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Wednesday, 17 APR 2002

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Heavy rain in Sydney and on the NSW Central Coast
Local flooding in Gippsland Vic
NEWSBITS: Dramatic thunderstorm offshore Brisbane

High moisture levels combined with near neutral buoyancy in the atmosphere to produce an unusual day's weather over eastern NSW today. Radiosonde balloon ascents across the area showed a very moist, conditionally unstable atmosphere which generally led to a muggy, uneventful day, but which was also able to produce heavy rain and storms given a little local variation to tip the scales. One area of heavy showers and storms developed off the Hunter coast late morning and moved across the Sydney basin during the early afternoon, giving Turramurra 62mm in one hour, with 78mm for the period noon to 4pm. During the same time, nearby Frenchs Forest received 2mm. Sydney's Observatory Hill recorded 43mm between noon and 3pm and Newcastle University also had 43mm between 9am and 3pm, most falling in a heavy thunderstorm that was still raging at 3pm. A waterspout was observed from a boat about 20km offshore Sydney during the day. Late this evening, a storm dropped 35mm at Narara north of Gosford in the hour to midnight.

A trough that moved slowly across eastern Victoria yesterday afternoon and overnight brought heavy rain and local flooding to an area from the eastern Latrobe Valley to Forster. ABC News reported unofficial gaugings of 190mm at Devon North near Yarram and 155mm at Stratford. The highest official gauging in the area received today was 51.6mm at Balook, 20km SSE of Morwell. Flooding closed the Trenton Valley Road near Balook in several places, and nearby Calrossie Road until Thursday 18 April..

NEWSBITS: An unexpected and very active electrical storm crossed Brisbane and the Queensland Sunshine Coast this evening. It displayed a dramatic lightning show as it moved out to sea, and dumped 86mm at Point Lookout at the northeastern tip of Stradbroke Island.

National weather extremes for today
Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology
Last updated at 18:59 EDST on 18/04/02
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 (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets):
Highest daily rainfall total for April:
Western Australia:
Perth Metro 69.6 (66.5, 123)
Perth Airport 61.0 (53.8, 58)
Armadale 69.4 (51.6, 97)
Swan View 46.0 (42.0, 29)
Serpentine 67.2 (60.2, 80)
Wanneroo 59.6 (44.7, 60)
Gosnells City 65.0 (58.0, 40)
Marradong 54.0 (49.5, 105)
Gordon River 59.0 (48.0, 43)
Tamaru 57.6 (57.0, 22)
Kilburnie 64.2 (59.4, 45)
Williams 50.8 (44.5, 117)
Kojonolokan Hills 45.2 (35.8, 40)
Cranham 46.8 (36.1, 48)

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.

96.4 CHEYNE BEACH SW & S Coast WA
84.0 MANYPEAKS SW & S Coast WA
75.4 KENDENUP POST OFFICE SW & S Coast WA
74.6 BEDFORDALE Lower West WA
70.0 PERTH METRO Lower West WA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
     Lower West
74.6 BEDFORDALE
70.0 PERTH METRO
69.4 ARMADALE
67.2 SERPENTINE
65.8 PERTH AIRPORT
65.0 GOSNELLS CITY
64.0 SWANBOURNE
63.0 JANDAKOT AERO
61.6 KARRAGULLEN NORTH
60.0 BICKLEY
59.6 WANNEROO
57.0 ROLEYSTONE
    SW & S Coast
96.4 CHEYNE BEACH
84.0 MANYPEAKS
75.4 KENDENUP POST OFFICE
70.0 WHITE GUMS
62.4 MOUNT BARKER
62.0 DWELLINGUP FORESTRY
59.0 GORDON RIVER
57.6 TAMARU
54.0 MARRADONG
    Gt Southern
70.0 CRANBROOK
64.2 KILBURNIE
50.8 WILLIAMS
50.0 DARKAN POST OFFICE
50.0 DELLYANINE

QUEENSLAND
     N Peninsula
55.0 HORN ISLAND

VICTORIA
     W Gippsland
51.6 TRARALGON CREEK (BALOOK)
50.0 MT MOORNAPA

High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less.


WESTERN AUSTRALIA
     SW & S Coast
DWELLINGUP FORESTRY
12.8mm in 1 hr to 15:00 12.8mm/h
ALBANY AIRPORT
10.2mm in 1 hr to 22:00 10.2mm/h
    Goldfields
SALMON GUMS RES.STN.
12.6mm in 1 hr to 23:00 12.6mm/h
LAVERTON AERO
2.0mm in 1 min to 14:46 120.0mm/h

NORTHERN TERRITORY
     Darwin-Daly
PIRLANGIMPI
15.0mm in 3 hr to 14:30 5.0mm/h

QUEENSLAND
     S Peninsula
LOCKHART RIVER AIRPORT
10.0mm in 1 hr to 09:00 10.0mm/h
    Brisbane/SE Coast
CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE
16.2mm in 1 hr to 22:00 16.2mm/h
GYMPIE
13.6mm in 1 hr to 21:00 13.6mm/h
11.0mm in 1 hr to 22:00 11.0mm/h

