Autumn storms at last with thoughts sent to North Qld

Well I've been waiting for an Autumn storm for a while that would put on a bit of a show.

This wasn't  what I've been waiting for though it wasn't too bad for a start.

This was taken in the South West of NSW at Tumut.

The weather has been wet Australia wide lately with cyclone Ita making news tonight.

My thoughts go out to those in its path and stay safe guys.

Things are cooling down with a cold wet winter becoming a distinct possibility.

Light shows, rain and Wasps

Good rain at last after a long hot dry spell and temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius.

This picture as this latest storm approached .

The rain also afforded a little nest building for this formidable looking wasp. 

With its head down and tilting its body in a "head stand" position it rolled large balls of mud.

Flying off , it returned at minute long intervals all afternoon to repeat the process.

A very cagey and private creature, I have not yet been able to locate the nest.

As it returns to the same position continuously to collect mud I will attempt a video of this soon.

Xmas eve storms 2012

Its been a great year for photography and the huge storms that lashed NSW Australia on Xmas eve were no exception. Here is an animation of the build up and light show that has been compiled from the sequential shots taken that day.

Have a great New Year and see you for more in 2013. 

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.

My November Post

Having been busy on a number of projects lately, I felt a little slack at not having posted more this month.
So, at the twelfth hour, a summing up of the most memorable photographic happenings of November would be the storms we have been getting.
These electrically violent events light up the sky, as you can see below.

Last night was no exception, with this shot one of a number taken from a storm that covered a distance from Bermagui to Bourke, following a low pressure system that crossed the entire state of NSW.

With fire bans in place from tomorrow, we enter into Summer with good spring growth drying  that could provide fuel for fires started from storms such as this one- with other areas in Australia having had some bad brushfires recently, the precautionary advertisements have already begun.

Good rain this Spring

Regular cold fronts over NSW have supplied steady rainfall so far this Spring.
This isolated storm system passed through a starry sky last night producing some phenomenal lightning strikes such as the one pictured below.

Early and sustained Spring rains have been responsible for many Summer bushfires, due to the accelerated undergrowth providing fuel that dries out over summer making a hot burn more likely.
These small individual events are highly charged with spectacular  displays as they approach the coast ahead of the main front.

Summer Storms

 With the summer warming rainfall has been at record levels all over the eastern states of Australia.
On Wednesday night at around 8Pm a huge rolling front passed over South Eastern NSW.
Approaching at about 40Km/h, it could be heard when still 5Km away like a jet engine as  hail and torrential rain fell at the lip of formation.
The Photo below has no colour adjustment and was taken minutes before its arrival.

Needless to say the cloud was extremely charged and produced a number 

of huge lightning strikes and sheets  that spanned the sky.

The photo below reminds me of a shot I've seen showing the discharge of electricity 

in a charged plastic sheet. Those who have seen such a  shot will notice the similarity.

The charge is passing over to another cloud, and not to the ground, balancing with the potential at the seaboard.

The aftermath saw hail at a maximum of around 1 cm, with the shot below 

giving an idea of the gusting strength.

The mist is not a dirty lens :) it lay directly behind the front and was heavily charged 

also producing continuous flashing in the sky.

 

All in all one of the most violent storms I have experienced.

Being a bit of a storm chaser, it was nice to bring the work home for a change.

I was made aware recently that storms, worldwide, are becoming more charged as time progresses.

I would not be surprised if this was linked to increased solar output and interactions 

of charged with the magnetosphere .

A study on the regularity and intensity of Northern/Southern lights

 in relation to lightning activity could be interesting.

This link on the magnetosphere makes an interesting read also.

26.10.10

This link has a interesting study on Solar flares and interactions with the Troposphere.

Spring Storms

The passage of Spring into summer has provided some great electrical storms to photograph this year.

This front passed through last week, with the photo below showing  its intensity after a hot day.

This still from a video of the storm shows the ferocity of the electrical discharges.

The storm passed and indicated another clear day tomorrow.

Many I have talked too feel these events to be more like weather patterns observed at this time 

of year some 25- 30 years ago.

Reptiles are out of hibernation and the first cicada have been heard.

Whether we get a hot summer or a cool one, a wet or a dry one is still up for grabs.

Either way the garden is loving it and so, sadly, is the lawn.

Drought breaking rains for NSW

The storms across NSW last week were spectacular to say the least.
With Bermagui getting around 200mm in 24 hours, it wasn't the heaviest of the falls.
It was enough though to free blocked estuary systems to the ocean and flush them out.

The following video is of the storm on Fri morning 05.02.10 around 5am, with footage of a few kangaroos playing in the rain and the Cuttagee system breaking to the ocean later that day.




The baragoot system broke on its own that night, with Wallaga lake needing a large excavator to help it along the next day as water levels rose nearly 2 meters.
Local council took the initiative to see all lake and river systems in need got a digging out at the entry point to the ocean as massive rainfall fueled the flows in areas stagnant from drought.
This is how things looked across NSW at around 7am Friday 05.02.10 thanks to the BOM sat image.



Following the rain, with a little help, Wallaga Lake was on the run.



This was Baragoot,


..and Cuttagee.



All areas did well from the rain, allowing clearing of the stagnant waters and facilitating movement of marine creatures to and from the ocean and these estuary systems.
Hopefully the prawning will be better next year. :)

High charge Lows

Last night a low pressure system, accompanied by a trough, passed over NSW.

I observed what looked like summer lightning, an occurrence that sees the sky lit by sheets of lightning without clouds...discharges atmospheric as charges balance out.

Then the clouds rolled in.

They were slow moving and, initially, undetectable in a starry sky.

The following shot with stars visible...

Then the show got started.

The next shot of cloud that rolled in.

It was multi layered, with many cloud forms present at many levels.

The real dark ones on the RHS foreground were very low and very dense.

Quite ominous in their slow roll across the land.

The next day was sunny to start with, though a smaller second trough passed over around 8am giving some rain and this nice double rainbow.

More good rainfall

Huge storms have kept things green and cool over summer last week.
With not the best lightning shots in hand, I still thought it worth a post due to the great rainfall received.
One storm even dumped a mass of hail in Bermagui that was enough to make it look like snowfall had occurred ( you should ALWAYS carry a camera :P )




With recent trips to Canberra and surrounds, I observed last weeks storms from various areas and noted them all to be small in size though full of potential and numerous.
It was possible to bask in sun and extreme temperatures and watch an electrically charged torrent pass by.
This following picture, though not showing strikes, illustrates well the size of these storms.
As it passes, stars are visible with the clouds lit by the frequent discharges of electricity.

Electrical storms put on a show

The last week has seen some of the most active electrical storms in a while.

This snap was taken looking towards Kangaloon from Robertson last night around 8.30pm.

Last week one storm in particular discharged around 20 strikes in close vicinity to my home over a 30 minute period - three of those within 100 metres.

Sorry - no photos of those!