Heavy rain brings local flooding to Qld north and central coasts
| Below: 300hPa jetstream at 11am EDST today. FNMOC |
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A further surge of cold southern air swept across Tasmania this morning, bringing further snow to the highlands and wintry galeforce winds to the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race frontrunners approaching Hobart. A small low circulation developed on the front, whipping winds up to 130km/h on the Tasman Peninsula, while yachts reported winds around 90km/h as they crossed Storm Bay. A succession of deep Southern Ocean lows and active cold fronts has swept across Tasmania for the past week, with the airflow turning progressively colder and more southerly. Today, the jet stream (left) turned almost due south, with a fetch from nearly 70°S, close to the Antarctic coastline.
A complex trough system brought heavy rain and local flooding to the Queensland central coast this morning and the area between Proserpine and Townsville late this afternoon. Proserpine recorded 91mm between midnight and 6am then a further 57mm between 4pm and 6pm. In Townsville, the airport recorded 21mm between 3 and 9pm, but unofficial reports of 50 to 100mm were received from the suburbs, including one report of 117mm in 45 minutes to 5.15pm at Bluewater, just north of the city centre where some limited flash flooding was reported. Parts of the Bruce Highway near Townsville have been closed, while the Flinders and Barkly Highways to the west near Mount Isa, Longreach, and Richmond remain inundated after the heavy rain of the past few days. The coastal rain has been caused by the monsoon trough dipping southeast from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Queensland central coast where it links with a southern trough now making its way across the Tasman Sea. A ridge pushing up the Queensland coast behind the southern trough is intensifying a moist southeast flow, while converging air into the trough is providing the uplift to produce areas of heavy rain.