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STORMPLANET - Severe Event Reports
Storm Chase!!
SE Australia -
storm cauldron for a week!
December 6th to December 12th 2004
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Monday 6th | Wednesday 8th
| Thursday 9th | Friday 10th
| Saturday 11th | Sunday
12th
A very
slow moving and complex low pressure system and associated troughs
delivered several days of storms and high rainfall across SE Australia,
with a significant infeed of tropical moisture feeding the system. Many
storms were severe and with a focus on Victoria & Southern NSW, I
embarked upon several storm chases and photo journeys during the period
Monday December 6th to Sunday December 12th.
Most
parts of the state sometime during the period experienced storm
activity, with the exception of some parts of East Gippsland. Although
greater Melbourne received significant attention during the period from
the media, Western Victoria, particularly the border regions,
experienced significant severe storms, many of which were identified as
supercells.
Here is a looped
national satellite run that spans the entire week! This is a 16mb file
so beware! It does, however, tell the story and the effect of the
complex low that tracked through the SE parts of the country is clearly
shown in its full glory:
Day 1 -Monday December
6th
The deep low pressure system over SE
Australia, and an associated surface trough and infeed of deep tropical
moisture resulted in a fiery evening of storms across SE Australia, and
Melbourne's western & eastern suburbs copped a nice storm in the early
evening. The suburb of Melton was where a storm intensified and
demonstrated supercell characteristics, as well as large hail and flash
flooding in some areas. Notably, the lightning display was awesome and
for almost 90 minutes I enjoyed a terrific light show from near
Chirnside Park, to my north & west.
Charts (click to view) courtesy
BOM
 
 
Video
Video 1 -
Last strike of the night, big & loud lightning includes some very noisy
dogs...(1.1mb)
Video 2 -
Compilation of some of the captured night-time lightning strikes (4.4mb)
Video 3 - Under
fading light, shows the structure of the storm west of Melbourne (2.9mb)
Images - click to view
 
Video stills:
Day 2
-Wednesday December 8th
The action today occurred mostly in
the North Central district of Victoria & throughout central and eastern
NSW. No chase today but an absolutely stunning mammatus sunset, viewed
from Wonga Park looking north.
View a 30 second video here and there are some images of the
incredible sunset below.
Charts courtesy
BOM,
Weatherzone and
Australian
Weather News.
 
 
 
 
Day 3
-Thursday December 9th
Victoria exploded with several severe thunderstorms today.
490km travelled quite late in the day and into the evening. I shot mostly video today, it was
one of those days. Sensational gustfront at Lancefield with significant
greenage and I was surrounded by CG's within a few hundred metres,
restricted to the car but shot some terrific very very very close
lightning! One storm just NE of Seymour turned severe with a nice wall
cloud that held up for around 20 minutes with well separated
precipitation outflow from the updraft region before the storm, like
many I observed today, became subsiding.
Nice thunderstorms observed around Nagambie and Yea later on too, some
locally very heavy falls with local flooding observed.
Video 1 - (769kb) developing wall cloud with weak rotation,
time-lapse, between Nagambie & Seymour. This cell collapsed becoming
outflow dominant and lost it's structure quickly.
Video 2 - (1.5mb) near Lancefield, CG lightning strikes ground 4
times, just 500m away!
Video 3 - (5.1mb) near Lancefield, approaching the gustfront ahead
of the storm that dropped 2-3cm hail at Romsey.
Video 4 - (2.5mb) more vision of the gustfront as it approaches.
First image below is a cropped and modified image from MODIS
highlighting the top structure of the storms centred directly over
Melbourne. Thanks to James Holbeach for saving the image!
 
