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Maximum (above) and
minimum (below) temperature departures from
normal today. BoM  |
 |
 Torrential
storm rainfall in Central Austalia
Severe
thunderstorms accompanied by torrential rain occurred
overnight in SA's Mid North and around the NT/SA border. A weak surface
trough and embedded low moving NE across SA coincided with colder
air aloft, high instability and a mass of moisture moving east
out of WA to produce the storms.
The Stuart Highway truckstop at
Kulgera, 20km north of the border, registered
a phenomenal 104mm in a succession of storms between 3pm yesterday
and 3am today, giving a 24-hour to 9am total of 110mm. This nearly
quadrupled the
previous
November
record of 29.7mm in 32 years of observations.
A short thunderstorm
last night at Weeroona Island, 10km north of Port Pirie SA, unroofed
a house and damaged
sheds and fences, while trees and powerlines were brought down
in the Mid North region. Thunderstorms redeveloped this afternoon
with downburst winds producing gusts of 111km/h at Coober
Pedy and 91 at
Woomera during the late afternoon.
Temperature
extremes across the nation
Hot
weather continued in SA and SW QLD today. In SA, daytime
temperatures reached the mid to high 30s, 10 to 13 above average.
SW QLD experienced an unusually warm night, with minima of 29.4
at Thargomindah and 29.0 at Quilpie. These were pretty mild compared
to today's maxima which reached 44.3 at Ballera Gas Field. Details
are below.
Meanwhile, southern WA continued to shiver as wintry winds, hail
showers and thunderstorms swept in from the southwest. Daytime
temperatures were commonly 8 to 10 below normal. News sources: ABC |
