The Weather Channel Web Site

Recently the Weather Channel in Australia spent and great deal of time (and money!) doing a complete remake of its website.

You can see the result at

http://www.weatherchannel.com.au

It's a revolutionary way of retrieving weather information from the Internet, utilizing a single page from which all other content can be accessed. This means that you don’t have to move from page to page – it’s simple and easy.

A really great feature is being able to go full screen with the satellite images, radar, and lightning tracker. You can also zoom in and out by rolling your mouse wheel – really quick and useful.

The cloud resolution is great – you can see fog clearly, which is often difficult in conventional displays.

Fog can clearly see seen on the new Weather Channel interactive map.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Some of the key issues the page offers are:

All your local weather information is combined into one page. There’s no more hunting through pages of content – you’ll have all the information you need – whether it’s the ten-day forecast, the radar or the rainfall probability at a single glance.

It offers you instant access to your local weather- the computer detects where you are, and instantly displays the weather information for that location.

A revolutionary Interactive map – displays satellite and radar data from both the past and future 24 hours and so you can track how storms move over time. You can manipulate the map to move between different locations, zoom in and out and even make it full-screen for a truly breath-taking experience of the weather.

It’s advantages to users are:

Ease of use –
No more hunting through layers of content to get the weather forecast, weatherchannel.com.au displays all your essential weather information in one page – so you’ll have everything you need in a single glance.

Furthermore, whilst other websites divide up the radar views into separate pages, The Weather Channel site has combined all radar information in their truly interactive map, meaning that users can watch the rain move across broader areas in a single glance.

Speed –
The new website is fast to use – thanks to cutting-edge geotargeting technology. It recognises where you are accessing the site from and takes you instantly to the weather information for your location.

Increased Interactivity –
Weatherchannel.com.au is the first Australian weather website to feature a comprehensive interactive weather map which combines weather observations and forecasts, radar, satellite and lightning information all in the one view. Users have the option to view the map full screen and can easily zoom in and out to view weather activity at both a national and more local level.

Jet Streams and Tropical Cloudbands

Jet streams

Early in the twentieth century, meteorologists predicted that there would be high-speed rivers of air in certain areas of both hemispheres at around the area of the tropopause, approximately 10 to 15 km above the surface. They posited that these would be a consequence of the physics of the rotating Earth–atmosphere system.

The German meteorologist H. Seilkopf is believed to have first used the term “strahlstromung” (jet stream) in a treatise on upper atmospheric flow in 1939. However, it was not until World War Two that anyone directly encountered these ‘jet streams’. Aircraft on high-level bombing missions over Europe and Japan encountered tremendous headwinds on occasion, up to 350 km/h, which was almost as fast as the aircraft of the day could fly. Some of the planes were virtually stationary in the sky as they flew head on into the jet streams.

Today we know that jet streams are indeed real, and they are an important part of the motion of the atmosphere. There are two main jet streams in each hemisphere, called the polar jet and the subtropical jet. They rotate in a general west to east direction high above Earth, but they frequently twist and turn, producing meanderings of north and south winds on occasion. There are times where the polar jet and subtropical jet can intersect, producing highly complex effects in the upper troposphere.

The subtropical jet is found at latitudes around 25 to 35 degrees north and south of the equator, and the polar jet between the 50 and 60 degree latitudes. All these jet streams occur at the boundaries of cold and warm air in the upper atmosphere and are typically 1.5–4.5 km across.


A jet stream made visible by cloud as it crosses eastern Canada in May 1991. Jet streams can make a significant difference in flying times across Australia. If favoured by a jet stream, a flight from Perth to Sydney can take half an hour less than the reverse trip, Sydney to Perth. (NASA Space Shuttle image - click to enlarge)

They are of considerable importance in the development and steering of low-pressure systems, and meteorologists pay careful attention to their location and general movement. The aviation industry is also very interested in jet streams because of their effect on flight times. For example, when travelling from Perth to Sydney, ‘hitching a ride’ on the high-level subtropical jet stream can save significant time and fuel. Conversely, flying into the jet stream will slow the ground speed of the aircraft considerably, and in many cases the captain will attempt to fly above or below it to save time.

