Summer 2021-2022 Discussion Thread ( Southern Hemisphere ) (climate, tornado, records, days)

[Joe90]

Not much to report for the start of summer here - has been warm and humid, but pretty cloudy .... although December is the cloudiest month here anyways.

[marlaver]

Originally Posted by Joe90

Not much to report for the start of summer here - has been warm and humid, but pretty cloudy .... although December is the cloudiest month here anyways.

Wasn't South Island a bit more on the mediterranean side in terms of the Pp pattern?

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by marlaver

Wasn't South Island a bit more on the mediterranean side in terms of the Pp pattern?

It depends where in the South Island - the lower South Island has a tendency towards a summer rainfall peak, with western areas tending to a spring peak and some east coast areas tending towards an autumn peak, while other areas having almost perfectly even distribution.

Where I am in the Northern end of the island, has a clear Mediterranean pattern but late spring/early summer is also the time when convectional cloud buildup is at it's peak.

[greysrigging]

No let up from the December heatwave in the Pilbara, although Roebourne did have a sub 40c day ( sea breeze must have come in for a 39.5c day )

Roebourne.


Marble Bar.

[Ed's Mountain]

More wet weather for southern Australia, this time SE NSW.

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1...7JZnTLpNQ&s=09

[greysrigging]

Freezing Friday as Sydney temps plummet in hail-producing storms
( source : Weatherzone )

It's a freezing Friday afternoon in Sydney by December standards, after the morning dawned clear and sunny with the promise of a warm, sunny end to the working week.
But things changed very rapidly just before midday, as a line of storms encircled the city from the south and west.
The storms soon moved across the city, combining with a southerly change and lingering showers to send the mercury plummeting in all suburbs.
Between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, Sydney (Observatory Hill) dropped from 21.2°C to 14.4°C.

Image: Sydney's temperature and rainfall observations during the last 24 hours, showing a rapid temperature drop around midday on Friday.
Temps fell to even lower levels at weather stations all across the city. For example:
It was just 13.1°C at 1 pm at Terrey Hills on the northern beaches.
Temps fell to just 14.1°C at midday in Richmond in the city's far northwest.
Holsworthy, in the city's southwest, copped the storms earlier than most other suburbs and fell to just 12.3°C at 11:18 am.
Small hail and loud grumbles of thunder were reported in many suburbs with the onset of the storms, but a gloomy rain has now set in as we write this story.
Not sure whether you’d bat or bowl - Clark Reserve Kearns/Raby #SydneyStorm pic.twitter.com/7sFN4YhgwO

Around 2 pm on Friday afternoon, it was still pretty miserable in Sydney with temperatures not much warmer than 15°C in most suburbs. To put that into perspective:
Sydney's average daily maximum in the coolest month, July, is 16.4°C.The coldest December maximum on record was 15.2°C back in 1957. Today won't come close to breaking that record because, as mentioned, it had already reached 21.1°C earlier in the day, and could again possibly reach or even exceed that sort of temp later today.
Newcastle, barely two hours north of Sydney, reached 24.1°C at 1:50 pm, with storms yet to penetrate that far north.
All indications are that the rain should clear from most Sydney suburbs by mid-afternoon and the weekend ahead should be mostly clear but cool, with tops around 23°C.

[greysrigging]

Meanwhile in the 'deep north', we are in the dog days just prior to the arrival of the Monsoon.

[greysrigging]

Could Australia Hit 50C This Week?
( source: Weatherzone )


An exceptionally hot air mass will cause temperatures to soar over northwestern Australia towards the end of this week, with some models suggesting that 50ºC is a chance in the outback.

A lack of cloud cover and a broad, stagnant area of low pressure will allow hot air to build over central Australia during the next several days.

Towards the end of the week, this heat will drift towards the northwest and become more focussed over the Pilbara, Kimberley and North Interior districts of WA.
The hot air mass will cause Severe to Extreme heatwave conditions across a large area of central and northern Australia this week.

Alice Springs is forecast to reach 39 to 41ºC every day between now and Saturday, which is 4 to 6ºC above average for this time of year.

Further north, Rabbit Flat in the Tanami Desert could hit 44 to 45ºC during the five days from Tuesday to Saturday.

But Alice Springs and Rabbit flat both lie several hundred metres above sea level, sitting at elevations of 546 metres and 340 metres respectively. This height will help limit the heating this week, given the air cools by about 1ºC for every 100 metres of elevation in the lower atmosphere.

However, once the hot air spreads to low-lying regions in norhwestern Australia later this week, temperatures could approach 50ºC.

The image below shows predicted surface air temperatures from the ECMWF-HRES model on Saturday and Sunday. Both days of the weekend have the potential to see temperatures of around 50ºC somewhere in the north of WA.



While 50ºC is a chance in the north of WA this weekend, it's unlikely that this type of heat will occur at one of the state's official weather stations in the region.
Port Hedland may be too close to the coast for 50ºC and is currently forecast to reach 47ºC on Sunday. However, it could exceed this forecast if the sea breeze is delayed enough and may challenge the site's December record of 47.9ºC from 1954.
Australia's highest officially-recorded temperature in December was 49.9ºC at Nullarbor in SA in 2019.

[greysrigging]

Roebourne and Marble Bar forecasts....48c and 49c on Sunday

[Ed's Mountain]

Originally Posted by greysrigging

Roebourne and Marble Bar forecasts....48c and 49c on Sunday

This is worth bumping so we don't lose track of this event. Still looking at the possibility of 49°C in Marble Bar on Sunday, close to the all-time maximum of 49.3°C.