The weather is back!

Yippee! Now I may have something to write about. I have found the last few months of the drought rather depressing with no real weather to speak of and certainly no real fishing to speak of either, but things may be on the right path now, God willing.

It has rained every day so far since Saturday 28th April and looks like it is set to continue for the next couple days. Yesterday Burnie was hit by extremely strong winds around 9am. This is the Advocate article:

BATTEN DOWN More on the way By BEN WILD

WINDS caused chaos on the Coast yesterday, smashing signs, breaking windows and tearing a brick wall loose, and the Bureau of Meteorology predicts gusts will be stronger today.
Trees were blown down, power cut to residents and Coasters in some areas and the thousands at Agfest were left wondering what had hit them.
Somerset was the worst hit, with many locals labelling the winds that tore through town at 9am a mini tornado.
The Somerset Hotel lost two signs, the Beijing Chinese Restaurant suffered a broken front window and the Somerset Hardware store had its awning ripped from the building and sent slamming into a neighbouring building, through a fence and onto the road.
The wind even destroyed a wall at a house in Pelissier St.
Police received reports of trees on the road in Wiseman St, Burnie at 9.39am, Olivers Rd at West Ulverstone at 10.56am and in Main St, Wilmot at 9.30am.
The sign above the United Petrol station on Mount St in Burnie was thrown to the ground and smashed over the road and footpath.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Lance Cowled said the weather was due to a cold front passing across the State.
"It's associated with strong upper winds that were able to penetrate to the surface," Mr Cowled said.
"We expect further winds to develop overnight," he said yesterday. He said the wind today would be stronger than it was yesterday.
Winds gusting up to 85km/h were recorded at Sheffield and gusts just shy of 80km/h hit Devonport.
Aurora was kept busy as the stormy weather cut power to customers in the Ulverstone and Railton areas from just before 10am to 11.10am.
At the same time, windborne material hit powerlines and cut power to the Agfest site at Carrick along with another 1500 Aurora customers. Agfest was back up and running by 11am.

This is the information I sent to the BOM in my role as a Storm Spotter:

Not sure if you already have had some reports or not, but I did observe a short wind event in Burnie around 9am this morning. The winds hit with-in seconds and lasted about 2 minutes. From what I could see from inside my office, the winds appeared severe. I took a quick drive around town after hearing chain saws in action and there are quite a few trees blown down. Some were snapped off midway up the trunks, but they were wattle trees. Others were just stripped of bark. Also I have had reports of windows being blown out and the repair people are saying it could be days before they get everyone fixed up due to the number of calls.
From my limited knowledge and observations, it appears to me that the winds were ‘straight line’ in nature. I saw nothing to suggest any tornado activity. The damage appears widespread, but in isolate pockets around the town.

As a follow up to the Advocate article:

Although I never seen the damage at Somerset, I’m personally a little dubious about the “mini tornado” statement. Have the Bureau been able to confirm this claim or is it just media excitement? The pattern I’ve seen with ‘small’ tornados on the coast over the last 20 years of weather observing is that they seem to occur in situations where the only violent wind is associated with the tornado itself while elsewhere it can be virtually calm. What I observed yesterday was more like “channels” or “tunnels” of very strong straight line winds. Of course, there is a chance that a ‘mini tornado’ could have been in the mix, but from what I observed I would have to doubt the claim myself at this stage.

Anyway, whatever the case, it was exciting to see the weather “back” again after a long break.

Today has seen a strong Westerly stream form with many fronts embedded, which more like what we should see for this time year. Last night there was a little thunderstorm activity around the coast but most was further East.

Lets hope there will more to write about from now on in.

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"A few showers during the afternoon, with possible thunder"

Weather Stuff:

Well the mild conditions just keep on coming. Devonport reached 26C yesterday with a minimum of 18C overnight. The BOM are forecasting thunderies possible for this afternoon, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The trough that has been hanging around the Bass Straight the last several days is making forecasting difficult as it moves around where ever it likes.

It also appears that the El Nino may have finally ran its race. This report from the ABC:

El Nino declared over
The Bureau of Meteorology has declared the drought-causing El Nino weather phenomenon has passed after influencing Australia's climate for more than a year.

The bureau says it is time to be optimistic about drought-breaking rains, although the drought is far from over.

In a statement, it says all the main indicators show neutral conditions have returned to the Pacific Basin.

