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22nd October 2007 low, storms and rains

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THIS REPORT HAS BEEN MOVED TO ITS OWN PAGES read it HERE

Its hay season in the hills. So it goes without saying that it will rain in the most inconvenient way possible. Murpheys law in operation!!! It starts with heat on the 21st. A stinker of a day with strong hot northerlies and temperatures in the hills near 30 degrees and mid thirties in the city. Meanwhile out west along the approaching trough line the heavens were firing up an electrical storm as can be seen from the 24 hour map to the right! But it was mostly stationary along this line and not going to make it to the central districts overnight.............. Read the rest HERE

 

27th - 29th October 2007 storms and rain

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THIS REPORT HAS BEEN MOVED TO ITS OWN PAGES read it HERE

Here we go again. Rain. 2 fronts, a trough - just a few days later. The irony of system after system with more rain than just about the whole year to date starting the day after hay is cut across the hills is not lost on anyone. This one starts on Saturday the 27th which dawns warm and windy. Mid level and unstable cloud fills the sky and as the day progresses a dust haze develops. I managed to get one paddock baled and in the shed before a few showers arrive in the mid afternoon. The winds are still pretty savage and max out here in the ranges at 70+km/h. Even the city copped a hammering with winds causing localised damage to trees and property around various suburbs. On the west coast 109km gust was recorded from Wudinna and at Whyalla a child was tragically killed by a falling tree in the shocking wind conditions......... Read the rest HERE

31st to 5th November 2007 - The rain continues

Its on again. Rain. Rain and more rain. Flooding in the north and huge rains in the south! Read the report HERE

 

9th to19th November 2007- HEATWAVE!

The rains that came for 2 weeks (see reports above) simply switched off as weather systems did ana bout face and returned to the normal "dry" setup. With it came an ever increasing trend of heat. Wednesday the 14th November, the BOM issued this shocking forecast for the city.

 

Thursday Min 15 Max 34 Friday Min 19 Max 35 Saturday Min 20 Max 33 Sunday Min 16 Max 36 Monday Min 22 Max 37 Tuesday Min 23 Max 39 Wednesay Min 26 Max 38

This forecast alone is bad enough, but there had already been 4 days above 30 experienced at Kent Town and 5+ days over the northern suburbs. If this forecast comes to fruition it will be a record breaking heatwave. Its only November remember!

Up in the hills it had been relaitively cool with temperatures in the mid to low twenties and night times dropping to the 8-12 degree mark and even cooler in the deeper gullies. On Thursday(15th) the heat finally got us with it making an uncomfortable 30.4 degrees after an overnight low of 8.3 giving a massive 22.1 degreee daily temperature variation!
The following day (friday 16th) also made it above 30 (30.9)

Daily convection during this period over the mid north from a weak moisture infeed saw odd showers over the region. But not enough to keep temperatures down. As always down south the skies were blue.

Update - 20-11-07

Adelaide avoided the official heatwave. Just. By 0.2 degrees just! A SW super weak change rose their maximum to 29.8 on Saturday 17th. Officially averted yes, but going by the "feeling outside in the sun" its still going. Sunday was back up at 31.4 and Monday a hot 36.

Meanwhile in the hills Saturday was just 23.2 (only 16.8 at Parawa!), 26.1 Sunday and Monday our hottest day yet of this new summer season at 31.6 degrees.

The Kent Town Daily Summary courtesy of Weatherzone can be seen below. Look at the amazing maximum temperature run and temperature anomolies (circled).

20th November 2007 storms

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Following the extreme heat a northwest infeed and slow moving trough promised storms and rain. It starts Saturday the 17th with significant thunderstorms developing over the riverland in instability preceeding the main event. These turn on quite an electrical show as they drift into Victoria. The 18th saw storms and electrical activity in the Bight but not extending into central districts. Monday the 19th was a hot day. Convection again formed in the Riverland folowing an almost identical path to the 17th. The main event was on the way and electrical actvity and storms began to form towards Ceduna. There was nothing more to do but wait, so an early night with expected arrival after 2am the morning of the 20th.

 

2am and the mobile phone beeps with an SMS saying "get up!" Up tot he hill with camera in tow and indeed strikes were visible on the western horizon. Extremely regular they were too with multiple strikes per second at their most intense. They were on a collision course with the southern suburbs and my location when the unthinkable happened. The lightning activity strated to slide south! Still flashing at an extraordinary frequency the line of storms turned away from the Adelaide Coastline leaving us with an oh so close you can touch taste of an amazing show. Enough to whet the appetite but no meal yet! The tracker history to the right dramatically shows the turn of the storms. I was still able to capture a few images with the 300mm lens on. Not my best efforts in the difficult conditions and distance. The results can be seen in THIS GALLERY Conditions during this time spent watching the show were walm and generally light winds. As I continued to watch a large low cloud mass became visible at what looked from my elevation to be on the surface! A roll cloud or scud line, its hard to be sure but even at my distance it looked impressive. It can be seen in a few of the images in the photo gallery such as THIS ONE.

Some fellow stormchasers were on the coast and I received a a phone call from them that was hectic and noisy with the roar of wind in the background.Look out for a "nasty guster and dust storm" came the warning. The "roll cloud" had reached them rolling almost at the surface and accompanying this was thick dust. About 20 minutes later I heard a roar in the pine trees 400 metres away. The low scud had but just wisps left in the air this deep in the ranges. The roar increased and WHAM!! Gale force winds I estimate at around 70-80km/h hit with a vengeance. It was incredible. Debris was flying horizontally for hundreds of metres out of a nearby tree wind break. Dust was whipping up from the surface and blowing across the ground in amazingly fast eddies.

The guster was cool and damp. The temperature dropped, no plummted! Over 5 degrees in just a few minutes!! The graph to the right as captured by the weather station shows this. Along with this amazing temp drop came a dust storm that together with the cool moist air left a smell lingering in the air that reminded me of a central Australian Storm. No real rain with all this initial activity. It eventually arrived 18 hours later and overnight into the wednesday 21st. However no where near the expected. By morning just 5mm was in my gauge. General falls were better further north and to the east. Some centres recorded up the inch mark on the old scale such as Pinnaroo on the mallee border.

A topsy turvey and unpredictable system highlighting the forecasting difficulties this time of year. A summer pattern is setting in it seems. Nice and early this year.

 

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