|
 Best
rain in 5 months sets records in TAS
A low pressure system moved due south, parallel and close to the Tasmanian
East Coast, overnight bringing widespread heavy rain to the the state's
east and southeast. Following on from yesterday's statewide rain, the falls,
many
between 40 and 70mm, mean that the state as a whole has had its best widespread
rain
event
since
mid
October
2002.
The
only other significant falls, in early and late January, missed the southeast.
| Rainfall at Palmers Lookout,
Port Arthur (mm) |
| Thursday 24 hours to 9am |
30 |
| 9am to 3pm |
34 |
| 3pm to 3am today |
49 |
| 3am to 9am |
18 |
| 9am to 3pm |
48 |
| 3pm to 3am Saturday |
49 |
| 3am to 9am |
7 |
The low brought cold, blustery winds and heavy rain to the southeast throughout
the day. Palmers Lookout, high on a hill just south of Port Arthur, registered
a March record 101.0mm to 9am this morning, then went on to break this record
again with 104.0mm in the 24 hours to 9am Saturday.
Details of this remarkable rain event are in the table at right, showing the
lookout recorded 235mm over 3 days, with 198mm falling in the 42 hours between
9am Thursday and 3am Saturday. By the Saturday morning, the Palmers Lookout
observer was reporting that the waters in Port Arthur harbour were "completely
fogged" by sediment from runoff. Other high totals (see Wettest below)
were all recorded on the southern East Coast, or on or close to the Tasman
Peninsula. Farther afield, Mt Wellington summit recorded a 24-hour total of
57.8mm, its heaviest one-day March total in 15 years. Wind during the day gusted
to 109km/h top Mt Wellington, 117 at Maatsuyker Island, and 91km/h on Tasman
Island to the south of Port Arthur.
 Cold
in SE Australia
The cold front that produced spectacular duststorms
in Victoria on Wednesday has ushered in a major airmass change, with top temperatures
both yesterday and today between 8 and 11 below normal over most of VIC,
the southwestern half of NSW and eastern two-thirds of SA. Light snow fell
across the Victorian Alps yesterday.
NEWSBITS
|
|
A trough system running NW/SE through
central QLD has generated thunderstorms and some isolated
heavy rainfall. Both last night and this afternoon and evening, a broad
band of storms has formed from the NSW North Coast to central QLD and
moved several hundred kilometres eastward before decaying. Injune has
benefited from both storm systems, the first giving the town 21mm in
the 6 hours to 3 this morning, and the second depositing 50mm in the
gauge between 3 and 9pm. The second system moved on to give Oakey Aero
24mm in the hour to midnight. Bungaban, about 50km NE of Wandoan in
the Central Highlands, had 58.2mm from
overnight
storms
in the gauge
at
9 this morning, while Mundubbera, 100km farther east, did best from
this evenings storms with a recording of 75mm at 9am Saturday. Lightning
hit an electricity substation in Charleville last night, cutting power
to 4,500 premises in the town as well as Cunnamulla and Quilpie for
nearly two hours.
|
|