"Along the equator, sea-surface temperatures are cooling rapidly and have been below their El Nino thresholds for about a month now," the statement said.

But the bureau's senior climatologist, Grant Beard, says it may not mean heavy rain is on the way.

"Unfortunately, El Nino is not an on-off switch, so just because the El Nino has finished in terms of its broad-scale indicators, it doesn't mean that imminent widespread rain is about to occur to break the drought," Mr Beard said.

"In fact, a lot of the areas through the south and east of the country, in terms of water supplies, are so far behind that only several years of healthy falls will replenish those supplies to something that is considered satisfactory."

But he says rain is now more likely.

"It provides optimism - cautious optimism, I would say - for a return to more normal rainfall pattern in the drought-affected areas during the next one to two seasons," he said.

Mr Beard says the rain would likely fall over Australia's eastern half and in areas in the country's south-west.

The climatologist says early signs have emerged of an imminent La Nina cycle, which would bring more rain.

"We think that the chance of a La Nina developing this year is probably higher than the long-term level of chance, which is about one in five, or 20 per cent," he said.

"La Ninas are usually associated with above-average rainfall over fairly large areas of the continent, particularly the eastern half of the country.

"But in terms of the long-term water supply issue, it's really impossible to say.

"Several years of above-average falls are really needed."

I certainly hope if a La Nina forms it brings some good rains to Tassie.

Fishing Stuff:

At this stage I may be popping out for a few hours of fishing with my mate JC on Saturday morning.

More Hobart storm Photos from the Mercury...and again, again

More Hobart storm Photos from the Mercury...and again

More Hobart storm Photos from the Mercury...again

Stupid blog won't load more than one image at a time today...

More Hobart storm Photos from the Mercury...

"Widespread chaos from storms": - Article from: Mercury

MERYL NAIDOO
February 17, 2007 12:00am

DRAMATIC weather swept across south-eastern Tasmania yesterday causing chaos.Hailstones, some as big as golf balls, fell in the tropical-style thunderstorms, covering houses, gardens and roads.

Flash flooding trapped motorists, flooded homes and caused traffic snarls.The weather bureau warned similar conditions were expected today. Houses were flooded at Bellerive on Hobart's Eastern Shore after a fierce storm moved across the city about 7pm.

Police reported people walking knee-deep in water around Alexandra Esplanade and South St in Bellerive and Clarence City Council workers battled to unblock stormwater drains.

Police said the severe weather caused flooding, fires were caused by lightning and there were minor traffic accidents over a wide area between Bothwell and Huonville. And a fire ripped through the Salvation Army hall at Huonville when it was hit by lightning. Aurora reported power blackouts at Woodbridge, Hamilton, Ouse and Bothwell.

Aurora spokeswoman Barbara McGregor said a car hit a power pole in Main Rd, Granton, causing 1100 homes to lose power in Glenorchy and Moonah.They were without power for about an hour. Ms McGregor said the threat of lightning strikes meant repair crews had to wait for storms to pass."Crews have had to turn back from Woodbridge and Huonville, it's way to dangerous," she said.

Several work crews worked through the night to restore power to affected areas.Roads were closed by flooding in several areas, which disrupted traffic. Main Rd at Austins Ferry was closed, with Aurora replacing a power pole which was struck by a motor vehicle.

Tasmania Police sergeant Pat Lee said many people called for help soon after 7pm. The weather bureau expected the thunder to ease overnight.

Forecaster Lance Cowled said the rain had been widespread and varied.Bothwell had the heaviest falls, of 60mm in two hours, with 15 to 20mm in the Huon Valley, 34mm at Grove, 19mm on Mt Wellington, 17mm at Judbury and 7mm in Hobart.

The temperature yesterday reached 33.6C in Hobart at 3pm.Bushy Park and Scotts Peak were the hottest, with maximums of 35C. The bureau has forecast a mixed bag today again, with showers and a thunderstorm forecast -- but not before the mercury hits 29C. Mr Cowled said today would be fine apart from the chance of a thundery shower or two during the late afternoon or evening.

Mild and humid

Weather Stuff:

The conditions over the last week have been extremely mild and humid. Last Friday a massive thunderstorm parked itself over Hobart and the surrounding suburbs and provided quite a show. Devonport hasn’t seen any thunderstorm activity since January 11th. The next change is due around Friday, so there may be another chance for a storm in that? During this period there has been good thunderstorm cell development inland which has produced some great isolated rainfall figures. So the Q’land type weather should be with us at least until Friday.

