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Post by greysrigging on Mar 28, 2022 4:02:13 GMT -5
Jeez, she's banging away just off Lee Point. Doubt it will make it inland to Leanyer, but Muirhead might get a drop.    |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 28, 2022 18:38:16 GMT -5
And for something different, a morning storm banging away to my south.  |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 28, 2022 22:35:55 GMT -5
Sensational downpour in Darwin City and the Airport....nearly 2" ( 50mm ) in half an hour. I had to drive into the City for an appointment right in the middle of it.... some of the heaviest rain this season. So checked my gauge when I returned home....3.5mm ! ( shakes head ). The Airport was running at record low rainfall for March, but atm with a couple of days left in the month, the figure is 170.2mm.     |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 28, 2022 22:47:34 GMT -5
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 1:14:28 GMT -5
Dark skies looking towards the City.  |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 15:46:31 GMT -5
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 20:55:01 GMT -5
Hmmmmm....could use this lightning/storm tracker image for the next 6 months...  |
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Post by Cheeseman on Mar 29, 2022 20:59:17 GMT -5
Hmmmmm....could use this lightning/storm tracker image for the next 6 months... In that image I see two places I wanted to live in at different points as a kid: Darwin and Mataranka! Not sure how 12 year old me knew about Mataranka considering it's a town of only 350 people though haha.
I always like reading your thread though. The storm pictures when you get a good one make me so jealous!
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 21:14:35 GMT -5
Hmmmmm....could use this lightning/storm tracker image for the next 6 months... In that image I see two places I wanted to live in at different points as a kid: Darwin and Mataranka! Not sure how 12 year old me knew about Mataranka considering it's a town of only 350 people though haha.
I always like reading your thread though. The storm pictures when you get a good one make me so jealous!
I'm amazed you've even heard of Mataranka....most Aussies don't even know where it is. See this water tower ?, I was part of the crew that installed it in the 1980's   |
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Post by Cheeseman on Mar 29, 2022 21:19:41 GMT -5
In that image I see two places I wanted to live in at different points as a kid: Darwin and Mataranka! Not sure how 12 year old me knew about Mataranka considering it's a town of only 350 people though haha. I always like reading your thread though. The storm pictures when you get a good one make me so jealous!
I'm amazed you've even heard of Mataranka....most Aussies don't even know where it is. See this water tower ?, I was part of the crew that installed it in the 1980's That's awesome!! |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 21:21:53 GMT -5
From our local Guru, Pilko.... "Good morning trendsetters.. Despite the absence of rain about the Top End atm, it’s a truly beautiful morning with a slight drop in the humidity, compared to the previous 5 months. Some decent storms over the last 48 hours have eroded into the March rainfall deficiencies but not nearly enough and this month will go down as well below average. It’s amazing how quickly outlooks can change. This time last week the talk was all about a low in the Arafura effecting the Top End. Now it’s about an early taste of the impending dry season and our little low has whisked off to visit the top of Cape York. A ridge thru southern Australia has been wedged between a developing and very unwanted ECL affecting the NE NSW and SE QLD areas and the remains of TC Charlotte that’s dumping welcome rains thru much of the southern half of WA. This ridge is now strengthening and propelling a dry surge north into the Territory and it’s strong enough to reach the north coast. A real dry season pattern! As the low off the NSW coast pushes away to the SE ( if it pushes off to the SE, it’s being a stubborn cow of a thing) it will allow the ridge to relax and some moisture will again return to the northern Top End, however widespread showers and storms are not yet on the agenda. Today and the next few days will see only very isolated arvo showers about the north and western coastal areas but nothing too intense. From about the weekend showers will become a little more common but it’s a big let down from what was pencilled in a week ago. Always remember tho that just as quickly as our models have downgraded they can just as quickly upgrade. Let’s keep fingers crossed."   |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 29, 2022 23:48:37 GMT -5
The radar changes quickly in the Top End... Looks like a top up for the March Airport rainfall totals. Need 30mm before 9.00am tomorow morning to crack 200mm. Can hear the thunder from Leanyer Hights.    |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 30, 2022 14:35:15 GMT -5
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 30, 2022 18:00:04 GMT -5
Well, I'm calling it....not gunna be any rain in the next hour here at home. So here are the March figures.
