Australian Weather News |
Wednesday, 07 MAR 2001 |
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The low which has been hovering
in the northern Tasman Sea since Sunday edged closer to the SE Qld coast
today. Four days of strong southeasterlies have produced four metre swells
onto the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. Combined with some of
the highest tides of the year, this has caused massive beach erosion and
flooding of low-lying coastal areas. All Sunshine Coast beaches except for
Mooloolaba and Noosa were closed.
On the NSW Mid North Coast, moderate rain fell overnight on ground still wet from the floods of early February. Minor to moderate flooding occurred in the Hastings River, and minor flooding in the Bellinger, Manning and Williams Rivers (see below for flood peaks). 168mm was recorded in the 24 hours to 9am at Comboyne, on the plateau draining into the Hastings, Camden Haven and Manning Rivers, while Bellingen on the Bellinger River recorded 125mm. A thunderstorm followed by torrential rain gave Tennant Creek Airport, NT, its heaviest 24-hour total for March on record this morning. 100mm was recorded to 9am, though 96mm of this fell in the 6 hours between 3 and 9am. The storm developed in a trough extending eastwards from former Tropical Cyclone Abigail toward the Coral Sea. Isolated heavy rain continues to be reported from the southern NT, with falls as high as 90mm in the 24 hours to 9am at Mt Denison, 250 km NW of Alice Springs. Most unsealed roads in Central Australia are impassable, with the main Plenty Highway northeast from Alice Springs closed to the Queensland border, and the Tanami Road northwest of the Alice to Western Australia also closed. Many remote communities are isolated but in no danger, though the evacuation of Kiwirrkurra, over the border in WA, which began yesterday, was completed today. In Queensland's Gulf Country, Burketown has been isolated for about a month by intermittent monsoonal rain. The town and surrounding pastoral properties continue to be supplied by air, or air drops. High temperatures were experienced again today along the length of the country's southern coastline, from Albany in WA to western Victoria. Maximum temperatures were 10 to 12° above the March average, while in south central WA, overnight minima were up to 15 above, with many centres' temperatures failing to drop below the mid-20s. |
National
weather extremes for today |
|
Quality control note: Data is complete, and has been visually checked by AWN for gross errors. Less obvious errors may remain. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information | |
Records
set this day: Highest 24-hour rainfall for March: (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Tennant Creek AP NT: 100mm (89.4, 32) |
|
Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am. It includes the top 5 totals received, and/or all reported falls of 50mm or more. 168.0 COMBOYNE POST OFFICE MidNorth
Coast S NSW |
High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less.
|
Todays highest & lowest temperatures |
|
Maximum | Minimum |
39.0
CEDUNA AMO W Agricultural SA 39.0 POLDA (GUM VIEW) W Agricultural SA 38.7 STREAKY BAY W Agricultural SA 38.5 MULLEWA Central West WA 38.3 KYANCUTTA W Agricultural SA |
30.1
WARMUN E Kimberley WA 28.1 BIDYADANGA W Kimberley WA 28.0 BROOME AIRPORT W Kimberley WA 28.0 MCCLUER ISLAND Darwin-Daly NT 27.3 TROUGHTON ISLAND N Kimberley WA 27.3 PORT HEDLAND AIRPORT E Pilbara WA |
13.5
MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS 14.6 KATOOMBA (NARROW NECK RD) C Tablelands S NSW 15.3 MOUNT BOYCE AWS C Tablelands S NSW 16.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 16.5 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC |
2.2
CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW 2.3 LIAWENEE AWS Central Plateau TAS 3.2 LAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK Central Plateau TAS 5.2 THREDBO VILLAGE Snowy Mtns NSW 6.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW |
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal |
|
Maximum | Minimum |
+12.6
36.6 ELLISTON W Agricultural SA +12.4 39.0 CEDUNA AMO W Agricultural SA +12.0 35.0 MOUNT GAMBIER AERO Lower SE SA +11.5 38.7 STREAKY BAY W Agricultural SA +11.3 35.7 CASTERTON SHOWGROUNDS W Coast VIC |
+14.7
26.8 WANDERING COMPARISON Gt Southern WA +12.4 25.0 KATANNING POST OFFICE Gt Southern WA +12.4 25.6 WAGIN Gt Southern WA +11.6 23.9 MOUNT BARKER SW & S Coast WA +11.6 25.2 NARROGIN Gt Southern WA |
-8.8
25.6 CARNEGIE Interior WA -6.9 27.0 GILES METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE Interior WA -6.5 27.9 TENNANT CREEK AIRPORT Barkly NT -6.1 29.5 ALI CURUNG Alice Springs NT -6.0 27.4 YUENDUMU Alice Springs NT |
-4.0
14.5 KAIRI RESEARCH STATION N Coast--Barron QLD -3.5 14.0 TAMBO POST OFFICE Central Highlands QLD -3.3 17.0 LONGREACH AERO Central West QLD -3.2 16.3 WALKAMIN DPI N Coast--Barron QLD -3.2 16.7 BLACKALL POST OFFICE Central West QLD -3.2 10.4 PHILLIP ISLAND PENGUIN RESERVE E Central VIC |
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. None reported |
Other extremes Flood peaks: |