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Friday 26 May 2000

Cold outbreak arrives in SA, Vic
Moderate overnight rain on NSW Northern Tablelands
The strongest polar outbreak in May for many years arrived on the South Australian and western Victorian coasts today, bringing gales, hail, and very low daytime temperatures. The cold front arrived on the South Australian coast around dawn, and was followed by wintry hail showers, isolated thunderstorms and strong SW winds, which gusted to 113km/h on Neptune Island, at the mouth of Spencer Gulf. Adelaide Airport recorded a 10-minute average wind of 72km/h around 7am, soon after the front swept through. Heavy hail showers whitened the top of Mt Lofty, where winds gusted to 100km/h as the temperature dropped to 4° by midday. The change arrived on the western Victorian coast in the early afternoon, reinforced by a rapidly developing low just to the south. At Portland, the temperature dropped as low as 3.5° at 2.22pm as a wintry shower dumped 9.2mm on the town in 10 minutes. Heavy showers continued, giving Portland's Cashmere Airport 41mm between noon and 9pm as the low wound up. It deepened to 982hPa by late evening as it moved away down the western Tasmanian coast.

The same cloudband that gave heavy rain to the WA Pilbara two days ago produced some heavy overnight falls on the NSW Northern Tablelands and nearby areas in southern Queensland. Inverell recorded 56.2mm for the 24 hours to 9am, 42 falling in 12 hours overnight to 3am. The heavier registrations are listed in the box below.

Today's highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am

56.2 Inverell NSW
52.0 Inverell Res Stn NSW
44.0 Guyra NSW
37.0 Wallumbilla Qld

Other heavy falls in northern NSW:
36.4 Glen Innes PO
34.8 Glen Innes Ag Stn
34.0 Wallangra Station
33.0 Glen Innes AP
33.0 Delungra
33.0 Ashford

Other heavy falls in southern Qld:
31.0 Yuleba
30.0 Augathella
27.4 Havelock Mitchell

Today's highest & lowest temps

Other extremes

Rainfall:
Clare SA: 16mm in 3h to 9am
Parawa SA: 14mm in 3h to 6am
Mt Gambier AP SA: 13mm in 3h to 9am
Applethorpe Qld: 21mm in 3h to 6pm
Warwick Qld: 20mm in 3h to 9pm
Inverell NSW: 42mm in 12h to 3am
Portland Vic: 41mm in 9h to 9pm

Wind gusts:
Neptune Is SA: 113km/h at 9.38pm
Kuitpo SA: 94km/h at 6.42am
Mt Lofty summit: 100km/h at 7.00am
Thredbo Crackenback NSW: 111km/h at 3pm
Mt Hotham Vic: 120km/h at 11am
Lookout Hill Vic: 94km/h at 6.20am
Mt Wellington summit Tas: 102km/h at 4.58pm

Records set this day

.
Maximum Minimum
35.7 Kalumburu WA 27.0 McCluer Is
0.0 Crackenback NSW -3.5 Cooma Visitors Centre NSW

Greatest variations from normal

Maximum Minimum
+4.4
26.5 Double Island Point LH Qld		 +8.7
16.6 Miles PO Qld
-8.8
14.6 Surat PO Qld		 -7.7
0.8 Kellerberrin WA

  • Times stated are the clock time in force in the relevant state or territory

  • Stories, including those in the archives, are as new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined

  • Australian Weather News gratefully acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology as the collector and main source of meteorological data in Australia, along with the thousands of observers who record the weather and rainfall daily. I also thank Don White and the many contributors to the Aussie Weather mailing list who routinely provide much appreciated information.