Patchy SA low. From almost zero to almost 100mm the weekend low dropped some incredible dumps to some and mere drizzle to others.. Kadina 91mm for the weekend along with Cleve 84mm, Geranium 63+mm, some of the best. As with lows it is either on or off. For me it streamed to within a few KM's. Just 14mm falling in mostly light drizzle over the full 3 days. But boy did some serious dumps come VERY VERY close! As is often the case the best fell all round the 4 points of the compass, anywhere but here as always.....
See some radar grabs HERE .
>>(08-03-10)

Central Oz deluges. INCREDIBLE rains are deluging outback and central Australia. Alice Springs over 300mm, Birdsville over 200mm including 168mm in 24 hours!!!!! And still raining. Inland Australia is under water! meanwhile Perth is suffering its driest period on record with the airport not recording rain since nov20th last year. Thats over 100 days!  Check out the sat pick of the low over central Australia. Almost a cyclone over land with 85km/h gust winds over Birdsville and torrential rain! AMAZING stuff, not seen in a century!! Sat pic HERE .
>>(21-02-10)

Northern storms. Yet AGAIN a line of storms explodes over mid northern SA. And yet AGAIN the south remains fine and dry dry dry. The troughline responsible is however beautifully defined. More HERE .
>>(21-02-10)

MASSIVE storm. explodes over northern ranges with flash flooding and damaging winds. Meanwhile dead calm and blue skies down my way (as always) as the summer big dry establishes itself with teeth. More HERE
>>(02-02-10)

East meets west in a collision of 2 systems. Ex tropical cyclone Olga remnants moving in from the east and a trough from the west collide over central South Australia. See the amazing satellite and radar animations HERE
>>(02-02-10)

Storms? Where?.In classic centrals collapse, forecast storms in an unstable NE flow atmosphere that should have exploded simply failed to occur. One or 2 weak cells propogated, yes yet again, north. As always absolutely nothing but uncomfortable humidity down south as we continue to get drier and drier.
A few pics of the Woodside cell HERE HERE HERE
>>(02-02-10)

Centrals force field ..... is in action again driving what should have been an impressive storm line up, you guessed it - north! Still one or 2 flashes about and some dribbly rain and a beautiful pink/red sunset. Plus a great diversion from "groundhog day" conditions.
Sunset pic of our hillside glowing red HERE
>>(27-01-10)

FIRE! ..... A grass and woodland fire jumps into action near Meadows on the 25th Jan. Under control by evening, but a potent reminder of the season. See some pics from the links below -
Pic-1 Pic-2 Pic-3 Pic-4 and Pic-5
>>(25-01-10)

Interesting rainfall stat ..... While we wallow in severe weather boredom I dug up this little rainfall stat from 2009!
Read more about rainfall rates HERE
>>(24-01-10)

Heatwave breaks and it rains! ..... Well it rained well for some. Good falls over most areas but it can be considered a flop for the SE ranges again. At least its cool!
Read more from HERE
>>(09-01-10)

and the HEAT rolls on. ..... In the city 4th Jan made 31.3, 5th-32, 6th-33.6, and 7th-35.1, 41 on the 8th, 41 today (9th) and 43 forecast for the next 2 days.
For my spot in the SE ranges it reads as 7th- 33.5, 8th- 35.2, and 9th (today)- 36.7
Oh yeah this is a heatwave - AGAIN!
>>(09-01-10)

2009 Meadows summary HEAT .....dominates 2009 in the Meadows hills. It was my hottest year I have recorded (av max) by a tiny 0.01 degrees. It had my hottest ever recorded day of 40.8. Plus 40 degrees usually only comes along once every 5-6 years. 2009 also recorded the number of days with a max above 30 more than any previous year I have recorded.
See the SUMMARY HERE.
>>(09-01-10)

WHAT? Another heatwave? You have got to be joking, c'mon mother nature give us a break. Enough is enough. So what will this one bring? Watch this space.
>>(05-01-10)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here we go again, another year. What will it bring? No-one knows, but it started with some decent stormy action. Where? Up north and east of course. Lameroo smashed by 140km wind gusts and some serious rain rates. A monster of a storm explodes on new years day over no mans land in Riverland SA..
See some radar grabs HERE
>>(05-01-10)

Nov Heatwave! Wrapup and BOM download HERE
>>(05-01-10)

>> MORE! Archive of Hillsrain site and weather news <<

Synoptic and Satellite

Images courtesy of BOM & WEATHERZONE
Click on a chart for a larger version

Morning fogs begin
Quite often, round late feb mid march the morning southern ranges fog start rolling in from the south. A common late summer feature and sign of  moving seasons. This one has for the best part lifted. 10 minutes earlier and the ridge was shrouded. Bigger pic is HERE.