Victoria: Extended Heatwave - Jan 13 2014 - Jan 18 2014

[stratospear]

Fire at Trafalgar is a bit of a worry - it's bearing down on the main power transmission lines from the Latrobe Valley....

[HarleyB]

The pyrocumulus from the Grampians fire is now throwing out its own sparks. There's also strikes north of Geelong, as well as between Kilmore and Lancefield.
Temp dropped down to 41.8 here, lovely compared to the 43.6 earlier.

[mick]

I watched clouds punch through a weak cap to the east this morning and since 2pm they have exploded through it to the west, some anvils visible in the distance.

Its all building up to something.

[Rhys_34]

For mine tomorrow looks a shade hotter then today with a late max, I'm guessing around 44.4C as a stab in the dark!

[nafets]

Constant thunder here now, storm closing in!

[droughtbreaker]

It's starting to really take off here now. Earlier on it was very high based and isolated, but now it's towers going up all over the place and much lower based (or at least it looks it). A bit of thunder rumbling here with a storm nearby to the east.

Interestingly, the past two days have seen convection supressed until sunset and later, so it's worth keeping an eye on. IMHO, falls will be much heavier from storms than in previous days. Natee Yallock near Maryborough copped over 20mm last night.

[Wilko]

Looking black to the north and hearing a few rumbles something coming this
way from the north via the city
Getting louder now

[HarleyB]

Anything to my west looks low based, whereas anything to the east looks very high based and lacking precip. Actually everything around here is slowly flattening out so I think our chance tonight has passed. Praying we get a cooler night than last night's 27c. Thinking about that smoke from the Grampians, is there any chance of it drifting over the central regions and capping temps tomorrow?
Currently 38c here.

[typhoon29]

oppressive heat again today, 38 for 90% of today, Cu and Cbs developed on all horizons this afternoon, lovely towers but alas we won't have a sound and light show here tonight.

hope I am wrong!

[Dane]

Very smoky outside now. Must be smoke from that Latrobe valley fire that DJ mentioned was moving into Melbourne.
The smoke that is.

[Geoff]

Probably wishful thinking on my part, but I've just been looking at the national satellite loop, and doing the high-tech moving the finger across the image to work out the timing of the cloudband trick, and I reckon the leading edge of the trough coming across the Bight will reach Melbourne area around midday tomorrow. It seems to be getting a shift on now it's interacting with the tropical depression up north. Could be clouding over tomorrow afternoon, what do you reckon?

[mick]

Got a fire on the edge of the Seaford wetland here atm just out the back, covered in smoke, under ash attack.

If it gets into the 15 ft tall Kungi it will be a worry.

[droughtbreaker]

Probably a good thing in the end that storms haven't kicked on tonight as it reduces the number of flare ups that potentially could have occurred tomorrow.

Obscenely high temps forecast for southern regions tomorrow is indicative of the expected drier air mass and also foehn wind (or similar) effects off the ranges. Today was a more northerly day so north eastern suburbs and the city saw the highest temps. Tomorrow I expect the city and western suburbs to spike.

Hopefully only the SW change will be gusty/squally. Up here on the great divide the SW change should be relatively meek. It's mainly the coast, bays and adjacent hills/ranges that see the worst of southerly changes in summer.

[occluded]

About 1mm overnight from some cell or other that went through quick-smart.

Garden really suffered today, even the lemon tree had leaves curling up and dropping, and the rosemary wasnt looking happy either. Top of 43.2c at 4.30pm so not all that surprising I guess.

Getting a few trees dropping around the place, presumably the heat stress. Might see more dropping tomorrow if the wind picks up.

Water tank is now getting down to the dregs so it's back to mains water for a bit

[WeatherViewer]

Sure is tropical out there tonight. Temp down to 26c here in Wyndham Vale with DP @ 21.0 & Humidity 75%.

Anyone else feeling the same?

[droughtbreaker]

Temp down under 23C now and feels quite pleasant. Calm air and clear skies responsible for the slightly cooler evening.

They should come up here right now and play some of tomorrow's scheduled tennis matches at Tony Clarke Reserve in Macedon. I'm pretty sure they have lights at the courts there.

Anyway, three days around 40C here which is unheard of, and probably 41C tomorrow. The only heatwave that might have beaten it was 1939 depending on how far inland the brief southerly changes got during that event.

[MasterOfRoc]

A couple looking from the Stawell Big hill lookout, across the grampians.

[Rivergirl]

Wonderful captures Master of Roc

[MasterOfRoc]

I'm by no stretch of the imagination, anything more than a beginner, but even I recognise that unfortunately, the majority of the time, a Photog's dream, is a nightmare for alot of people.

[HarleyB]

I really hope that fire doesn't grow even more quickly tomorrow. I was over in the Grampians for the first time ever in September, such a beautiful part of the world
Currently sitting on 30c here, with clear skies and no wind. Another grass fire started here about 45 minutes ago but has been controlled already. Going to be watching tomorrow even more closely than today.

Amazing shots MasterOfRoc, especially that second one