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Pics of a severe squall line that developed this afternoon bringing winds to 100km/h and rainfall rates of up to 250mm / hour. Some suburbs copped over 30mm of rain in 10 minutes. This comes on top of yesterday's storms when up to 40mm was dumped in the northern suburbs, including the airport in just 30 minutes, causing flash flooding.
Train station subway. I had to catch the train to the city today, but luckily managed to leave before the storms hit. The storm pretty much followed me home, never seen such black cloud in my life, it was toward the city, and at my place was sunshine when I got off the train. About 10 minutes later, all hell broke loose...
This was taken near my place
Radar image of the storm system, clearly showing a bow echo
Doppler image of winds at the same moment, showing windspeeds in excess of 90km/h
Some of them you can see it's like the leading edge is starting to roll.
I've seen some bad flooding but I'm not sure if it's been that bad here.
What were the conditions to set up such a storm in Melbourne?
Near Toronto,
The most bizarre formation I've seen is on an advancing t-storm,
it looked like rows of rolling-pins that were descending (growing! ) and spinning backwards as they advanced.
A good way to start the summer. Did you get any hail in that? At least over here it's usual to get a dumping of hail when rainfall rates reach 250mm/hr as happened last July however our upper air temperatures are significantly colder at our latitude.
Some of them you can see it's like the leading edge is starting to roll.
I've seen some bad flooding but I'm not sure if it's been that bad here.
What were the conditions to set up such a storm in Melbourne?
Near Toronto,
The most bizarre formation I've seen is on an advancing t-storm,
it looked like rows of rolling-pins that were descending (growing! ) and spinning backwards as they advanced.
It's been prolonged humid, tropical conditions now since mid-late November, and is expected to continue until mid-next week. Basically humid northeasterly winds are interacting with a stationary trough in western Vic, causing sultry conditions and massive instability. Overnight lows are around 18-20C and highs about 27-30C, if the sun comes out it is oppressive, and is actually more sultry than the conditions I experienced in Cairns last year. On the train home, I could se the most unbelievable jet-black cloud towards Melbourne downtown I've ever seen. I got off the train at my home station today at 3pm, it was hot, humid and those massive supercell storms with their near-jet black cloud formations were closing in at amazing speed. Awesome experience. Then it just went AWOL. It just started belting down like hell and the lightning/thunder went ballistic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Weatherfan2
A good way to start the summer. Did you get any hail in that? At least over here it's usual to get a dumping of hail when rainfall rates reach 250mm/hr as happened last July however our upper air temperatures are significantly colder at our latitude.
Yep for sure. Dec 1 and Dec 2 have seen severe storms in Melbourne causing flash flooding. No hail with any of this, just extreme rainfall. The atmosphere is too warm for hail to survive to sea level, it just turns into immense rainfall. The rain is so heavy, it is rotting away tonnes of crops, which previously were subject to drought, now it's excesssive rainfall and storm activity causing loses
The 2009/10 season was absolutely awesome here, some of the most extraordinary lightning I've ever seen, and it looks like '10/11 will match it with warm, humid unsettled weather if this La Nina continues.
One drawback....the mosquito population has gone mental, it is literally plague proportions and in this warm humid condition they just kill you. If you turn on a light they swarm like crazy, dozens of the bloody things!
It's been prolonged humid, tropical conditions now since mid-late November, and is expected to continue until mid-next week. Basically humid northeasterly winds are interacting with a stationary trough in western Vic, causing sultry conditions and massive instability. Overnight lows are around 18-20C and highs about 27-30C, if the sun comes out it is oppressive, and is actually more sultry than the conditions I experienced in Cairns last year. On the train home, I could se the most unbelievable jet-black cloud towards Melbourne downtown I've ever seen. I got off the train at my home station today at 3pm, it was hot, humid and those massive supercell storms with their near-jet black cloud formations were closing in at amazing speed. Awesome experience. Then it just went AWOL. It just started belting down like hell and the lightning/thunder went ballistic.
Do you actually consider the sun oppressive with the temps + humidity,
or are you only describing it objectively while enjoying the "steam bath?"
Sometimes I sense a mildly-suffocating atmosphere from humidity, (mass qty's of rising vapour?) and sometimes I enjoy it.
So how long will this muggy, stormy spell keep you content from Melbourne's typical lack of t-storms?
Yep for sure. Dec 1 and Dec 2 have seen severe storms in Melbourne causing flash flooding. No hail with any of this, just extreme rainfall. The atmosphere is too warm for hail to survive to sea level, it just turns into immense rainfall. The rain is so heavy, it is rotting away tonnes of crops, which previously were subject to drought, now it's excesssive rainfall and storm activity causing loses
What was the surface temp? Really, really strong thunderstorms can still produce large hail lasting to the surface in mid-summer at 38-40°C temps in places like Texas. But then again those storms really are in a league of their own.
Your thunderstorm pics are sweet. Nothing like a good summer storm. Wish we had one last summer. And such a contrast to the British snow pictures. Nice to have poster from around the world
I hope you're enjoying the heat and humidity right now. Won't mind some right now. It sounds like you're in need of window screens. Here the bugs are real bad after sudden hot and wet week because they all hatch at once. But they calm down a bit. But everyone has screens on their windows here.
Your thunderstorm pics are sweet. Nothing like a good summer storm. Wish we had one last summer. And such a contrast to the British snow pictures.
Ironically, not really.
Many places in the UK have been having heavy "thundersnow" storms, with frequent lightning, hail etc... Places worst affected have been east coast locations in Scotland, Newcastle, East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire.
Do you actually consider the sun oppressive with the temps + humidity,
or are you only describing it objectively while enjoying the "steam bath?"
Sometimes I sense a mildly-suffocating atmosphere from humidity, (mass qty's of rising vapour?) and sometimes I enjoy it.
humidity does have a surprising effect IMO, the temp was about 27C, but was a complete different world to the dry warmth I'm used to. I found my skin slimy and my clothes sticking to me like glue, Melbourne is not usually humid so is a bit of a shock. When warm temps hit, it's almost always a dry desert airmass, but in this case it's a persistant damp situation fuelled by constant influx of humid air from NE NSW and Queensland. Sadly, the mosquitos are revelling in it
Quote:
So how long will this muggy, stormy spell keep you content from Melbourne's typical lack of t-storms?
Melbourne actually tends to get rather frequent storms in summer, and if this week goes off as is forecast I shall be very happy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Weatherfan2
What was the surface temp? Really, really strong thunderstorms can still produce large hail lasting to the surface in mid-summer at 38-40°C temps in places like Texas. But then again those storms really are in a league of their own.
Surface temp was 27C, hail is common in Melbourne but tends to occur in cooler less humid conditions, this week it is basically Cairns weather all over, the mid and lower levels are far too warm so the falling hail melts and turns into rain. That being said, March 6 this year had similar conditions, and hail the size of grapefruits slaughtered the eastern suburbs. My brother's car looks like the surface of the moon!
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) and spinning backwards as they advanced. 