Airport - 176.2mm
Leanyer - 153.8mm
Leanyer Heights - 148.9mm
Running totals 01/01/22 - 31/03/22.
Airport - 921.4mm
Leanyer - 1019.6mm
Leanyer Heights - 1053.9mm
Running totals 01/10/21 - 31/03/22
Airport - 1448.0mm
Leanyer - 1592.5mm
Leanyer Heights - 1590.5mm
All in all an ordinary position as we head towards the end of the Wet Season, same as happened last season.
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 31, 2022 0:15:33 GMT -5
Can we score some early April rain ? Looks promising out to my ( Leanyer ) east.   |
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Post by greysrigging on Mar 31, 2022 18:00:16 GMT -5
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Post by greysrigging on Apr 1, 2022 4:37:21 GMT -5
An absolute rippa of an early April storm has just impacted the whole of Darwin and Palmerston....the BOM must have been caught by surprise as there were no warnings issued....certainly should have been. I watched it roll in on the radar earlier this afternoon. At this stage of the season ( probably 2 to 3 weeks left at the most ), these pulse storms are known locally as 'knock 'em downs', ie they knock down all the ripened spear grass ( 10' tall out in the bush ) and often blow down trees and stuff in the suburbs. Spear grass in the bush 2klm from home...   This cell looked shit hot on the Radar    And I could hear it banging away from here at home... my son messaged me from Palmerston saying there was a microburst in it so I headed off to my storm spotting spot 2 miles from home at Karama.   The cell seemed to impact the suburbs to the south of Vanderlin Drive and back south towards the Airport, but going by the Airport Obs, they seem to have missed out on the heavier rain.  Views from my storm spotting location   And driving back home in torrential rain !   Any April rain is very wellcome....we average about 100mm ( 4"), but it's very variable from one season to the next.... just as likely to only get 20mm or 30mm or 200mm or 300mm. April rain gladdens the heart of Darwinites and Top Enders....we know its coming to an end, and wont see any more storms to late Sept/early Oct. |
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Post by greysrigging on Apr 1, 2022 15:19:47 GMT -5
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Post by greysrigging on Apr 1, 2022 18:16:07 GMT -5
Some more pics of yesteday's epic 'knock 'em down' storm as it came over Darwin Harbour Pics by local storm chaser Mike O'Neil.    |
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Post by greysrigging on Apr 1, 2022 20:18:44 GMT -5
Some musings on current and near future weather possibilities for Darwin and the Top End, a coupla local gurus, Pilko and Cameron. "Good morning trendsetters.. The weather this past week has probably been the most spectacular weather we have had all wet season for those about the far NW Top End. Unfortunately tho the rest of the Top End and indeed the NT in general has had hot dry and sunny skies. The dry SE winds pushing up from the dry interior has managed to push all the instability well clear of the mainland, however residual moisture aided by localised instability has allowed for some convective afternoon showers and storms about the general Darwin area, stretching down to about Dundee and these “isolated” showers have packed quite a punch. Yesterdays storm almost resembled the famous ( in weather terms) Koolpinyah special, only it didn’t develop at Koolpinyah. It developed near Howard Springs with the aid of the seabreeze and pushed ever so slowly towards Palmerston. Once the seabreeze abated it raced into town. I must admit it caught me by surprise 🤔 We had 29mm here in the Gray wetlands in no time at all. Falls to 36mm from Howard Springs to Nightcliff seem to be a pretty common recording amongst our readers. Today again looks like a hot and mostly sunny day with another chance of afternoon and evening storms about the NW corner with Darwin again a fair chance. This weather looks like continuing like this for a good week or so and whilst many of us are convinced the dry is here, as Cameron pointed out yesterday, mid month looks rather interesting indeed. As I have said all along. This season is not like a normal season so I don’t see why it would change now 😝 So have a great Saturday folks and keep those sensational photos and videos coming. Please be very careful if out in the open with these storms tho as yesterdays electrical storms were sending out clear air bolts well ahead of the storms, there is a reason they are called widowmakers!! With this incursion of dry air it generally aids in their sparkiness." "Pretty decent Rossby wave forecast to move through in the second week of April. The MJO is also forecast to move through around the same time but it's only weak. A Rossby wave moves east to west, while the MJO moves west to east. But with the two arriving around the same time it looks like there's a fair chance of another wettish spell before the season's out!   |
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