|
|
STORMPLANET - Storm Chasing Report
Storm Chase!!
SE Australia - early spring storms
Friday September
9th to Sunday September 11th 2005
Saturday 10th
| Sunday 11th
| Struck by
lightning
All images clickable for higher
res viewing
  Headlines:
Struck by lightning ~ multicell storms ~ great lightning display ~
early season storm event!
Friday
9th September 2005
Overview
Storms were evident across
many parts of Victoria and the Riverina by midnight. Laurier Williams at
AWN writes...
"typical spring weather affected much of the continent
today, with warm almost summery conditions across central and eastern
states and a return to winter for much of WA. In between, where the two
air masses rubbed shoulders, storms continued a diurnal cycle of
afternoon and evening development and morning decay.
Northwesterlies covered most of the eastern states,
carrying warm air from the tropics and a broad stream of moisture from
the NT into VIC and TAS. Overnight temperatures were between 6 and 12C
above normal over a huge area, thanks partly to cloud cover but more to
unusually high dew points for September slowing the normal overnight
cooling process. The high moisture levels and light winds led to some
persistent thick fogs in SA this morning, with Warooka on Yorke
Peninsula still reporting visibility less than 50m at 9am.
Well above average maximum temperatures today
covered a similar area to yesterday but were a few degrees cooler as
cloud developed along the trough line in the moist and increasingly
unstable air mass.
South of WA, the combination of a fairly deep
secondary low and a high SW of Perth pushed cool, relatively dry
southerly winds far into the state, bringing maximum temperatures 8 to
10C below normal in the south, where Ravensthorpe only just made double
figures. Southern coastal areas and the nearby interior recorded between
5 and 25mm for the 24 hours to 9am in the onshore winds. As the cold
front pushed into SA, Ceduna recorded a temperature drop of 7.8C in 10
minutes to 1.49pm.
Thunderstorms were again widespread in the
northwest moisture band, yesterday's storms dying down during the
morning, but firing up again during the afternoon in the area of
greatest instability over western VIC, SW NSW and eastern SA. As
yesterday, the storms moved east and southeast, giving the heaviest rain
to upslope areas in NE VIC, southern NSW and northern TAS. However,
storms penetrated right to the South Coast of TAS, with Maastuyker
Island reporting a rare thunderstorm this morning".
Below you will see some charts and loops
from Friday evening. I did not chase nor photograph storms this evening,
although I watched the lightning display, as I had a 4 a.m. start the
next morning to drive to my weekend target area in NSW.
Following images courtesy
BOM &
Weatherzone
Melbourne Sounding
 |
Lightning Tracker Melbourne
 |
National Satellite - still
 |
SE Aust Satellite - still
 |
Vic Radar/Satellite - still
 |
Vic Radar - still
 |
Vic Radar - still
 |
Vic Satellite - still
 |
MSL
Analysis 1200UTC Sept 9th
 |
MSL
Analysis 0000UTC Sept 9th
 |
Murray Darling
rainfall analysis to
0900 10-9-05
 |
Melbourne Radar LOOP (1.9mb)
 |
Saturday 10th September 2005
Overview
Laurier Williams at
AWN writes...
"the cold front attached to the pair of lows beneath SA
visible on the surface chart above moved steadily east today, pushing an
unusually hot airmass for September into eastern states and generating a
continuing belt of thunderstorms to its east.
Lightning tracker data shows storms covering much
of VIC and southern NSW at midnight, and extending NW to the SE NT. This
area contracted and moved slowly east until midday when a line of storms
was present from Flinders Island to SW QLD, but storms intensified
through eastern VIC, central NSW and southern central QLD during the
afternoon and evening. There were many reports of heavy downpours from
QLD, NSW, VIC and TAS and Clunes, 30km NNW of Ballarat, recorded 43.4mm
in the 24 hours to 9am this morning, just 3.6 below its highest
September one-day total in the last 120 years. Crewsick, 15km SE of
Clunes, received 20mm from a storm that packed golfball-sized hail that
damaged cars and caused water damage in shops. Kangaroo Flat, just south
of Bendigo, had 10 to 15 minutes of hail that left drifts 30cm deep
Fierce electrical storms closed down ski lifts at Mt Hotham and Falls
Creek during the day because of the threat of skiers being hit by
lightning. A spectacular electrical storm also passed across Melbourne
during the early hours this morning but no reports of damage or
disruption".
Note: Also of note was a supercell sighted and
photographed near Newborough in Gippsland, Victoria, as per RHI & PPI
scan shown below. Have a look at
Michael Bath's report here at Australia Severe Weather for more
information.
PPI Scan from the
Newborough supercell
 |
PPI Scan from the
Newborough supercell
 |
Lightning Tracker
 |
Murray Darling rainfall analysis to 0900 11-9-05
 |
Vic
satellite - still
 |
MSL Analysis
0000UTC 10-9-05
|
Yarrawonga Radar Loop |
Wagga Radar Loop
 |
The Chase
Well you've read the overview above so you know what's on offer,
potentially. On the road at 0530hrs after a night of fantastic lightning
across Melbourne, just a few hours sleep but as usual, absolutely pumped
and full of anticipation before a weekend's storm chase!