(Feature Photos: Inland TS Taken by me - Hobart TS Taken by Author Unknown)

Fishing Stuff:

Visited Arthurs Lake with Daniel on the 9th Feb. Daniel hadn’t caught a trout before this trip, so it was very satisfying to see him land two nice trout at 2lbs each. Both caught on the ol’ faithful Alpha lure. I managed to land one at 1.5lbs, which I guess is better than a kick in pants.

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Bek's First Trout!

Weather Stuff:

The cold front which is crossing today hasn’t got a great deal of cloud associated with it, thus no real rain is expected. It could trigger a few showers here ‘n’ there.

Fishing Stuff:

Visited Arthurs Lake with the family last weekend, which was an interesting venture. The weather was terrible for fishing with warm, humid and very windy conditions. Bek was still determined to have a fish so we braved the wind and showers and flicked a mudeye out on a float. She wanted to keep holding the rod and kept asking if she had one, but I explained that she would know when she had one on. After about 3 casts ‘n’ drifts she screamed “I got one” to which I though she was just being silly. Then a nice trout jumped out of the water and she fought the fish in close to the shore where I took over and landed the trout. It weighed in just under 2lb and Bek was very excited – not a bad first fish! That was the only fish I seen for the rest of the weekend.

Feature Photo: Bek and her prize.

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Rain and possible thunderstorms...(Celebrating 80 posts!)

Weather Stuff:

A trough of low pressure is set to cross the State today hopefully bringing some rain and a possible thunderstorm, but I won’t hold my breath. There is also the possibility of some follow up rain mostly for Sunday. Christmas day is looking fairly typical with gusty and cold southerly winds and possible snow on the highlands.

Fishing Stuff:

Fished Lake Rowallan a couple of weekends ago and Simon caught 4 of size and I managed 1. Unfortunately, the rainbows in this lake haven’t increased in size, which was disappointing, but over all an enjoyable trip. I also spent a couple of nights at Arthurs Lake managing to land 3 nice trout. The first day/night was hampered by 100 kph winds and snow, thus I only landed one trout. The next day/night was a complete contrast with light winds tending to dead calm by evening. Andrew K joined me on the second day and we didn’t see a single fish during daylight hours even while flicking the fly around. During the evening Andrew K landed 1 on a grub and lost another – it broke him off! I landed 1 on the cocky and a nice 4lb’er on the good ol’ Alpha lure.

I gave the fly rod a go at the Mersey on Sunday arvo but there wasn’t much activity there either.

Featured Photo: the 4lb'er after a trip in the esky :-)

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isolated thunderstorms this afternoon and overnight...

Weather Stuff:

A cold front combined with a trough will cross over night with the slight chance of a thunderstorm. The westerly winds should pick up tomorrow easing later on Thursday.

Fishing Stuff:

Fished Arthurs on the weekend and all managed to land fish. Andrew W landed 6 nice trout, which he was happy about as he now may have to wait until February or even December next year before returning to the lake. I caught 2 and summed up the courage to flick the fly around for some fun. The weather was great but no good for fishing from the shore. Graham from Q’land caught 2, which one weighed in just under 3lb. He caught his trout on a pink and white sea fishing bibbed lure affectionately know as the “jellybean”. Welcome to the Trout Fish Tasmania club Graham.

END:

October 2006 - An extraordinary month...

Weather Stuff:

Info from the BOM:

Tasmania had some quite extraordinary weather during October, all sorts of records were broken at different sites: hottest day, coldest night, warmest night and lowest rainfall.

October was a month punctuated with extreme events - a record hot day on the 12th with severe bushfires in the south and record cold days on the 16th, 21st, 28th and 29th with severe frosts reported in the north and snow to low levels reported across the state.

Many stations in the north had their lowest total October rainfall on record, including Burnie, Devonport, Scottsdale and Launceston. Devonport had less than 5 mm for the month, a tiny fraction of its October normal 66.9 mm.

Fishing Stuff:

Looking forward to Andrew W’s trip South. He has every piece of gear imaginable ready to go. I think the weather will play a big part to how well things go, hopefully the Easterly will stay away!

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