Author Topic: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008  (Read 24670 times)

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Offline Dave Nelson

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2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« on: 28 July 2008, 09:47:14 AM »
Hi gang,
             
                 some storms stretching from Wollongong to Gosford as a troughline passes through today.

   I just got back from the wharf at the end of the street doing some lightning and general storm pix.
have has a report from a fellow ham radio friend of some pea sized hail falling in the Top Ryde area
nothing here in West Ryde at the time of writing this,  just rain

Added info....
                       Radar shows this cell coming up from the Camden area through Liverpool and Bankstown,
  on through Ryde-Gladesville and NE'wards to the nthrn beaches. For mid-winter storm it was very active.
For a period of time the thunder was near contineous.  A good mix of CC and GC lightning was observed.
Got around 0.3 mm rain here at home  and no sign of the hail they got at Top Ryde only a km away from my
home.


cheers
Dave N
« Last Edit: 28 July 2008, 11:04:51 AM by Dave Nelson »

Offline Richary

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #1 on: 28 July 2008, 11:43:23 AM »
In the other thread here I mentioned that people have been ringing the radio station to say it was falling as snow (definitely not hail/sleet) at Chatswood and Lindfield.

I was near Pennant Hills when it started and on the drive back home just rain. Not that much though. Dropped the temperature at home to 8 degrees however.

Offline Harley Pearman

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #2 on: 28 July 2008, 01:07:19 PM »
Here in Blacktown in Sydney's west, I heard no thunder and I did not see any lightning. As the front went through, there was a very light and brief shower but nothing significant. The winds switched to a colder southerly direction. Generally, very little significant weather occurred other than a drop in temperature.

Another shower occurred 30 or so minutes later.

I was observing a distant shower cell to the south east that looked more intense than other cells but I had not realized that it was an actual thunderstorm.

On the subject of a snow report occurring at Lindfield and Chatswood, can that be verified. I have looked through news bulletins and Weatherzone News but have found nothing. That is very unusual.

I have heard in the past that hail can be mistaken for snow.

I have never heard of anything like that occurring here in Australia and especially in Sydney given its climate. I have read and know of only one such event occurring world wide being on July 2 1927 in Wabash County Indiana (USA) where a severe thunderstorm produced 5 cm hail but in a small area, up to 200 mm of snow fell within a hail shaft that was later proven to be correct. It occurred when an intense downdraft of cold air from within the thunderstorm cell brought snow flakes to the ground.

This is interesting but needs to be proven and if proven, what would have caused it?

Harley Pearman

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #3 on: 28 July 2008, 03:39:20 PM »
I would say Harly is correct - it was hail lying on the ground like snow.

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Offline Richary

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #4 on: 28 July 2008, 04:12:01 PM »
I agree in many ways that it may not have been snow, and I was not there to see it. The TV news showed what look liked banks of small hail. The initial post I made was simply reporting what callers to Vega were saying. The first when I posted that it was snowing there and another about an hour later to confirm the earlier report that it wasn't falling as hail but was snow.

Of course these probably aren't informed weather chasers and could have confusing sleet with snow. And until I see actual pictures of snow falling I will maintain doubts as well. Whatever it was looking at the TV pics tonight it left a nice white blanket however. It would definitely be an unusual event for that part of Sydney to get snow.

The boss lives near Chatswood, I will ask him tomorrow what he saw.

The closest I have seen near here was late 90's at Gosford, I was driving into Gosford and there was sleet hitting the windscreen. At the same time people were ringing the local station reporting snow at Kariong. All I know is it was damn cold, sudden temperature drop similar to this afternoon and went down to about 5.

Offline enak_12

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #5 on: 28 July 2008, 04:26:57 PM »
Took some lightning shots earlier tonight (27'th) was dam cold out in the breeze.








Offline Richary

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #6 on: 28 July 2008, 04:33:39 PM »
Some nice lightning pics there for a winter storm. As for the confusion about snow or not just came across this on the smh website. So I guess it doesn't quite break any records....



It looked like snow, and it felt like snow, but in what may come as a disappointment to Sydneysiders, the winter whiteness was just soft hail.

Just after 3.30pm (AEST) Sunday afternoon the area around Lindfield, Roseville and Killara became blanketed in white as a thunderstorm brought a winter wonderland to parts of northern Sydney.

"It's given a very European feel to Roseville," one Roseville woman told the Seven Network.

"I think the snow here is better than Perisher," a man from the same suburb told the ABC.

But despite some hope that metropolitan Sydney had experienced its first recorded snowfall since 1836, the Bureau of Meteorology said northern Sydney had just been blanketed in hail.

"It was soft hail," senior forecaster Peter Zmijewski said.

"Snow has a different appearance - snow falls in flakes."

Mr Zmijewski said Sydney experienced a white winter afternoon because it was cold enough to stop the hail melting as it fell and cold enough to preserve it when hit the ground.

The mercury fell to around 10 degrees in metropolitan Sydney on a wet and windy afternoon.

Temperatures need to plummet to around two degrees to produce snow, he said.

"We get hail in the middle of summer, but today's hail is because it is cold enough that it just didn't melt on the way down, so it fell as a soft, melting ice," he said.

Mr Zmijewski doubted the 1836 snow report, saying weather observers of the era lacked the expertise of today.

"We are almost in the sub-tropics in Sydney," he said.

"Two hundred years ago they may not have been that well trained and it was probably small hail.

"Places like the far west, the Blue Mountains, you can get snow. But to get it in the eastern half of Sydney you would be pushing very hard."

Offline Harley Pearman

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #7 on: 29 July 2008, 02:28:44 PM »
Richary

Thank you for clarifying that. I had allot of doubts that it was snow. I could tell the cell was producing at least hail shafts but only small hail.

News storeys from Weatherzone News confirmed that it was soft hail as well.

The temperatures were too warm being 15.7 C to 17 C before the change came through and there was a drop to around 10 C there after. Just too warm for snow.

Another feature of the storm cell was that any useful rainfall was limited to those suburbs the cell passed over. Bankstown and Milperra picked up 12 mm each, Chatswood 10 mm, Frenchs Forest 13 mm and Long Reef 14 mm. This indicates the NE movement of the storm cell.

Other suburbs collected much lighter falls. Very light falls occurred in Sydney's west with 1 mm where I live.

Harley Pearman

Offline vrondes

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #8 on: 29 July 2008, 02:38:23 PM »
The following shot was taken yesterday afternoon as the storm with a decent rfb and small hail in the downdraft appeared around 3.30pm. Lots of thunder was heard as the storm headed east. The sun poked through a cloudbank to illuminate the Mercure  Motel in Rosehill,  Cheers,  Con.


Offline Richary

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #9 on: 29 July 2008, 03:11:44 PM »
Hi Con

Very similar view to what I had driving back from Pennant Hills (but didn't have the camera with me). Thanks for posting it.

And yes Harley, I spoke to 2 people at work today who live near Chatswood and they confirmed just small hail/sleet was coming down. Not snowflakes.

Glad I had an office day today and not on a roof with the maximum apparent temperature at the airport being 4.3 at 1030 and 0.7 by 2pm. Not a fun day to be on a rooftop somewhere! What's this story about global warming, can we have some please :-) :-) :-)

Offline David C

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RE: 2008 Eastern NSW/SE QLD Storms: 27-28 July 2008
« Reply #10 on: 30 July 2008, 04:56:57 PM »
I was in Cabramatta as the storm approached, and eventually hit. No hail there, just lightning to accompany the wind and rain.

Nice base for the time of year. Mobile phone pics:



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