Another problem with the jet stream is its association with high-level clear air turbulence—or CAT—which can be uncomfortable or downright dangerous for passenger aircraft. Because jet streams are zones of high-speed winds running within the broad-scale atmospheric flow, there are surrounding regions where the wind speeds change quickly with both height and horizontal distance. This is called wind shear and a high-speed aircraft flying through it will experience ‘bumpiness’, something like a car driving over a series of potholes. This is called turbulence.

In most cases turbulence is only slight, but sometimes severe buffeting can occur, sufficient to throw objects around the cabin and injure passengers.

Tropical cloud bands

Jet streams play an important role in the generation of tropical cloud bands that periodically develop near the equator and then move to the mid latitudes—from the southwest in the northern hemisphere and the northwest in the southern hemisphere.

These cloud bands are the result of complex interaction between warm sea surface temperatures and upper wind patterns, notably the subtropical jet streams. They are important sources of rain in some mid-latitude areas, including Australia, where they are known as northwest cloud bands.

A northwest cloudband streams across Australia on 30th July 2008.
(Bureau of Meteorology image - click to enlarge)

In a large part of western and central Australia, more than 60 per cent of the April–October rainfall is contributed by northwest cloud bands that form to the south of Indonesia before streaming in from the northwest to form a cloud ‘conveyor belt’ that can be between 3000 and 8000 km long.

When a northwest cloud band interacts with a cold frontal system over southern areas of Australia, significant inland rain can result.

Reference: The Complete Book of Australian Weather by Richard Whitaker
Allen and Unwin 2010, ISBN978 1 74175 734 7

Bob Beamon's Leap Into History

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It was the afternoon of October 18^th 1968, and the occasion was the long jump final of the Mexico City Olympic games. Bob Beamon, the United States champion, stood at the beginning of the long jump runway, eying the raked sand landing pit some 50 metres away.

A tall, lean and muscular man, Beamon was one of the favourites for the event, but not the world record holder – this had been set at 8.35 metres by the Russian athlete Igor Ter-Ovanesyan almost exactly a year before.

Beamon began his run, accelerating smoothly to top pace and hit the take off mark absolutely flat out and in perfect balance. Soaring into space he seemed to briefly defy gravity and float above the sand before returning to earth with a textbook landing. Even to the untrained eye it looked to be a massive jump, but it was destined to be far more than that – it became one of the defining moments in the history of track and field.

His leap was so huge that that it was beyond the range of the special optical device that had been installed to measure the jumps – instead, stunned officials scrambled to measure the distance with a tape. The result was electrifying – a new world record of 8.90 metres was flashed up on the scoreboard. And not only a new record but an absolute demolition job – nobody in history had jumped anywhere near this distance before.

Bob Beamon's jump was a record in terms of distance and also in terms of the amount by which the previous record was broken. Image from Wikipedia Commons

(Click to enlarge)

Normally, in the long jump, when a new record is set, any improvement over the old figure is measured in small increments. But Beamon’s jump raised the distance by an astonishing 55 cm – by far the biggest increase in recorded history.

The rest of the meeting was almost an anticlimax – rain washed through the stadium soon after and second place went to Klaus Beer, the East German, with a leap of 8.19 metres – an astonishing 71 cm short of Beamon’s jump. Bob Beamon finished the day with an Olympic Gold medal, a world record and one of the most remarkable performances ever recorded in the history of athletics.

So how was he able to jump so far on that afternoon? A great deal of study and investigation followed to try and account for his phenomenal performance.

Mexico City lies at an altitude of 2300 metres where the atmosphere is only about 75% as dense as that at sea level, meaning that Beamon experienced correspondingly less air resistance. In addition, he jumped with a “tailwind” which also assisted him – subsequent studies showed that these two factors of altitude and wind assistance could have provided him with a 31 cm advantage compared to a similar jump in still conditions at sea level. This still leaves unexplained a distance of 24 cm – the balance of the 55 cm by which he broke the world record.