Exited the Yarra Valley via Yarra Glen and took the usual route north
through Yea and onto Seymour. In Seymour by around 0700hrs and stopped
at that new cafe on the right hand side, they do wonderful coffee and
toasted sangas! The sky at this stage was partly overcast with high
cloud but this was expected and the plan was to reach clearer air
further north. Target area for today, based on my own analysis and some
respected second opinions, was Griffith, or just SE of Griffith. The key
to positioning was the location of the trough and the environmental
variables associated with it (DP's, winds, temps), so Griffith looked
the goods and also looked ok on the AVN models latest run.
One thing that was apparent from the setup
today was the likelihood that storms that did occur would probably fire
quickly once the strong cap broke, but most likely the environment would
be a multicell one and getting a decent cell in clearer air may be
difficult.
So, at 0735hrs I was just south of
Shepparton when the first storm was sighted off to the NE approximately
30kms away. It had a nice dense rain curtain and a high base,
accentuating the precipitation and also there were infrequent CG's
(cloud to ground lightning strike) hitting the ground! Not bad for first
storm at 0735hrs! This activity was not directly associated with the
setup today, more so spawned within a fairly moist and unstable
environment where the previous evening's storms had fired throughout the
night. The sky to the east over the ranges was obscured by cloud but it
was becoming clear that the route ahead was clearer and blue sky was
appearing the further north I went, a welcome sight!
 By
0830hrs I was 10km north of Shepparton on the Goulburn Valley Highway
heading towards Tocumwal. The cloud really was clearing quickly now,
exposing some towering cumulus way off to the NE.
Also to the SE was an interesting and apparently fairly well developed
storm , displaying a nice backsheared anvil
and overshooting top. It was clearly visible for well over an hour and
this photo of it was taken at 0951hrs. I received advice from the BOM
that this cell may have been a supercell but I could not confirm this
nor any conclusive attributes due to distance.
The journey continued north and now Narrandera was the target area, it
appeared the trough was still sitting west of me, which is what I
wanted, and I had blue skies overhead to aid with heating. Spot checks
along the way gave me surface temps of around 18C and DP's at 14-15C and
the ever helpful Anthony Cornelius provided me with supporting obs from
surrounding areas. Winds were 10-15kts from the N - NW.
The road took me further northeast to Narrandera, then due east to Grong
Grong with the due east option looking best towards Coolamon. This
positioning gave me a great road option in all directions, and the cap
remained strong so it was now time to park the car and get friendly with
the curious local farmers and zillions of newly winged bush flies that
wanted to get up close and personal to my eyes, ears and mouth...So the
positioning for the sit-out, awaiting the cap to break, was Ganmain.
Whilst waiting, here's what the sky looked like with a mackeral sky overhead
for a while. The cap finally broke at around 1515hrs to the SW towards
Finley,
Towers also started to accumulate about 30kms SE of
Ardlethan, to my NW and I headed that way.
The prediction of a multicell environment started to ring true as
initial towering Cu, maturing into Cb's, became rampant and mid level
cloud also started to kick in, all this making photography difficult.
Interestingly, very few CG's were observed despite subsequent analysis
of the lightning tracker.
 
The rest of the day was ok, with some interesting weather
and storms observed, nothing severe and one of those day that required a
lot of driving to get best positioning. The shear meant any storms moved
quite quickly and with storms backbuilding and mixing with other cells,
photographic opportunities weren't great. Above shots taken whilst
traveling back and forth from Junee to Ganmain.
Around sunset things died down a bit but I could see
development on the very far NW horizon. Certainly had enough time to
settle into Wagga, get accommodation and plug the laptop in to see what
may eventuate later on in the evening. Wagga has always turned on great
lightning shows for me and I was hoping the same would be true for this
journey.
Total distance travelled today = 740kms
Well, after settling in and checking the radar etc, that line of storms
I saw earlier on the NW horizon had intensified and after receiving a
call from Macca back in Melbourne telling me to get the &%$#@ out there
because there's a mass of storms approaching, I grabbed the gear and
headed towards an area I knew provided long uninterrupted horizons for
night lightning observation and filming.
I set up the tripods just west of Junee, near Rockview. Lightning
activity was slowly increasing on a 180° horizon and it wasn't long
before film was rolling and the open shutter of the digital camera was
working hard to capture some strikes.
Struck by lightning!
 What
happened next makes me one of the luckiest people around and I don't
want to glorify it in any way, for the situation was potentially fatal
and very regretful. However, it did happen and I accept it as one of the
risks associated with filming too close to storms. I was standing next
to the tripod, taking in all the glory and wonder of mother natures
fireworks display, when...well...click the image on the left and see for
yourself...
(be warned there is swearing)
I obviously survived and I must be blessed, on this occasion at least.
