Australian Weather News |
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Monday 21 February 2000 |
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Today's weather extremes |
Record
rain in western NSW and Vic, southern SA Flooding in Qld, NSW, SA |
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Highest rainfall, 24 hours to 9am |
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145.0
Pooncarie NSW 141.7 Hamilton Is Qld 138.8 Birricannia Tangorin Qld 129.6 Werrimull Vic Other heavy inland falls: |
February daily rainfall records were broken over a wide area of western NSW and Victoria, and nearby parts of SA today. A slow moving trough fed copious amounts of moisture into the area and colder air aloft gave plenty of instability to produce widespread uplift.
At Broken Hill in western NSW, heavy rain began falling mid-afternoon yesterday, with one downpour producing 23mm in 42 minutes to 5pm. Rain then fell heavily through much of the night. Flash flooding washed a bus off the Barrier Highway 48km east of the city with 1.5m-deep water over the road. Its driver and 8 passengers had to be rescued by boat through the front window of the bus. In the Sunraysia area surrounding Mildura Vic, streets, houses and businesses were flooded. The heavy rain has reduced the value of grape crops, and will delay harvesting in soggy fields. |
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Highest & Lowest Temps |
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Maximum | Minimum | |||||
39.1 Morawa WA | 28.9 Centre Is NT | |||||
12.9
Lake Leake Tas 12.9 Mt Wellington Tas |
2.8 Mt Wellington Tas | |||||
Greatest variations from normal |
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Maximum | Minimum | |||||
+10.0 33.0 Warrnambool AP Vic |
+8.0 21.7 Meningie SA |
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-11.3 20.9 Balranald NSW -11.1 22.4 Lake Cargelligo NSW -11.0 21.6 Hillston AP NSW |
-5.2 13.6 Casino AP NSW |
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Other extreme readings | ||||||
Flood
peaks: Haughton River Qld: at Mt Piccaninny 3.18m at 5am, at Powerline about 5m at 8am, and at Giru 2.20m at midday with moderate flooding. |
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Records set this day | ||||||
Heaviest
24 hour rainfall: Pooncarie NSW: 145.0mm, breaking previous record of 101.4 in 118 years of record Heaviest February 24 hour rainfall: |
During the early morning hours, a high pressure system ridged over Tasmania from the Bight at the same time as the low over SW NSW deepened slightly to about 997hPa. This strengthened the pressure gradient over western Victoria, SE SA and northern Tasmania, producing strong to gale force east to southeast winds along with further heavy rain as cloud wrapped around the low. Flash flooding was reported in the Adelaide Hills during the early morning, and winds gusted to 61km/h at the Bureau of Meteorology's Kent Town site in Adelaide. By late afternoon, Yanac, 40km NW of Nhill in western Victoria, was reporting 93km/h wind gusts, and sustained galeforce winds were being reported from Cape Grim in NW Tasmania, South Channel Island in Port Phillip, and along the Gippsland coast.
In Queensland there were once again heavy falls in the central west. Birricannia Station, 170km NE of waterlogged Winton, reported 138.8mm for the 24 hours to 9am, and Eastmere Station, 130km farther east, recorded 128. Moderate flooding was starting in the Thompson and Landsborough Rivers, and minor to moderate flooding on the Alice River at Barcaldine. Heavy rain in the hills behind Townsville created moderate flooding in the Haughton River during the morning, and a further cloudburst at Mingela in the headwaters, during which 75mm fell in just under two hours to 7.20pm, created renewed flows.
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Above: The surface pressure
and rainfall pattern from 11am Sunday to 11am Tuesday in 12-hour steps (0000
UTC 20/02/2000 to 0000 UTC 22/02/2000). Below: Humidity, wind and temperature at 850hPa, or about 5,000 feet for the same time period. Note the converging northerly winds drawing moisture down from the north ahead of the trough, and the area of cooler air moving across western Victoria during this morning, reflecting the cut-off cold air pool above. |
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