Electrical storms continue

With a wet and stormy Summer behind us, Violent electrical storms continue in our area.

Mostly isolated pockets of activity, this one passed by late last night.

It was interesting to observe, with such a small storm, what happened as it passed over a small group of islands just off the coast - the relative warmth differential of the island in relation to the sea caused the clouds to mushroom up causing further electrical discharge as it did so. 

Below is a shot of the "mushrooming", as well as a short vid showing some of the action.

Despite the lack of sleep, its a storm chasers paradise at the moment.

More on Water

With so much rain of late, it was only natural to think of a few more ways to photograph that polar molecule.

Water is integral to all life on Earth, so no focus on nature would be complete without a few references to it and its amazing properties - properties that enable life to exist on this planet.

The fact that ice (solid state water) floats on the liquid state could have made the difference between the biodiversity we experience today and something different. If the solid state had sunk, it would not have a chance to melt and would have accumulated resulting much more ice locked up deep at the poles, lower ocean levels and possibly permanent ice age conditions.

So, here are a few shots of bursting balloons that were filled with water.

The way in which the water reacts immediately after the balloon is "removed" (burst) illustrates one of the most amazing properties of water - its polar or "sticky" properties.

Want to know more about water? Go wiki HERE
Want to see previous posts of mine on the amazing water molecule? Go HERE

So here are the shots. Enjoy :)

At the point of bursting.

Big surf

The last few weeks saw a very slow storm front moving across the eastern states of Australia.

Dominated by an intense low pressure system, a vast amount of rain fell from northern
Queensland to Victoria.

This map from the Bureau of Meteorology illustrates the situation as the system left the coast.

Along with the rain came wild seas with just under 6 metre swells.

A short vid of the action that pounded the shores is below, though fails to

capture the immensity of those massive waves.

Some flooding was experienced here, though nothing of the order in other areas.

A few pics to give an idea follow.

With one of the wettest, coolest summers on record and a cool Autumn following, it leaves one to wonder if this Winter will be a reflection of that experienced in the Northern Hemisphere this year.