Radar Loop-click to view
IR Satellite Loop - click to view
Day 4
-Friday December 10th
552km covered
this evening on a route that started in Lilydale-Tullamarine-Sunbury-Riddells
Creek-Gisborne-Bacchus Marsh then west on the Western Fwy to
Ballarat-Beaufort then south to
Skipton-Lismore-Cressy-Inverleigh-Geelong-Melb. Flash flooding in
Skipton and in Lismore. 4-5 inches in places, rather hazardous with
heavy rain or rising steam, which happened a lot travelling south on a
mongrel of a goats track to Lismore.
Had the most intense and ravaging drive from 30km west of Ballarat
through to Beaufort & then driving south to Lismore, scary stuff.
Constant CG's all around and some magnificent CC's, white out conditions
with CG's hitting nearby paddocks and large pools of water adding to the
mayhem. It was one of those chases that you drive through without photo
opportunities, it was all video. I took 3 stills for the whole chase,
but the video I took of the storm west of Ballarat should make up for
it, minus all the expletives. Absolutely awesome structure on that line
with a shelf line extending several km with lots of menacing scud and
sensational outflow features. It was at its most intense SE of me,
towards Bannockburn where luckily Jane ONeill had a better view and
should have some great structural images.
I could clearly see a nice shelf
with a distinct shelf and outflow beneath. Black and awesome, and then
it hit with a barrage of torrential rain at extremely high rates and
very frequent lightning. I wanted lightning and got it, certainly one
out of the bag for intensity and one of the most dangerous in terms of
the amount and frequency of lightning as I drove through it. Yesterday's
structure and the guster was still hard to beat though. Sent quite a few
reports back to a very busy BOM.
I have
decided for the first time in my reports to to include the Severe
Thunderstorm Warnings issued by the BOM, as they help to create a
chronological sequence of events for the afternoon and evening. Video
lightning stills taken from within the car shown below together with a
loop of the radar for the period. First image below taken from the
northern end of Tullamarine Airport looking south to the cell that gave
Melbourne's NW suburbs a pounding.
Video here showing a few of the many many lightning strikes observed
whilst driving through the North Central & Western districts this
evening.
 TOP
PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
VICTORIAN SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for Damaging Winds, Large Hailstones, Very Heavy Rainfall
For people in the North Central and Central districts of Victoria.
Issued at 9:00 am EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Severe Thunderstorms have been identified on radar about 20km east of
Kilmore.
These storms are moving south southwest at about 40km/h. Further severe
thunderstorms are likely to develop during the morning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------TOP
PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
MELBOURNE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for Damaging Winds, Large Hailstones, Very Heavy Rainfall/Flash Flooding
For people in the Melbourne Metropolitan area.
Issued at 9:10 am EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Severe Thunderstorms have formed on the ranges to the north of Melbourne
and are
expected to extend into the northern suburbs around 9.45am. Very heavy
rain is
likely and there is also a risk of large hail and damaging winds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
VICTORIAN SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for Very Heavy Rainfall with the possibility of Flash Flooding, also for
Large
Hail and Damaging Winds.
For people in the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central,
Northeast,
Alpine, Western, Central and West and South Gippsland districts of
Victoria.
Issued at 10:14 am EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Thunderstorms are developing in most districts and are expected across
all
districts during the day. A number of severe thunderstorms have been
identified
on radar about the Wimmera,
Western, Central and North Central districts. Storms are moving south
southwest
at about 30 to 40km/h. Further severe thunderstorms are likely to
develop during
the day across most districts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
MELBOURNE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for Very Heavy Rainfall/Flash Flooding, Large Hailstones and Damaging
Winds
For people in the Melbourne Metropolitan area.
Issued at 10:20 am EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Showers and thunderstorms have formed over most northern and eastern
suburbs. A
severe thunderstorm is eveident on raday near Cranbourne moving south
southwest
at around 25 to 30 km/hr. Very heavy rain is likely and there is also a
risk of
large hail and damaging winds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
MELBOURNE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
For people in the Melbourne Metropolitan area.
Issued at 4:25 pm EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Thunderstorms are currently developing about the inner and northern
suburbs, a
few of these may be severe. Very heavy rain is likely and there is also
a risk
of large hail and damaging winds. Once developed, thunderstorms are
expected to
move southwards at 30/35 km/hr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
MELBOURNE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
For people in the Melbourne Metropolitan area.
Issued at 5:40 pm EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
Thunderstorms are currently over Port Phillip and about the northwestern
suburbs, a few of these may be severe. Very heavy rain is likely and
there is
also a risk of large hail and damaging winds. Once developed,
thunderstorms are
expected to move south southwestwards at 30/35 km/hr.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
VICTORIAN SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for Very Heavy Rainfall with the possibility of Flash Flooding, also for
Large
Hail and Damaging Winds.
For people in the Northern Country, North Central, Northeast, Western
and
Central districts of Victoria.
Issued at 8:10 pm EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
A line of thunderstorms currently near a line from Echuca to Bendigo to
Ararat
to Colac is moving southeast at 35 to 45 km/hr. Some of these
thunderstorms are
likely to be severe and there have been reports of very heavy rainfalls
associated. Strong wind gusts and large hail are also a risk.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
MELBOURNE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for localised flash flooding and damaging wind gusts
For people in the southern suburbs ainclusing the Mornington Peninsula
Issued at 11:10 pm EDT on Friday 10 December 2004
A band of rain with embedded thunderstorms over the southern suburbs of
Melbourne, including the Mornington Peninsula, will move across Phillip
Island
shortly and then out to Bass Strait. These storms will produce a short
period of
intense rainfall and perhaps localised damaging wind gusts. Please be
aware that
further rain is expected to follow the storms overnight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 5
-Saturday December 11th
CAPE charts from AVN
  
Lifted Index plots from AVN
  
Looped 256km Melbourne radar
courtesy BOM. IR & VIS satellite images courtesy
BOM
via Jane ONeill
What a day this was! To start proceedings, we had our annual ASWA
(Australian Severe Weather Association) BBQ in Kew and of course, all
the talk and focus was on the past few days events and chase targets for
the afternoon!
 
