28 November 2008

Big storm coming in

| johnboy
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[First filed: November 27, 2008 @ 16:37]

The ants may be quiet but their existing fortifications are enormous.

The radar, however, suggests big storms coming in and there’s a severe thunderstorm warning out.

[Insert safety platitudes of your choice here]

If you get any good pictures of wild weather feel free to mail them in to images@the-riotact.com

UPDATED: Ant has sent in this one from the north of Canberra. Mt Ainslie is the peak to the right of the rainfall.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Yesterday might have fizzled until the small hours but this afternoon is looking like the real deal.

MORE UPDATEYNESS: Holden Caulfield has sent in today’s radar image which he thinks is much more impressive:

Other storm photos below:

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So do we get to have an ant update johnboy? You’ve teased us with photos of a steadily increasing ant hill, yet don’t reveal if they survived the recent deluges. C’mon, don’t be an ant-tease.

And that is why houses in QLD should be cyclone rated no matter where they are.

That said, houses in the Snowies should be secured in a similar way because the wind gets pretty bad down there too.

Yesterday was not a storm. This is a storm http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=skrnDGl1LxQ

Our rental place lost a 20 metre gum tree narrowly missing the house and everyone else’s. Tile damage, some water through the ceiling and a smaller tree squashed the garden shed though. Got off lightly compared to some of the neighbours.

ant said :

guess some more St John’s Wort will be biting the dust then.

Just eat the stuff, Ant, there’s some pretty good research that it dulls the pain. 😉

I got 32mm today, and 13mm from the pre-dawn storms. This is rain we haven’t seen in a long while. It’d sure be nice to get those multi-day rain events… we are so below YTD averages it’s not funny.

I’m hoping the stuff creeping in from the west will give us a bit more tonight, I’m greedy. Reckon that’s pretty-much it though, and it’ll be a pretty dry weekend, worse luck. guess some more St John’s Wort will be biting the dust then.

Gungahlin Al said :

Cars were swimming along the outer lanes of Northbourne Ave this arvo – just a few blocked drains I’d suggest.

Hell yeah. I was driving down Northbourne from the city en route to Mitchell when it hit, and in the time it took to get from Barry Drive to opposite the motor registry, three lanes of the main drag resembled three lanes of the Chandler Aquatic Centre. Rain and hail drowned out the stereo.

Gungahlin Al said :

Now THIS is what this Qlder calls rain.

Nah, needs to be more and for longer than that, also a little warmer.

Gungahlin Al7:37 pm 28 Nov 08

Cars were swimming along the outer lanes of Northbourne Ave this arvo – just a few blocked drains I’d suggest.

The storm was certainly a bit more than yesterday – SES crews are out and about for a few jobs.

on the treddly today so it meant I wasn’t leaving work early,

and the storm water drains through Curtin made me wish I had a white water kayak (and was able to use it)

the bike path was flooded in one spot under a bridge
but in the end I got more muddy than wet

comes in quickly and leaves so quickly –

the SIZE of the raindrops in Civic this afteroon around 4pm was amazing – HUGE dollups (sp?) of water… and yes, agree – that’s how it used to rain in Canberra during spring when I was a wee child.

LOL enjoy your swim

I’m going to the office foyer for a swim before I drive home….

yep we are at drizzle now

Back to light drizzle in Deakin

Only had about 10mins of decent rain here in Ngunnawal. Nothing heavy. The clouds look worse than the rain really is.

Thats my neighbours house LOL i was going to post my house

pre-drought we used to call this normal rain in Canberra too.

my back yard is flooding, if it keeps coming down this hard my back yard is going to be flooded,

HUH? i seem to have missed something, LOL i couldnt find the upload button LOL gunghalin, from your user name i am assuming you live in gunghalin LOL

we are just started to get it now

Holden Caulfield4:02 pm 28 Nov 08

Today’s storm is much better. Currently pissing down at a great rate of knots in Fyshwick.

I’m not frazzled to a crisp by a rogue lightning bolt yet, Gungahlin Al! You need to wait for the scoop!!

Gungahlin Al3:57 pm 28 Nov 08

Now THIS is what this Qlder calls rain.

got pics how do i upload?

Of Granny doing her walk in it? 🙂

We wait for Johnboy to badge them and post them. He may be out protecting his ants.

i have sent them off, so i am not sure what happens next, this storm is very impressive
LOL granny

neanderthalsis3:53 pm 28 Nov 08

Mrs Neanderthalsis just messaged saying some largish hail at belconnen. Nothing in Barton but some ominous rumbling and green clouds so far.

My colleagues and I left the car park run 2 minutes too late- very impressive over here in Bruce!

Pissing down here at Deakin

doing it now thanks poptop

got pics how do i upload?

I am going to walk to the marketplace in it and get soaked and / or struck by lightning. If you drive past a wet bedraggled granny, give me a wave and a honk.