Technically, Beamon’s jump was near perfect – his run up was smooth and he hit the take off board at full pace without having to lengthen or shorten his stride. Post analysis of the jump using both still and “movie” images show that he would have cleared a horizontal bar set at 1.7 m over the middle of the pit, which is a phenomenal height for a long jumper. His style through the air was textbook – he adopted a classic aerodynamic position that minimised air resistance and the landing was also ideal with maximum extension achieved without toppling backwards.

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But even all these factors do not adequately explain the enormity of his achievement – perhaps it is only the human spirit, that can, on special occasions, produce superhuman results – that provides the answer.

Bob Beamon’s jump stood as the world long jump record for 23 years until exceeded by 5 cm in a jump by Mike Powell in August 1991. However it still stands as the Olympic record – 44 years later as of 2012.

The gold medal for the London Olympic games was won by Greg Rutherford of Great Britain with a great leap of 8.31 m. However this would not have come close to Bob Beamon's jump.

If we rank all the long jump world records since 1900 in order by the amount that each broke the previous record, we obtain the following table:

1. Robert Beamon (USA) 55 cm 1968

2. Jesse Owens (USA) 15 cm 1935

3. William Hubbard (USA) 13 cm 1925

4. Edward Gourdin (USA) 8 cm 1923

5. Ralph Boston (USA) 8 cm 1960

6. Robert LeGendre (USA) 7 cm 1924

7. Chuhei Nambu (JPN) 5 cm 1931

8. Michael Powell (USA) 5 cm 1991

9. Ralph Boston (USA) 4 cm 1961

10. Sylvio Cator (HAI) 3 cm 1928

11. Ralph Boston (USA) 3 cm 1961

12. Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 3 cm 1962

13. Ralph Boston (USA) 3 cm 1964

14. Edward Hamm (USA) 1 cm 1928

15. Ralph Boston (USA) 1 cm 1965

16. Ralph Boston (USA) 0 cm 1964 (equal WR)

17. Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 0 cm 1967 (equal WR)

We see from this analysis that Bob Beamon’s jump stands alone. His performance earned him the title of Track and Field Athlete of the Year for 1968 and was later named as one of the five greatest sporting achievements of the 20^th century by Sports Illustrated.

For a great vision of the now legendary jump see

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/bob%20beamon?page=20

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc

For some information on the world high jump records see

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-high-can-humans-jump.html

The Race of Death

By world standards, mountains in Australia are not very tall with the highest peak being Mount Kosciusko at only 2235 metres. However, extreme conditions can occur across the mountain ranges over south-eastern Australia, particularly in the winter months when quite heavy snow can fall over widespread areas. This has led to tragedy in the past, and some hard lessons have been learned about life in the high country.

Image: Mount Wellington towers above Hobart, often carrying a mantle of snow during the winter months.

Image from Wikipedia commons - click to enlarge.

Mount Wellington forms a picturesque backdrop to the City of Hobart, rising to a height of 1270 metres, and often with its peak covered in snow during the winter months. However, because of its southerly latitude, snow producing cold fronts racing up from the far Southern Ocean can reach the area at any time, even during the summer, triggering extreme changes in temperature across the area. When a strong cold front moves through Tasmania snow can extend down to quite low levels, with several recorded cases of snow actually reaching sea level around Hobart.

It was Mount Wellington, with its notoriously capricious weather that formed the stage for a gruelling athletics race in 1903, a race that was to end in a double tragedy.

In the early 1900’s there was an Australia-wide athletics craze, with numerous running and walking competitions staged around the country, involving both sprinting and distance events. Unlike today’s fun running phenomenon, these events normally involved trained and sometimes professional athletes, with prizes given and a good deal of public betting on the side.

However the first major race up Mount Wellington was an all-amateur affair, organised by the Tasmanian Amateur Athletics Association, and with the first prize not money, but a brand new double barrelled shotgun presented by the sponsor Watson Whisky.

The race was organised for Saturday September 19, 1903, and ran from Lower Elizabeth Street to the top of Mount Wellington and back – a distance of some 27 kilometers. The format was what was called a “Go As You Please” race, which meant that the route the runner elected to take was optional - provided he reached the checkpoint at the top of the mountain, he could go any way he wanted.