We,
being Clyve Herbert, Jane ONeill and myself, set off from Kew around 2pm
and headed NW from the city on the Calder Highway. Near Keilor I
captured these images at 1410hrs, which gave great hope for a promising afternoon's
and evening's entertainment!
We set out on the Calder Freeway and headed north,
keeping a keen eye on a developing line NW of the large mature cell as
seen above.
The road ahead shown in this video (1.8mb). We stopped for fuel and ice-cream at Woodend and we
teamed up with Tony Langdon who was up for a chase as well. All four
cars now headed towards Bendigo and turned off at Ravenswood and headed
to Lockwood Sth, Lockwood & Marong. Near Lockwood South we stopped for
this brief storm at 1540hrs.
From Marong we tracked NE via Eaglehawk to Bridgewater, to intercept the
following cell near Derby at 1606hrs. This storm developed some great
structure as we watched, with a wall cloud and strong updrafts before
developing a weak gustfront as the storm became dominated by outflow.
Video showing structure (700kb)
Video time-lapse of outflow (gustfront) formation (650kb)
Video of gustfront (time-lapse) before it weakens, plus footage
approaching Raywood.
We then moved further NW to Bridgewater before moving east, stopping
just east of Raywood at 1705hrs to observe and photograph the rear of an
enormous looking cell to our south, near Ballarat. Later reports
confirmed the cell to be severe with flash flooding and Tim Morrow
photographed a well extended funnel
as seen here. Images of the Ballarat cell:
Moving on, literally just down the road near Summerfield
by two minutes, we rounded the corner to be greeted by the most
unexpected and dramatic scene of flash flooding. The local farmer
stopped for a chat, masterfully driving his 4 wheeler through his
flooded fields. He quoted a fall of almost 40mm in a 45 minute period,
causing the subsiding flash flooding you see below.
Video shows flash flooding (4.8mb)
 
 
 
Nice big cell to our north captured our interest from the same location,
at 1730hrs:
Video shows more of the flooding and the road towards Newstead
(3.5mb)
1850hrs and near Newstead this cell took on some
interesting features, as new updrafts developed on the outflow boundary
of all the storms to our south (1st image below). This cell was very
dark, a deep blue/black all through the base and whilst we didn't drive
intercept the precipitation area, it was clearly dumping big rain at a
very high rate.
 
 
Further south and a nice photographic opportunity near Campbelltown:
Video shows next storm ahead, taken near Sandon en route. (3.5mb)
Further south again near Glengower and a we observe a cell as it
matures, starts to precipitate and then become lightning active:
Video shows storm near Glengower with nicely contrasted precipitation as
storm matures and becomes lightning active. (1.4mb)
Video continues with this cell as precipitation deepens and lightning
continues (2.2mb)
 
 
Final video for the day, shows more lightning as we drive on towards
this brilliant sunset (1.3mb)
Last stop as the sun sets and sprays a magnificent plume
of colour across the horizon into a maturing, lightning active storm
near Clunes at 2020hrs.
 
 
Day 6
-Sunday December 12th
Today's storm
journey took me 752km, from Melbourne to Tatura, on to Corowa NSW, then
Nth to Culcairn, then south through Albury to Seymour. Looking at high
levels of instability on the Northern Plains and latent moisture from
the previous day's activity, I saw the region as a good target for the
day. Unfortunately only a few weak storms propagated despite some
terrific pulses and strong signs of convection in the early afternoon.
I would have liked to be near the central ranges as that's where the
activity was at its most intense, but these things happen sometimes!
Nevertheless, did encounter some nice activity near Seymour with a nice
almost stationery cell precipitating heavily, causing minor flooding NE
of Seymour. Also I was able to watch a very clear 22° Halo around the
sun with sundogs, as seen below.
 
I would like to thank Clyve Herbert for his excellent tuition, guidance
& navigation today, Tony Langdon for not saying the word 'hurricane'
for the entire afternoon and Jane ONeill for putting up with my attempts
at humour and also for supplying some of the charts you see above.
Thanks to Mike Fewings for his excellent
radar & satellite archive.
Thanks also to those people I called during the week looking for surface
obs etc, really appreciate it. Cheers, hope you enjoyed the week's
summary through my lens!
Other chasers also compiled reports on storms during the week across
Victoria, as follows:
Lindsay Knowles
Jane ONeill (coming soon)
Tony Langdon
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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 ! 
