Just 9 days. Not even 2 weeks. Thats the timeframe all the images here were taken in. So much variation in temperature, weather, landscape, happenings.

In just 9 days!

This is South Australia in summer where consistency doesn’t apply and extremes are the norm. It started on new years day, a warm supposedly uneventful day weather wise. And really it was just that for there was no weather. But there was the coolest skyscape! I have no idea why but a pocket of instability filled the sky to my north with streaks ending in mammatus lines. Looked amazing and a visual bonus for the first day of 2015

Sadly no rain from these small pockets of instability and for my area in particular the season has been a disaster after a fair to middling start to 2014 only while most of the state drowned in near record rains in the first 7 months. Without sprinklers to maintain my greenspace we would have dried to a crisp. This is far from the normal situation! Its the worse conditions in living memory! But sprinklers have a fun side. Playing in the cool mist! An Australian way to keep cool.

Now some not so good news. Fires. Summer hit with a nasty vengeance on the 2nd as temperatures soared into the mid 40’s over the city and north and even reached 37 down my way. Catastrophic fire conditions were declared. And the worse fears were realised when a fire started near Kersbrook in the Nth Hills. It soon raced to uncontrollable levels and by its end had destroyed 27 homes and burnt 12,500 hectares! Worse since 1983. I do truly hate summer, it brings no good, this is one reason why.
Visually was spectacular from my southern viewpoint as the smoke surged skywards it formed speccy “pyrocumulus”, a sight rarely seen in this state. Thankfully.
My area was much cooler and in a constant south easterly which thankfully kept us in a “zone of safety” The pics below are from the beginnings. Stinking hot nasty day.

From Summer hell and heat to storms! The weather backflipped and the sky filled full of instability. But sadly the storms were fairly dry, not delivering enough rain to quench the fires. The fires continued to burn uncontrolled. The sunsets were beautiful, a spot of beauty amongst fear and worry. The heat stayed.

Significant rain was on the forecast and its started with massively wet storms over the fireground quenching the fires. The good news! Just east of the ranges over the lakes there was huge raindumps and lots of lightning that started fires that were quenched as they started. But my area – nothing. That did provide an amazing contrast to the landscape views though, and some MIGHTY strong hot/cool/hot/cool outflow winds buffeted the eastern range edge. But no rain from these storms hit my spot. Later that night the streams changed slightly and I managed some drizzle of a mm or 2. Settled the dust. Some distant lightning lit the skies all about me but nothing close. Still looks good!

Finally it cools down. From 37 to 12 degrees in just a few days. CRAZY CRAZY! Winds turn to the south east and fog settles in. We do fog very well and it finally felt cool and comfortable. VERY little rain had fallen but the fog kept that moisture and added almost as much as the poor attempt at rain. It felt damp even if in reality it wasnt. But hell I’ll take what I can in this, the worse conditions in living memory!
The fog arrived in the afternoon and by evening a yellow light reflected from the yellow landscape suffused everything. It was a beautiful evening. One to soothe the dreadful ills summer had inflicted upon us.

Now RAIN PLEASE, like everyone else seems to be getting, surely its our turn now?

 

If all this happens in just 9 days, you have to wonder just what the next 9 will bring?