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NE Victoria Storms March 29th 2003 A low pressure trough extending into Eastern Victoria provided the instability required to fire up a significant area of storms across SE NSW & NE Victoria, as far south as Orbost. Upper level temps were quite low and this upper level cold pool provided the trigger needed to produce significant storms. The lightning tracker image below demonstrates the extent and direction of the flow. Storms were less intense in the south, isolated storms were visible and I observed at least 1 pulse storm. It was a day of some frustration, due to the fact that by mid afternoon I was too far south and as I was at Mt Hotham by this time, it was too late for me to change course! I started off from Yarra Glen at 9.15 a.m. & took the Melba Highway to Yea. Skies were clear in all directions except East, where a line of Cumulus Congestus was clearly visible, strong updrafts were evident & the effect of the colder upper levels were very evident with the icing tops. On to Seymour via the Goulburn Valley H'way where upon arrival I noted a large spray of Cirrus spreading outwards to the NW and some Cu developing just south of Seymour. Temp was 22C and very little surface wind. Stopped for coffee & went online to check radar and aviation forecast. I decided to head north via the Hume Highway to Wangaratta, passing through Euroa at midday when Macca called. He was near Wangaratta & was heading to Albury and on from there, I decided that I would head east at Wangaratta towards the ranges, the visual I had to the east looked really promising, with massive banks of Congestus and constant lightning static on the radio although no visible lightning. A line of Cb to the NE with visible microbursts indicated that they may have been pulse storms and that settled it, I was heading for the hills! By the time I arrived at Myrtleford there were many cells developing but only a few had developed rain curtains, one cell about 10km ahead did however develop an anvil and the outflow band was clearly visible. By the time I intercepted this cell it had moved to the SE but the road was very wet with puddles, there was moderate tree debris on the road verifying what I had seen from a distance. The lightning static was busy, every 2-3 seconds, so when I arrived at Porepunkah I stopped and went online to see what the radar & lightning tracker looked like. I then realised I was too far south as evidenced from the tracker image below. I was seeing the very edge of the line and it was here that I made the wrong decision. In hindsight I should have tracked back along the Kiewa H'way to Wodonga then NE to Tumut & Cooma, making my way down to Bega! Anyway, I took the gamble & continued on to Bright on to Mt Hotham. Mt Hotham took my breath away, not only because it was my first visit to the area, but the devastation caused by the recent bushfires was very sobering. The view was fantastic and my error in course was right in front of me, to the NE pulse storms were clearly visible whilst to the East and SE, whilst there were impressive updrafts and the odd storm, I clearly should have taken the alternative route at Wangaratta and taken the Wagga - Tumut - Cooma route. Never mind, I still had some developing cells ahead and so I continued on through the Great Alpine Road to Omeo, where I intersected the best storm I had seen today. 20 km west of Omeo, I noticed two adjacent cells, the southern cell had a terrific corkscrew updraft & the inflow band behind the cell was evident with a slightly curved shape, suggesting possible cyclonic rotation but I radar does not support this The cell developed a distinct downdraft in the form of two 'fingers' as seen below that seemed to reach the ground, however a hill was obscuring my view below this so I can't confirm if there was anything happening within the rain curtain. I doubt it, as I did not experience hail and the rain from this although heavy, a short microburst at best. Meteorologically, this was the most interesting development for me today although as you'll see from some of the images below, suspicious lowerings were sighted and I'm sure there would have been the odd condensation funnel or two in the region. By the time I reached Bairnsdale, only distant Cb's were visible to the NE along with decayed storm cells and the sky to the East & South was mainly Cu, no rain had fallen in the area over the past few hours and the drive back to Melbourne was quite uneventful, apart from a nice sunset as seen below. Total distance covered was 842km
and travel time was 12.5 hours. Thanks to the
BOM for the satellite images
and Weatherzone for
the Lightning Tracker Image.
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T a k i n g A u s t r a l i a b y
S t o r m ! 
