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 NT,
SA: Heavy rain begins in The Centre
A northwest cloudband of tropical moisture from the Indian Ocean, driven across
Central Australia by a strong jet stream, gave the southern NT and northern
SA their heaviest rain since May 2004 today, with several locations registering record July falls. Rain began spreading across The
Centre during the early morning, and by 9am Yulara Airport had 29.6mm in the
gauge and Ernabella, over the border in NW SA, had 20.8. Steady, and in some
places heavy, rain continued throughout the day. Yuendumu, 260km NW of Alice
Springs, recorded 48mm between 9am and 3pm while Alice Springs Airport registered
39mm 9am to 9pm.
In northern SA, outback pastoralists have welcomed falls of around 30mm in
the Oodnadatta area. At William Creek, 170km SE of Oodnadatta, the rain has
made all roads impassable, stranding 100 tourists and swelling the tiny settlement's
population five-fold.
Further rainfall details are in the Daily Weather Summary for 8
JUL.
WA:
Record cold, and a rare snowfall
An upper trough has been moving across southern WA, bringing a cold airmass
up from the south in its wake. Overnight, high pressure established itself
over the state's South West, and clear skies and low humidities allowed temperatures
to plummet. In Perth, Jandakot Airport's low of -1.5 was not far off the lowest-ever
temperature recorded in the Perth area of -2.8 in 1998. Pemberton recorded
its lowest July temperature in 46 years with a reading of 0.0, while
locations
coming
within
a degree of
their
July
records
included Perth Airport (0.8), Jurien Bay (1.5), Cape Naturaliste (4.8), Kellerberrin
(-3.0), Beverley (-2.2), Katanning (-1.0), Lake Grace (-0.5), Narrogin (-1.7),
Pingelly (-0.5) and Salmon Gums (-2.4).
It was from 125km NW of Salmon Gums at Lake Johnstone that interstate truck
drivers heading towards the Nullarbor phoned the WA Bureau of Meteorology with
reports of snow and sleet
falls. The area is 300 to 350m above sea level. "The truckies were saying there
was a mix of snow and rain, or sleet, falling in the couple of hours before
sunrise
today," Bruce
Buckley of the Bureau told AAP. He said that the major Goldfields centre of
Kalgoorlie
last had snow in 1986 while Norseman's most recent snowfall was in 1966.
Newsbits
NE AUS: Temperatures increase further in NT, QLD and NSW
Temperatures increased yet again across much of the northeastern half of
the continent, with cloud and rain of tropical origin producing minima in
the southern NT up to 10 above average. Maxima were up to 8 above, with McArthur
River Mine in the NT recording its hottest July day in 25 years. Daly Waters,
Tindal RAAF, Mango Farm and Elliott were all within 1 degree of their July
highs. |