On the morning before the race, the weather was described as “very unsettled”, with snow drifting down to low levels on the mountain. There was talk of postponing the start, but eventually the field got under way in the early afternoon, with 39 out of the 70 original entrants beginning the race. The pace was a cracker out of the city but naturally began to slow as the runners began the arduous climb up the side of the mountain.

The Organ Pipes - a distinctive rock formation near the summit. Image from Wikipedia commons - click to enlarge.

Then, only part of the way through the climb, it began snowing and the athletes, only lightly clad in athletic singlets and shorts, found themselves in freezing conditions, with a strong south-west wind producing a chill factor that effectively dropped the temperature much further. The going became too tough for several and only 23 out of the 39 starters reached the pinnacle and began the downhill run home.

One member of the group of officials at the summit reported that “He had never met with worse weather on the mountain. With the heavy snow beating on them,(the athletes) their clothes got frozen hard”. Leading at the half way mark was a runner called Charles Beard, but he was followed closely by a group which consisted of Betts, McDonald and Cockshutt. Another athlete, Mark Richards, also reached the summit but complained of feeling faint and dizzy. He was about to drop out but was “encouraged by another competitor” and was persuaded to run on.

As a result of the steep downhill grades on the return journey, the pace picked up considerably, but because of the freezing conditions many of the athletes became exhausted and dropped out. More than half of the 23 men who reached the summit failed to reach the finish, and only a small band eventually raced into the city, applauded by a large crowd. The eventual winner was Cockshutt in the very respectable time of 2hr 44 min.

However the euphoria of the finish of the first organised race up Mount Wellington was soon eclipsed by the news filtering back from the mountain; Mark Richards had collapsed and died part way down, and another athlete, George Radford, was missing. The local police, together with the race promoters, immediately organised search parties, and these continued in failing light and falling snow until well after midnight, but no trace of Radford was found. Next morning the search resumed at sunrise, and a little later, Radford’s body was found in the snow on the “Old Fingerpost Track” where he had fallen backwards and frozen to death.

This double death toll cast a pall of gloom over the race as well as the organisers and a full coronial enquiry was ordered. This found that both Richards and Radford had died from a combination of heart failure and prolonged exposure to below freezing conditions.

Such a tragedy is unlikely to happen today. Recognised distance running events involving either elite athletes or “fun runners” are carefully planned and have medical assistance available to all competitors. In addition, the weather forecasts are routinely monitored, and if extreme conditions, such as very hot or very cold temperatures are forecast, race organisers will incorporate this into their planning.

As far as Tasmania is concerned, not only Mount Wellington, but the state as a whole, can experience great temperature variations. Cold outbreaks can produce snow across many parts of the Tasmanian highlands even during the summer months, and the Bureau of Meteorology issues “Bushwalker’s Alerts” when such a change is expected.

Today the Radford Track on Mount Wellington is both a memorial and a reminder of the tragic events of September 1903.

Reference: Australia's Natural Disasters, Richard Whitaker, New Holland Publications, 2005

The Naming of Tropical Cyclones

Photograph: HMAS "Arrow" lies wrecked in Darwin Harbour following tropical cyclone "Tracy" in December 1974. Image: Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge

Whilst many of the famous tropical cyclones in Australia’s history are instantly recognised by the names they were given, such as Tracy, Althea and Trixie, some of our most intense cyclones were never named at all.

The reason for this is tied up in the history of the naming of cyclones in Australia, which is an interesting story in itself. Clement Wragge, the rather eccentric Queensland Government Meteorologist from 1887 to 1902, is thought to have been the first person in the world to name tropical cyclones.

He called them after letters from the Greek alphabet, figures from Greek and Roman mythology, feminine names and also the names of some of the politicians of the day, including Drake, Barton and Deakin. Wragge considered that both politicians and tropical cyclones were national disasters.

