VIC Trough, Heat, Showers, Thunderstorms, etc Feb 15-22 2012

[mick]

Looked good abt 4 this arvo, jet black rolling in from the west, lots of flangs. Over the bay is blue to the s/w with a front from the south bubbling in and the rain from the n/w, its a dogs breakfast but looks great!

[James]

was just out trying to get shots of the flooding issues around this area....

there was hail intermixed in the rain for quite some time, flash flooding in my backyard...poked my head out the door to look if it was flooding into the garage and instant lightning and thunder and fizzy fireworks sounds, not sure where it was but i thought i saw sparks falling through the trees, so it was dam close!

still very muggy but over for now, is there more to come?

[stormygirl]

4mm here so far, and 1 massive flang hit just down the road. Max temp of 29.6C today, now down to 20.5C. Would have been nice to have received a little more rain, hope there's a bit more on the way. Still rumbling away in the distance.

[Twiggy]

Just jumped on to see what was happening around Melbourne way as I went outside and there are planes left right and center turning around, 1 after the other, took a couple of photos of them So I am guessing the Airports are ALL closed?

[Karl Lijnders]

Just managed to scrape the very heavy rainfall at home as well James with rainfall intensity very high. Lots of flangs and a bit of hail and strong winds.

Nice to see some big totals in the Dandenongs putting an end to the fire risks. 50-60mm in some areas too.

Watching some further convection over the NW as the trough is very slow moving, some further thunderstorms cannot be ruled out this evening.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

Hold on James we may be in for it again, Yes that was incredible earlier on today,
the first few drops were Huge. so straight out of no where and huge big drops.
at one stage it was belting down and then instantly stopped...
was ACE....

[Mikew]

Thats amazing Geoff (50ml)
That was certainly not forecast
Looks like a bit more for the east/neastern suburbs tonight
10ml here
Is it just me or is melb storms getting more severe ? maybe a topic for another thread

[Duckey]

26mm here for me so far...not bad considering the BOM were forecasting <1mm! Steady rain continues, still the odd flang. Overall quite a nice event!

[Storm2]

THis weather is nasty. plenty of thunder and lightning and torrential raim

[Didjman]

Stuck at work(also in Broadford) - 2nd time in a week!! GRR!!! The shop flooded, as we had a max rain rate of 720mm/hr(from my ws when I got home)!! 23.6mm fell in total with constant pea hail for 5-10 mins with flangs all round. Max gust of 59.5klm/hr also(same time of max rain rate).
Peter

[Macedonian]

heavy rain here again

[Hamlan]

As the storms first moved over north of Bundoora, one cell exhibited some corkscrewing rotation through the mid levels and there was even a cone lowering which was drawing up scud as it was over the Plenty Gorge area. I couldnt chase today but got to watch some of the show and listen to constant thunder for over an hour so cant complain.

[Meso]

As the storms first moved over north of Bundoora, one cell exhibited some corkscrewing rotation through the mid levels and there was even a cone lowering which was drawing up scud as it was over the Plenty Gorge area. I couldnt chase today but got to watch some of the show and listen to constant thunder for over an hour so cant complain.

I was look at the radar earlier, thinking to myself, whats the bet Brad's in the middle of a field somewhere in S NSW enjoying the view...but looks like you had to suck it up at the office too. Frustrating ey?

Any thoughts on Sunday? Been wanting to explore these NSW plains you rave about, but not sure whether the setup is gonna be worthwhile.

[droughtbreaker]

14.4mm here and more solid showers have passed through since I emptied the gauge, so probably 2-3mm more now. I was in Melbourne where the storms were more of a nuisance than anything. Storms are great when you are home or able to chase them but at the end of a work day it's a full on pain. There were some very close lightning strikes in the city and inner suburbs. The rain was much needed here, we were really getting quite dry but this event should keep the soil and vegetation sufficiently damp until the Autumn break (when it occurs).

I can imagine the BOM are regretting downplaying this event to the extent that they did when the models were right on to it. The number of times in the last couple of days that I've heard a met state that there will 'be very little, just the odd isolated storm that won't amount to much, 99% of the metro area will be fine today' it's quite ridiculous. I know it's often hard to accurately forecast storms on days like today and many times they don't eventuate, but at least they could have been open to the possibility to what happened, i.e. severe storms organising into a massive squall line as it pushed east over Melbourne.

[Duckey]

Thunder again just to the north, looking at the radar looks like another little cell has just popped up out the back of Chirnside Park heading out towards Yarra Glen

[Twiggy]

A bit of large drop rain here.. a few thunder rumbles, that orange eery look. But another shower and it will be all over for us.

[occluded]

Still ticking over here, up to 13 mm now. Not too shabby. The garden certainly appreciates it.

[crikey]

No rain here again today. We have been on the boundary of instability all afternoon. Any development moved eastward .
We had a good view of all the action going on to our east all afternoon. Jealous so many have had rain.. Whats that!

We have only had 16mm YTD here and all of that was in January. None for this month so far. Well below the mean
have had to order water. It is dangerously dry out this way and very high fire danger. Everything is tinder dry

Things were looking all over 3 hours ago but looks like the east of us is ramping up again
Looking quite dark toward bendigo castlemaine serpentine maryborough..
The instability has shifted /expanded more westward this past hour, closer to us and a storm cloud developing close by
but to our west the sky is relatively stable
We seem to be right on the border
Very surprised to see cumulus convection going up in some of those clouds?
We didn't get much of a cool change here
Maybe the heat from the ground here is providing some uplift

This instability certainly wasn't here a few hours ago. Not sure if it will continue or subside
Expecting to see some lightning in the distance when it get dark
The wind has changed to an easterly.? Maybe that's why the instability has a little crept further west
I would imagine the Bendigo region stormchasers are sharpening there camera triggers now? Looks promising from here

[Twiggy]

Awesome lightning here Not much rain, but its good to see (and smell what has been) Cooled down about 10deg in an hour

[Rhino]

Bloody typical, metro areas always get smashed by the big storms and us poor country folk get the dregs.....Um, and I am being sarcastic you know.
Really hope you guys down there enjoyed it and not to much damage, looked massive on radar and on tv.

Rhino.