My theory is unproven but I suspect that the strike, which wasn't that
close, hit the powerlines that were overhead (I didn't see them when
setting up) and found a path to earth maybe somehow, travelling along
the very wet ground perhaps and passing through my feet, which is where
I felt the strike. Alternatively, we often see much weaker branches of a
CG strike earth on the main strike periphery, perhaps this caused the
event. It felt like putting both feet on the strongest electric fence
possible. I recall the buzzing travelling towards me through the
powerlines getting louder and louder and the static electricity and glow
surrounding me was awesome, then it happened but not before I crouched
down and I may have grabbed the tripod to steady myself, not sure.
Anyway that's what happened and the companion I had with me, who elected
to stay in the car, saw it all unfold and was stunned by the event (not
as much as I was). Left me with quite an experience and one that isn't
to be laughed at nor be proud of, but an experience nonetheless., one
which I hope is never repeated.
 Click
the icon to view some of this evening's lightning caught on video
(816kb)
Here's a few of the better video stills and a few digital stills
captured this evening:
Sunday 11th September 2005
Beautiful
landscape on offer on the Springhurst exit,
as a storm passes into the distance
Overview
Laurier Williams at
AWN writes... "the
deep low near TAS and its attendant cold front continued to agitate
weather across the southeast today. Flash flooding was reported in
southern NSW while heavy rain raised river levels in NE VIC and northern
and central TAS. While storms in the southeast moved out into the Tasman
this morning, they redeveloped along the trough line through QLD and the
NT this afternoon, while both storms and areas of heavy rain developed
across eastern TAS, VIC and NSW during the afternoon as an upper cold
pool moved through. Storms caused flash
flooding on both sides of the NSW/VIC border near Albury overnight.
Flash flooding between 7 and 10pm last night swept four cars from the
Olympic Highway along a 10km section between 5 and 15km south of
Culcairn, 45km north of Albury. Three of the cars aquaplaned, but a
fourth was washed from the highway by about half a metre of fast-flowing
water. The highway was closed from 8.24pm to 8.54 this morning. Culcairn
recorded 63.0mm in the 24 hours to 9am. Across the border in VIC, flash
flooding at Eskdale and Sandy Creek (50 and 25km SE of Wodonga) required
SES crews to divert water flowing off paddocks that was threatening to
inundate farmhouses".
Murray Darling
rainfall analysis to
0900 10-9-05
 |
MSL Analysis 0000UTC 11-9-05
 |
Yarrawonga Radar Loop
 |
The road south towards home today was
going to be a bonus after last night's little adventure, and to boot,
the setup was somewhat different to the previous day's. The trigger for
instability was cold air pushing through with a low, as explained by
Laurier above..
  By
1130hrs today, I was about 5km south of Culcairn in NSW when some nice
CU was developing with very aggressive updrafts, well worth stopping for
and watching. I knew the instability together with some aggressive
updrafts and decent shear may provide the odd cold air funnel or two and
it wasn't long before one was spotted just east of my location. These
are awful things to try and capture on film unless they are much bigger
and have some decent size to them. Anyway, did my best and the funnel
can be seen, it was one of those ropey long ones that didn't go on with
it and much easier to see with the naked eye.
  Stayed
here for an hour or so and shot some nice updrafts, some cells seemed to
mature as they reached the ranges and decent precipitation was observed
below some of these but I have no idea just how much rain or hail fell.
The cold air and moisture meant there was a good chance of hail showers
today too, so was hoping!
Not much farther south at 1330hrs and a nice line of showers was moving
across providing a few more photo opps, with rain and small hail
encountered:
Then I drove further south and encountered, at last, a hail shower and
rain with enormous drops, just 30km north of Albury. Further south and
at 1315hrs I was very impressed with this massive looking anvil which
was overhead Myrtleford area:
 Driving
off the freeway I passed through Chiltern and there had been some large
rainfall totals here, with minor flooding observed in paddocks and on
the road ahead as you can see to the left, taken at 1433hrs on the
southern end of Chiltern. I then spoke with Robbie Alexander on the
phone, he was just a few kilometres away at a vantage point off the
Springhurst freeway exit (a memorable place from a
previous chase)
Met up with Robbie and for the next hour or so we enjoyed
watching development in all directions and having a yarn, plus what a
great photo opportunity!
By 1530hrs it was time to head further south, after
stopping just over the hill, as per Robbie's recommendation, to
photograph this old stone cottage, what a great scene this was!
Arrived back home by around 1830 hrs and travelled a total of 1191 kms
over the two days. Enjoyed the trip and nice to warm the gear up for
what I hope, at the time of writing, will be a terrific storm season
ahead!
Thanks for reading this!
Credits:
Thanks to Laurier Williams from
Australian Weather News for his overviews, Anthony Cornelius for
various remote assistance,
Weatherzone
& Bureau of Meteorology
for the charts and especially my good friend at the BOM (you know who
you are) for the RHI & PPI scans. Thanks also to
Strike One for providing radar and some satellite images for me to
loop. |
T a k i n g A u s t r a l i a b y
S t o r m ! 