In 1902, the Member for Werriwa was the Honourable Mr. A.H.Conroy, who somehow had incurred Wragge’s displeasure because he featured in several cyclone warnings. These included “Conroy, looking nasty, is coming along the coast” and “Conroy, black and treacherous, is likely to cross the Southern District…”. Justifiably miffed, Conroy dismissed Wragge as “an advertising scientist”.

After Wragge had left the meteorological scene in 1908, the naming of tropical cyclones lapsed and was not resumed by the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia until 1963. Then only feminine names were employed, but after complaints that this practice was discriminatory, both male and female names were used from 1975 onwards.

As a result of all this, cyclones that occurred between 1908 and 1963 were generally not given a name and these included some major storms that created massive damage and considerable loss of life. A powerful cyclone devastated Mackay in January 1918, killing 30 people and destroying some 30% of the housing in the area. And in 1954 a cyclone struck the Gold Coast of Queensland with 26 people perishing and hundreds of houses destroyed in the general area. Neither of these cyclones was named.

Tropical cyclone "Ingrid" threatened the Queensland coastline during March 2005.

(NASA image) - click to enlarge

Today, the names of tropical cyclones come from a list maintained and updated by the Bureau of Meteorology according to quite a strict protocol.

This contains five main guidelines that are called the “Tropical cyclone naming policy” and these are:

* Tropical cyclone names in each list are alternate male and female

* Names of cyclones that have already significantly affected the Australian region cannot be used again – for example “Tracy”.

* If two or more cyclones are occurring simultaneously, similar sounding names (for example June & Jane) are avoided to minimise confusion

* Names should not be capable of being construed to subject the Bureau to criticism or ridicule (for example naming a sequence of cyclones after politicians)

* Lists of names are coordinated with neighbouring meteorological services to avoid duplication

These guidelines, together with the current list of names being used, can be found at

http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/about/names.shtml

Tropical revolving storms – that we call tropical cyclones in Australia - are referred to as “hurricanes” in the USA and “typhoons” in much of Asia.

Hurricane derives from the South American Carib word “Hurican” meaning God of Evil, and typhoon originates from the Chinese “tai’fung” meaning Great Wind.

Reference: Australia’s Natural Disasters, Richard Whitaker (New Holland Publishers) 2005.

Heatwaves in Australia

There is no universally accepted definition of a “heatwave” so to a certain extent we can make up our own. A simple and easy to remember definition is the 5/5 rule – that is five days in a row where the maximum temperature is five or more degrees Celsius above average.

But academic definitions aside, one thing is eminently clear – heat waves are lethal happenings – in fact the most deadly of all meteorological extremes. Perhaps surprisingly, heat waves kill many more people each year than tropical cyclones, bushfires, thunderstorms and floods. Whenever there is a heat wave there is an immediate spike in community mortality, and from analysing the nature of the “spike” experts can estimate the associated death toll.

Australia has experienced numerous recorded heatwaves and some of the main events are listed here together with the estimated number of deaths recorded nationally:

* January 1908 - 246
* February 1921 - 147
* January 1927 - 130
* January 1939 - 438
* February 1959 - 105
* January 1973 - 26
* February 1981 - 15
* February 1993 - 17
* February 2004 - 12
* February 2009 - 374



The temperature profile of the Melbourne heatwave of January and February 2009. Note the three consecutive days over 43C in late January, followed by a record 46.4C on February 7. It is believed that 374 people died as a result. Melbourne's average maximum temperature for this time of the year is 26C.
Image: Wikipedia Commons.
(Click on image to enlarge)

These mortality numbers cannot be used to directly gauge the severity of heatwaves as the population and social habits of the day also play a role. The larger number or people around today will obviously produce a proportionate increase in mortality compared to the situation of say fifty years ago.

But on the other hand, people today have far more access to fans and air conditioning than their earlier counterparts. Direct comparisons are therefore difficult.

Australia’s southern capitals are all subject to heatwaves, including Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, and these events are often accompanied by severe bushfires.

An interesting article appeared in the Melbourne Argus on Friday 19th January 1934 that contained some recollections of severe heatwaves in Melbourne over the years. The temperatures quoted are of course in the old Fahrenheit scale – 100 degrees Fahrenheit is approximately 38 degrees Celsius.

