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 Short-lived
Tropical Cyclone Raymond crosses WA coast
Tropical Cyclone Raymond was named by the Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre
just after noon today, with a central pressure of 990hPa and location 340km
north of Derby WA. Just 10 hours later, at 10.30pm, it crossed the coast west
of Kalumburu after moving on an easterly track. The highest wind gust reported
was 91km/h at Troughton Island, just to the north of the cyclone's track.
The cyclone, combined with a monsoon low over the WA/NT border, brought heavy
rain to the East Kimberley with Kununurra Aero recording its heaviest one-day
fall in 30 years with a 24 hour total of 162.2mm to 9am. However, heavy totals
were limited to the Kununurra area, with Keep River Rangers, 40km SE of the
town but over the border in the NT, reporting 167.0mm. Elsewhere in the Kimberley
there were scattered totals of 50 to 80mm in the 24 hours to 9am.
Heavy
rain continues on Cape York Peninsula QLD
Lockhart River, on the central eastern Cape York Peninsula, reported a second
day of torrential rain with 101mm falling between 3am and 9am for a 24 hour
total of 181.4mm. That brings its 2-day total to 438.8mm. The rain has been
fairly localised to Lockhart River, which is on the east coast with a mountain
chain rising to over 300m to the west. Picaninny Plains Station, to the southwest
and over the mountains, recorded 153.4mm for the 48 hours and other locations
to the west and north on the Peninsula have recorded between 60 and 130mm.
Elsewhere in the South Peninsula, Palmerville recorded 10.4mm and Musgrave
2.2. The reasons for the localised heavy rain have been a nearly stationary
monsoon trough just to the north of Lockhart River, and the uplift provided
to the resulting onshore E to SE winds by the modest range to the west.
Cool
morning on QLD Central Coast
Minimum temperatures were only 4 to 6C below average on the QLD Central Coast
this morning, but that was enough to set a record January low at Mackay Airport
where the thermometer dropped to 16.5, 6.3 below average. In 19 years of records,
the coldest January minimum has only been 17.9. Light offshore breezes, a clear
sky and the remnants of the airmass that brought cold conditions to SE AUS
last week appear to be the causes.
Fires
blaze in WA and SA
WA firefighters continued to battle a blaze in the Mount Manypeaks Nature
Reserve, 40km east of Albany. The fire, started by lightning almost a week
ago, has already burnt through 350ha of high value conservation land and the
Department of Conservation and Land Management is concerned about its impact
on threatened bird species. Firefighters are being hindered by inaccessible
terrain, dense undergrowth and thick smoke.
Fire burnt through 10ha of the Cleland Conservation Park on Adelaide's southeastern
outskirts for about 3 hours this afternoon before 50 firefighters and 3 waterbombing
helicopters brought the blaze under control. | 
