than just relying on computer models and tv screens for weather. (like the chasers in Storm Chasers on Discovery channel - tornadoes were breaking out on the opposite side of the radar coz of a glitch in the radar). hehe

Big Pete

[Mike]

Hi Pete, it's still important to check the obs even if they are not up-to-date from some othe source!  Experienced chasers are always telling us our eyes are the best tools and i do wear these eyes out!  It was just a dramatic change in air temps and humidity on that day.

We had a gusty storm yesterday (5 April) which was 'okay', nothing special.  Last night a couple of extremely fast moving storms which gave some lightning - the photo attached is the only worthwhile thing taking as it died out - but I chased at around 1am after watching the radar for half an hour at a set of cells which sparked my interest.  They were moving very fast from the east and showed signs of doing something.  Sure enough after about 40 mins and ducking outside to keep an eye on them, they fired up and there was thunder sounding close.  Followed the storms along the coast but CG activity was sparodic and not confined to one area.  I waited a little longer on the coast but something was holding them back.  Once they moved around 10km offshore they went balistic.  The rain rate went from light to heavy in a space of 20 minutes!  They then formed a line moving NW away from Darwin.  They must have encountered some drier air as they moved across inland but found that weak monsoonal moisture off the coast and said thank you!

Today is typically dry season - the high pressure isobars from down south have entered the Top End - some say about time!

[Adrian]

Mike,

Great shots !!!!!

What time did you get the shots ??? (I missed it due work) and did you get anything last night ?

Cheers,
Adrain

[cloudfairy]

As he said, the one posted above is from last night

I won't give up. I still hope for a few storms left for me this season
It just had to be.

Attached is my only pic from last night pretty sad.
The second should be the storm coming from NE on my way to Beachfront.
The third is the fast storm at about 3.30pm yesterday that came from NE and missed northern suburbs. We just got a shower.
(I know it isn't for this thread, but I'm to lazy to write two posts )

[Mike]

Cloudfairy, looks like you just missed out on the strike from that first pic.  

Adrian, hi and yeah Cloudfairy and I headed to the city to nab some pics but the storms were moving very fast, by the time we got there all we managed was that crawler shot.  It was the only shot of the night I got which is pretty pathetic!

Some here in the NT are grasping on conditions that we may get something later in the week, but from experience, once these highs from down south encroach it's just over people!  Let it go!  Might get the odd shower, but anything worth chasing....mmm....a waste of petrol unless it's a squall line!

and the only thing to photograph during the dry is....yeah boring aint it!