NEW SOUTH WALES
     CW Plains S
CONDOBOLIN AIRPORT
10.6mm in 16 min to 16:00 39.8mm/h
12.6mm in 1 hr to 16:00 12.6mm/h
    MidNorth Coast N
COFFS HARBOUR MO
11.8mm in 30 min to 23:00 23.6mm/h
11.8mm in 1 hr to 23:00 11.8mm/h
    Hunter Valley
WILLIAMTOWN RAAF
5.0mm in 15 min to 12:15 20.0mm/h
17.8mm in 30 min to 23:30 35.6mm/h
GOSFORD (NARARA RESEARCH STATION) AWS
13.0mm in 1 hr to 12:00 13.0mm/h
16.0mm in 3 hr to 12:00 5.3mm/h
NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
43.0mm in 6 hr to 15:00 7.2mm/h
    Sydney--east
SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL)
15.0mm in 30 min to 12:30 30.0mm/h
15.0mm in 1 hr to 12:30 15.0mm/h
21.2mm in 1 hr to 13:00 21.2mm/h
10.4mm in 1 hr to 14:30 10.4mm/h
10.8mm in 30 min to 15:00 21.6mm/h
19.0mm in 1 hr to 15:00 19.0mm/h
43.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 14.3mm/h
12.4mm in 1 hr to 15:30 12.4mm/h
HOMEBUSH (OLYMPIC STADIUM) AWS
11.4mm in 1 hr to 14:00 11.4mm/h
    Sydney--west
BADGERYS CREEK AIRPORT AWS
11.0mm in 1 hr to 15:00 11.0mm/h
HORSLEY PARK EQUESTRIAN CENTRE AWS
15.2mm in 30 min to 18:00 30.4mm/h
15.2mm in 1 hr to 18:00 15.2mm/h
15.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 5.0mm/h
17.4mm in 1 hr to 18:30 17.4mm/h
    Illawarra
ALBION PARK (WOLLONGONG AIRPORT)
10.0mm in 1 hr to 17:00 10.0mm/h
29.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 9.7mm/h
KIAMA (BOMBO HEADLAND)
21.8mm in 1 hr to 18:00 21.8mm/h
24.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 8.0mm/h

ISLANDS
     Islands
LORD HOWE ISLAND AERO
17.0mm in 3 hr to 20:00 5.7mm/h
8.6mm in 51 min to 20:51 10.1mm/h
8.2mm in 42 min to 21:33 11.7mm/h
26.0mm in 3 hr to 23:00 8.7mm/h

Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum Minimum
40.0 ROEBOURNE AERO E Pilbara WA
39.5 MARBLE BAR COMPARISON E Pilbara WA
39.0 WYNDHAM AERO N Kimberley WA
39.0 FITZROY CROSSING AERO W Kimberley WA
39.0 PORT HEDLAND AIRPORT E Pilbara WA
39.0 MARBLE BAR E Pilbara WA
29.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands
28.0 TROUGHTON ISLAND N Kimberley WA
26.8 KARRATHA AERO E Pilbara WA
26.7 ROEBOURNE E Pilbara WA
26.5 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD
5.7 LIAWENEE AWS Central Plateau TAS
8.3 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS
8.7 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC
9.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW
10.0 MT BAW BAW W Gippsland VIC
 0.0 BLACKWATER WATER TREAT Central Highlands QLD
0.0 BROADMEADOWS (GLENLITTA AVENUE BMTC) E Central VIC
0.0 TUNNACK FIRE STATION Southeast TAS
0.0 LIAWENEE AWS Central Plateau TAS
0.7 GROVE RESEARCH STATION Southeast TAS

Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum Minimum
+7.1   36.0 WARBURTON AIRFIELD Interior WA
+6.9   31.0 CEDUNA AMO W Agricultural SA
+5.4   36.4 MORNINGTON ISLAND Gulf Country QLD
+5.1   34.2 MORANBAH WATER TREATMENT PLANT Central Coast W QLD
+5.1   25.8 BURRINJUCK DAM SW Slopes N NSW
 +7.5   14.6 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) CW Slopes N NSW
+7.5   16.0 EAST SALE AIRPORT W Gippsland VIC
+7.2   14.0 YASS (LINTON HOSTEL) Goulburn/Monaro NSW
+7.1   17.0 SALMON GUMS RES.STN. Goldfields WA
+6.9   13.5 CANBERRA AIRPORT Goulburn/Monaro NSW
+6.9   13.6 DARTMOUTH RESERVOIR Lower NE VIC
+6.9   12.0 BOMBALA POST OFFICE Goulburn/Monaro NSW
-5.4   20.1 KELLERBERRIN Cent Wheatbelt WA
-5.2   23.2 MULLEWA Central West WA
-5.2   22.0 BADGINGARRA RESEARCH STN Lower West WA
-5.1   22.3 CARNAMAH Central West WA
-5.1   24.1 KALBARRI Central West WA
-5.7   3.5 KEITH Upper SE SA
-5.6   0.7 GROVE RESEARCH STATION Southeast TAS
-5.3   5.5 MENINGIE Lower Murray SA
-5.0   7.1 PARAFIELD AIRPORT Adelaide Plains SA
-4.9   5.8 ROSEDALE (TURRETFIELD RESEARCH CENTRE) County Light SA
-4.9   1.5 GEEVESTON(FORESTRY CEMETERY RD) Southeast TAS

Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets.

No reports of wind gusts above 90km/h or sustained winds above 63km/h

Other extremes

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