*chuckle*

Gunhgalin is about to be slammed hard by another big storm it is coming across right now
i am going to go get pics

Just rode the motorbike from city to belco, and the sky is black. Looking at the BOM radar I am thinking it might be a good day to go home early from work…

wooo nelly, the radar looks good now.

It’s visible on the 512km rain radar, and starting to edge onto the 256 km radar.

With storms you get localised weather everywhere, and localised totals. I got 13mm from the storms in the early hours.

Teh radar often says it’s raining, and it’s not. It is detecting moisture (echoes, I think it’s called), and often it’s Virga. Virga is where rain is falling, but not reaching the ground. You’ll see it it you look at the clouds; you can see the rain swishing down from the clouds, but you see it tapers off before reaching earth.

Also, sometimes it’s raining, but not showing on the radar.

This morning’s radar and lightning tracker showed the next phase of this weather event (the next trough) advancing into western NSW in a blaze of lightning strikes. We’ve got plenty of moisture, instability, and a catalyst (a trough), so it should get interesting soon.

We might get some light rain later in the afternoon. Just now there is a line approaching, Condobolin, Wagga, Wodonga, Mt Buller, should mosey across the ACT later.

But the important question is – did johnboy’s anthill survive? Are the ants building boats yet?

Agreed, the weather Gods are fickle and the rain measured at the airport is not necessarily what falls in my backyard, inner south. I was given a rain gauge last Christmas, was out there before breakfast to check it…we received 6mm in that predawn downpour. Nice.

Re 12 GB
You ask, “Do you mean the amount it showed falling was more than was actually falling?”
I am saying the radar signature can be in the blues yet you go outside and there is scarcely a drop. I have assumed rain exists high up and is not reaching the ground. I have noticed this all year. In Perth for example this is not so, if the rain radar signature is in the blues you have rain outside.

gunghlin got hit hard last night at about 4am, the storm was that bad it woke my youngest, it pelted down for about 1/2hr, the wind was loud as was the thunder

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy5:06 am 28 Nov 08

Nice and wet in Jerrabomberra at the moment…

it’s certainly peltin down now….

Holden Caulfield1:29 am 28 Nov 08

Cool photo!

Hopeless fizzer. I put some piccies here:
http://forum.weatherzone.com.au/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=002591;p=11#000159
Includes a couple of shots of this giant tube of rain on top of Canberra, moving NE. That was quite interesting.

This event was originally set to bring substantial rainfalls, and it’s fizzing into isolated storms. More of that tomorrow, rather than the decent rain the BOM first forecast.

welkin31 said :

Ever notice how the Captains Flat radar seems to be poorly tuned for Canberra; always indicates more rain than we get. Only 3.5mm near Harcourt Hill. Most swung north of here.
Headed for ANZ Stadium, suppose they can close the roof.

It’s a conspiracy I tells ya!

tylersmayhem7:30 pm 27 Nov 08

In related news, the nation rejoices as Tim Bailey is stabbed to death on national television.

With his latest hair cut I could believe it!

welkin31 said :

Ever notice how the Captains Flat radar seems to be poorly tuned for Canberra; always indicates more rain than we get.

Do you mean the amount it showed falling was more than was actually falling? Or just that it looked like it was going to rain a lot in Canberra (because it was raining a lot in Tumut), but then it veered off and/or faded out?

Best to look at the radar with these guidelines in mind. I find it gives a pretty damn accurate view, except when the rain is very light. And forecasting? Well, that’s what we have forecasters for. They interpret the radar (among other things).

Beserk Keyboard Warrior6:53 pm 27 Nov 08

In related news, the nation rejoices as Tim Bailey is stabbed to death on national television.

tylersmayhem6:39 pm 27 Nov 08

Bloody short lived 🙁 Dang Canberra rain!

Ever notice how the Captains Flat radar seems to be poorly tuned for Canberra; always indicates more rain than we get. Only 3.5mm near Harcourt Hill. Most swung north of here.
Headed for ANZ Stadium, suppose they can close the roof.

Ripped off again. I hope the catchments benefited.

Bugger… I washed my car this arvo !

Well, the place could do with a wash

Feh – the best of it (the nice dark red bits) is going to slide to the north of most of Canberra by the looks. Probably good, because I’m still not entirely confident of the water-tightness of the roof repairs I recently did 🙂

Hi all, north side is been hit now

Gungahlin Al4:56 pm 27 Nov 08

The ants are most definitely not quite – trail of them right through my home this arvo. Antkill coming up…

And yes – although the BOM warnings are only for a “general storm warning” the radar tells a v different story – solid cell of black heading right at us!

yeah, the big storm that is headed for canberra is a bit further away (currently over tumut and has many deep red and black spots in it).

So heading home now might be ideal

holy crapola and i was going to ride my bike home. clearly it is time to bunker in at some cosy civic bar and sink a few beers til the storm passes.

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