Couple of very nice storms in Melbourne region, just hope Brad got onto them.
So John, do you want the good news or the bad news? haha. Its official - you are the Victorian jinx! We certainly had some very good storms here this arvo and evening. Discussion on WZ forum was for conditions were up to -5 LI's and cape around 1000. With cooler air aloft, Melb and surrounds had some high reflectivity storms and a few with relatively large hail reported contributing to the reflectivities.
I observed est. 2cm hail on the Tulla fwy in Melb inner NW at 16.30'ish from a short lived cell shortly after reports over the radio of 'ice cube' size hail covering the boutique shopping strip of Chapel St Prahran on the other side of town which fell from a strong persistent cell. Cant say I've heard the NOAA radio in the USA warn of 'ice cube' hail before! As I drove home on the Northern Ring Road I observed high based storms with large scale suspended hail shafts to the NE.
At home an hour later and convection was in full swing. There was constant rumbling from a messy cell overhead in the northern suburbs and at 17.45 I witnessed a powerful 'canon' cg land amongst the Bundoora shopping area with an immediate LOUD crack of thunder. It was the first CG from this storm and I had a feeling it would be the last - it was.
I made my way north to get out of the suburbs, expecting further development away from the seabreeze. Sure enough I was greeted shortly with a developing cell with a few CG's, the occasional CC and tall hail shafts. It was moving easterly as expected and fast development saw this cell organise and take on some physical characteristics that got my attention including some obvious inflow features and even a hint of corkscrewing as it interacted with another cell which was raining heavily ahead of it to the east. Scud developed from below and lowered the base of the storm significantly as it approached Whittlesea.
I arrived in a sunny Whittlesea 5 mins after the storm and observed widespread hail fog (have not seen as much in Vic before), hail drifts on the road, grass and in the fields. A minute or so further into the town and water was lapping at the sides of the road. I didnt stick around to see if there was any flooding in town because the cell was looking quite impressive to my right (east). My observations as I was driving were a possible ever-growing inflow tail (bordering on a beaver tail but still not sure) to the north of the cell, base features that appeared to become more significant below the updraft region and what appeared to be a flanking line to the south (again not sure about this). I got a few quick snaps without stopping and although I new the terrain to the East was not good for chasing I decided I had no option but to try. Alas, apart from fleeting glimpses of the cell which impressed me, I never got another good chance to assess the true nature of this storm as it moved into the ranges despite chasing it for over an hour to Healesville in Melbournes NE.
Here are my only pics. The first few show the hail fog, drifts and flooded roadside. I've included a pic that is badly blurred but it gives an idea of the hail cover in Whittlesea. The rest show some of the features of the cell as I drove. Disappointed not to bag some lightning at dusk or after dark, oh well.
