Australian Weather News |
Saturday, 28 JUL 2001 |
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A deep low of around 990hPa
off the NSW Central Coast produced heavy seas and storm force winds
today, delaying the start of a major yacht race and causing wind damage
as far away as southeastern Queensland. Wind gusted to 100km/h at
Sydney Airport at 8pm and 102km/h at Wollongong Airport just after 6pm.
Montague Island reported wind gusts to 111km/h at 5pm with a 10-minute average
windspeed of 91km/h. The start of the Sydney to Southport yacht race, one
of Australia's largest with 70 yachts, was postponed this morning, the
first time the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has postponed a big ocean
race. The Port of Sydney was closed for a time, with a Sydney Ports spokesperson
saying swells of 7 to 10 metres were running off Sydney Heads. Sydney Harbour
Supercat ferries were suspended after a wave, formed by a combination of
a freighter's wash and the swell, broke over a supercat, stoving in a window,
injuring about 20 passengers, distorting deck seating and cracking cabin
bulkheads. A 30m craft sank 3km off Malabar, the crew of four rescued by
water police, while two surfers were rescued by helicopter at Lurline Bay
near Coogee in a swell estimated at 9m. A 14m yacht overturned off Newcastle
overnight into Sunday, sparking a search and rescue operation involving
nine aircraft; its crew of three were rescued by helicopter from a life
raft. On land, the State Emergency Services received over 500 calls for
assistance between Ulladulla and Port Macquarie, mostly for fallen trees
and damaged roofs. Power poles were brought down by falling trees in the
Sydney suburb of Marrickville, 1400 homes at Kenthurst and 500 at Camden
were without power during the morning, a tree blown down by the wind caused
extensive damage to a house in the Shoalhaven, and Kiama Surf Club had to
be sandbagged when it was threatened by beach erosion. The strong pressure
gradient around the low extended even farther afield, with strong winds
in Brisbane bringing down trees and powerlines overnight. The low, which
was positioned south of Lord Howe Island tonight, gave the island
49mm to 9am this morning, and a further 20mm during the day. The heaviest
rain from the low fell on the Barrington Tops north of Newcastle,
where Hunter Springs recorded 43.8 to 9 this morning and a further 51.2
to 9am Sunday. Nelson Bay, on the coast north of Newcastle, recorded
81.2mm for the 24 hours to 9am Sunday.
On Western Australia's central western coastline, a strong moist onshore stream produced unusually heavy rain this morning. 71mm fell at the settlement of Kalbarri, 120km north of Geraldton, in 18 hours to midday today. |
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 (none known) | |
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. 49.5 KALBARRI Central West
WA |
High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. |
Todays highest & lowest temperatures |
|
Maximum | Minimum |
31.9 WEIPA AERO N Peninsula QLD 31.0 MILINGIMBI Arnhem NT 31.0 PALMERVILLE S Peninsula QLD 30.0 JABIRU AIRPORT Darwin-Daly NT 30.0 MUSGRAVE S Peninsula QLD 30.0 KOWANYAMA AIRPORT Gulf Country QLD |
25.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands 24.0 COCONUT ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 23.0 CHRISTMAS ISLAND AERO Islands 22.8 HORN ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 21.0 MCCLUER ISLAND Darwin-Daly NT 21.0 VARANUS ISLAND Islands |
-1.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW -0.4 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 0.4 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC 1.5 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW 1.8 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW |
-4.3 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC -4.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW -3.2 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC -3.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC -3.0 CRESSY RESEARCH STATION AWS N Coast TAS -3.0 FINGAL (FORESTRY LEGGE STREET) E Coast TAS |
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal |
Maximum | Minimum |
+8.9 26.2 BALLADONIA Eucla WA +8.7 25.2 KALGOORLIE-BOULDER AIRPORT Goldfields WA +8.3 25.6 CASHMERE DOWNS Goldfields WA +8.0 24.5 NORSEMAN Goldfields WA +8.0 24.0 SALMON GUMS RES.STN. Goldfields WA |
+10.9 16.2 PAYNES FIND Murchison WA +9.2 12.0 CAMDEN AIRPORT AWS Illawarra NSW +8.6 19.6 CARNARVON AIRPORT W Gascoyne WA +8.0 13.4 YARRAS (MOUNT SEAVIEW) MidNorth Coast S NSW +7.9 12.7 KALGOORLIE-BOULDER AIRPORT Goldfields WA |
-4.8 26.0 KUNUNURRA AERO E Kimberley WA -4.8 23.5 ELLIOTT Barkly NT -4.7 9.0 STANTHORPE (GRANITE BELT HRS) Darling Downs E QLD -4.5 14.2 TEXAS POST OFFICE Darling Downs E QLD -4.3 14.0 OAKEY AERO Darling Downs E QLD |
-9.8 1.0 WAVE HILL Victoria NT -8.1 3.0 VICTORIA RIVER DOWNS Victoria NT -7.4 5.1 WARMUN E Kimberley WA -7.3 5.7 KATHERINE AVIATION MUSEUM Darwin-Daly NT -6.7 5.8 LARRIMAH Roper-McArthur NT -6.7 2.0 CAMOOWEAL TOWNSHIP Northwest QLD |
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. FORT DENISON Sydney--east NSW:
91 (200/ 37 ) at 20:42 |
Other extremes .. |