Breaking Weather News - Queensland drowning under deluge
MARTIN PALMER, 7 FEBRUARY 2009
Heavy rain continues to affect the northeast and tropical coast of Queensland bringing as much as 130mm to Townsville and 160mm to Innisfail. Many places saw more than 100mm as the monsoon and nearby tropical low pressures continue to drop huge volumes of water onto the coast.
Innisfail has now reached 120% of its average February rainfall, 561mm or over half a metre of water in seven days.
Townsville was hit by huge floods in the last week, although it has had some respite recently. In the last 24 hours however, the monsoon has started to affect the area again as it begins to move south. This could be particularly dangerous for the already swollen river systems.
Presently there are warnings for the Burdekin River and tributaries for the rest of the weekend. Keep up to date with warnings and current conditions at weatherzone.com
Breaking Weather News - Melbourne burns in heat and smashes all time record
MARTIN PALMER, 7 FEBRUARY 2009
At 3.04pm today, Melbourne made history with its highest maximum temperature since records began back in 1859.
The writing was on the wall by as early as 8.45am this morning, when the mercury flew past 30 degrees. The previous February record of 43.2 set in 1983 was reached by 1pm and the forecast temperature of 44 was broken by 1.30pm. The long standing all time record of 45.6 degrees, set in 1939 was broken by 0.8 of a degree.
If the heat was unbearable, at least the humidity was fairly low, it was as a matter of fact only 5% in the afternoon. A figure normally reserved for the deserts of this world. With the heat also came dust, kicked up by the gusty northerlies before a cooler change moves through.With these very dry and gusty winds, registered around 90km/h in some areas comes the very real threat of bush fires. With the cooler change coming through in the early evening, the complete reversal of wind direction could send any fires rapidly in the opposite direction.
The good news is that the change will drop forecast temperatures tomorrow to the mid to high twenties, almost half that of today. Cooler winds for the start of the week too, enough to break out a sweater.
Breaking Weather News - Temperatures drop after recording breaking heat
MARTIN PALMER, 8 FEBRUARY 2009
A record breaking heatwave that has persisted in the southeast for a couple of weeks is finally being driven out by a cool change.
Records have fallen in parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Melbourne hit its all time record max of 46.4 degrees, Deniliquin in NSW, Renmark and Whyalla in SA all posted new records.
However, the most extraordinary thing about the heat has been its length. Ivanhoe in NSW has now posted over 42 degree temperatures for 13 consecutive days, its longest heatwave over 42 since records began in 1959.
Successive weak cooler changes have only had an impact on the coast in the last few weeks and have let the temperatures rise inland. The principal reason for this is a blocking high pressure over the Tasman Sea. The high has disrupted the normal movement of cooler changes that normally affect the southeast.
The current cooler change is however, much stronger and is already bringing cooler weather to many parts of Victoria. Melbourne only hit 22 today, a massive 24 degrees less than yesterday. The forecast change is expected to reach Sydney late on Sunday 8th February, before it stretches towards Queensland on Monday 9th.
Breaking Weather News - Western NSW bakes
ALEX KRISMAN, 4 FEBRUARY 2009
As Sydney’s heat wave marches closer, spare a thought for fellow New South Welshman in the west of the state, who are baking due to a record hot spell.
The same Tasman sea high that has blessed Sydney with beautiful beach weather this week has been helping to maintain very hot and dry conditions away from the coast.
Ivanhoe for instance, in the Lower West, has endured ten consecutive days with maximum temperatures over 42 degrees. This is the most intense heat wave on fifty years of records and includes the third hottest temperature ever recorded there, 47 degrees. It is forecast that this will also become the longest heatwave in Ivanhoe, with 14 42+ days in a row expected.
This story is repeated in White Cliffs, Broken Hill and many other towns, where there has been no relief from this record braking heat wave.
Fortunately an end is in sight, with a strong change moving through the southeast of the country over the weekend, bringing the mercury down to more tolerable levels.
To keep up-to-date with the ongoing heat wave visit “weatherzone.com.au” for all your forecasts, observations and fire weather warnings.