“A very good idea of the intense heat of Thursday (January 25th 1875) may be gathered from the fact that a gentleman of Soldiers Hill who thought it unnecessary to have a fire in the house to provide himself a meal utilised the suns rays to cook an omelette and the feat was successfully performed. He placed a school slate for a while out of doors then spread some butter upon it and breaking an egg thereon in a few minutes the egg was, perfectly cooked, as if done in the orthodox pan over a fire.

The Weather Bureau record on that day was 110.4 degrees, compared with 102.5 degrees yesterday. There were bush fires all over Victoria then; there were four days of intense heat in Melbourne, and it was reported that a stack of firewood had been ignited by the heat of the sun’s rays. As usual in a heat wave in those days the Yan Yean supply failed in most of the suburbs and water was carted in drays to Emerald Hill (South Melbourne) Richmond and
Kew.

In 1883 the Hon. Ivo Bligh's cricket team was visiting Melbourne, on three days the temperature exceeded 100 degrees - twice it exceeded 104 degrees. Correspondents wrote to the newspapers of the odour of the filthy Elizabeth street drain-and the Yan Yean failed. For the next heat wave, in 1898, there was also an English team present and "Observer" wrote in his introduction to the account of the match, ' On every hand there were heard weary sighings for rain - rain by the inch even though Australia lost the cricket match because of it!” Almost the whole of Gippsland was ablaze. In Melbourne the horses of the Fire Brigade were exhausted and none could be found strong enough to take their places. Elms, planes, oaks, and willow trees withered in the parks in the first days of February.

In 1905 some persons walked through the streets of the city in bathing suits when 108.5 degrees was registered on two days in January - but bathing suits then were different. Amusements were postponed and labourers were forced to cease work.

The record heat wave in Melbourne, however, was in 1908 from January 15 to January 20, six days of “centuries" with a maximum of 109.1 degrees. There were many sudden deaths from heat-stroke; the heat hastened the deaths of many sick persons; there was a constant stream of ambulance wagons to the Melbourne Hospital, and the number of deaths was so abnormal that the Melbourne General Cemetery management was unable to keep pace with the demand for burials. The Yan Yean failed again though not so seriously. The heat was so intense in the Newport railway workshops that portions of it were closed. Schools postponed their opening after the Christmas holidays, stock and poultry died. Thousands of suburban residents left their homes and carried mattresses into the public parks. The tram and train services could not cope with the crowds who went to the beaches, and thousands were left stranded at St Kilda and Brighton beaches unable to obtain a foothold on the last trams and trains to their homes.

In February 1912 when there appeared the first report of a man and his wife having driven to the beach wearing bathing suits in a “motor landaulette”. Birds, beasts and even fish in the lakes dropped dead. Since then the heat and its effects have been more mild. A constable collapsed on Flinders Street station in 1922. In 1927 the most serious effect of 104.5 degrees in the shade after a run of hot weather, was that potatoes suffered from sunburn; two years ago a temperature of 108.9 degrees was registered at the Weather Bureau, and many persons suffered from heat-stroke”.

Even in modern Australian society with its air conditioning, fast communications and advanced medical practices, heat waves remain a summer menace, and with the experts predicting an increasing frequency, this is a menace that will probably get worse rather than better.

2009 - The Year That Was

2009 turned out to be a year of amazing weather extremes - hot and cold, wet and dry with many records being set along the way. Here are some of the weather highlights for 2009 with great photographs supplied by viewers of The Weather Channel.

* During January and February, widespread heavy rain fell across north-western Queensland, producing extensive flooding around the Mt. Isa and Cloncurry areas. Flood-waters travelled southwards into Lake Eyre over the following weeks.

The Copperfield River, Queensland, in flood. Photo by Cindy and Damien (click to enlarge)

* A record-breaking heat- wave began building across south-eastern Australia during January and early February. During this time many temperature records were broken in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and southern NSW.

Tasmania recorded its highest ever temperature on 30th January (Scamander 42.2C).

On 7th February Victoria’s highest ever temperature was registered at Hopetoun at 48.8C and Melbourne’s new temperature record was raised to 46.4C on the same day.

Numerous deaths attributed to the heat were reported and morgues in Melbourne and Adelaide were filled to capacity because of the spike in heat related deaths. In Melbourne alone it’s estimated that more that 350 people died as a direct result of the heat during the scorching days of the 28th, 29th and 30th January, when maximum temperatures climbed above 43C on each day.

* Disastrous bushfires erupted across parts of central Victoria on Saturday 7th February – the Black Saturday fires - with 173 lives lost and more than 1800 houses razed. These were the worst fires in Australian history.


Black Saturday fires rage across Victoria. Photograph from Wikipedia Commons. (Daniel Cleavely)
(Click to enlarge)

* An east coast low dumped heavy rain along the NSW coastal areas between Kempsey and Newcastle on Tuesday 17th February, generating further floods across the already saturated Bellinger River catchment. The town of Bellingen was totally isolated over the next 24-hour period.

* On Tuesday March 31st, phenomenal rain from a nest of slow moving thunderstorms produced major flooding around Coffs Harbour. Some locations experienced more than 400 mm in a six hour period. The flooding produced major damage as well as numerous evacuations around the area.


Raging floods in Coffs Harbour. Photo by Steve Canute

* Heavy snow fell across the NSW and Victorian ski fields during Sunday 26th and Monday 27th April, allowing Mount Buller in Victoria, to open for business on Saturday 2nd May – the earliest start to the ski season in 45 years.

* Heavy rain set in across south-eastern Queensland on the night of Tuesday 19th May and continued through Wednesday. 48 hour totals in excess of 300 mm produced massive flooding across Brisbane and the Gold Coast with the inundation being compared in extent to the floods of 1974. Massive infrastructure damage unfolded with roads cut, power-lines down and waterways overtopping their banks. South-eastern Queensland was declared a natural disaster area by the Premier as the damage bill continued to rise. Queensland dams rose to 73 % by the end of the week – an increase in 13% in less than 1 week.

* The eastern rainfall focus then turned to the northern coastal areas of NSW on Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd May with very heavy falls triggering widespread flooding across the NSW Northern Rivers and Mid North coast. Flood warnings eventually spread to 10 major river systems in the area.

* On Monday 15th June, rain began ramping up along the NSW coastline, in particular the Mid North Coast and northern Rivers areas. A succession of wet days followed with three day totals in excess of 200 mm accumulating in some areas, and a minor flood warning was issued on Saturday 10th for the Orara River – a tributary of the Clarence River.

* Heavy rainfall across eastern Tasmania, produced by a low over eastern Victoria, generated big rain gauge totals during Wednesday and Thursday, 12th and 13th August, with substantial flooding resulting over the South Esk and Macquarie River basins.

* Very warm to hot weather developed over central and eastern Australia during the week of 9th to 16th August, in north-westerly winds ahead of the fronts, as they moved eastward. Alice Springs experienced 6 days in a row where the temperature reached or exceeded 30C, which is the first time this has happened in August in at least 60 years.

* On Tuesday 22nd September a major dust storm spread across inland NSW, affecting Broken Hill, Tibooburra, and the ACT. The dust hit Sydney early on Wed 23rd, producing the most intense dust storm across the city in living memory. The dust then extended north over the next 48 hours, affecting Brisbane and then cities further north over inland and coastal areas of Queensland.


Red dust blankets Sydney on Wednesday 23rd September.
Image from Wikipedia Commons
(Merbabu)
(Click to enlarge)

* Heavy rain over the Mid North Coast area during Monday 26th October produced further minor to moderate flooding in the Bellinger, Nambucca and Orara river valleys during Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th October. This was the fourth time that the area has flooded in the last 9 months and the districts were declared a natural disaster area later in the week.

* Tropical Cyclone “Laurence” formed off the Kimberley coastline on Sunday 13th December, and after an irregular movement, proceeded to track across the central inland of Australia. The remnants of “Laurence” then produced widespread flooding rains across large areas of NSW and southern Queensland during the last week of 2009.