North QLD Area Weather

[retiredweatherman]

I have been located in Townsville since 1986, and retired from BoM here. I welcome others who reside in this area to contribute local weather information.

Commencing tomorrow I will present a daily morning weather observation, plus extra comments during the day when interesting weather occurs, from my location at Garbutt East, which is quite close to the foot of Castle Hill.

For those that do not reside here, Townsville has been nicknamed " Brownsville " as it located in a rain shadow from the prevailing trade flow. The official gauge sited at the Airport since 1941 is also in a mini rain shadow which was well shown by the 2010 figures, whereby this gauge clocked up just under 2000mm for 2010, most other local flood alert gauges were well over this - averaging 2200 - 2300 mm.

Most thunderstorm activity tends to be deflected to the SE or N due to the ranges almost circling the city. Although the annual rainfall average is reasonable, in excess of 1100mm the majority of this can fall in a matter of weeks with little else for the rest of the year, hence the nickname. 2010 was unusual in that except for a couple of months, most months were above average.

It does have its moments such as the ' Night Of Noah ', Jan 10/11- 1998, with 549 mm recorded in 24 hours and again in April 2000 with TC Tessi when 480 mm was recorded in 24 hours ( spilt in half as it fell either side of the 0900 reporting period for rainfalls ).

[Lily]

Awesome! Really looking forward to reading your reports, RTW, really happy you've joined us

[Anthony Violi]

When i lived on the Gold Coast in 2006 the Night of Noah was folklore even that far South.

[daviescr]

great to hear from your little corner of paradise! I have a good friend and work colleague who hails from Townsville - he's always asking what's the weather doing up there, so now I can tell him with a degree of certainty

[retiredweatherman]

Thunder to west, but as usual that cell should head N of us. In a monsoonal situation here TS activity tends to be later at night, often after midnight and again just before sunrise, and usually peters out after sunrise as atmosphere stabilizes.

[I_Love_Storms]

RWM, welcome to the forum! I will be flying through NT in mid Feb around 5am, what do you think my chances are of catching some solid convection and/or thunderstorm activity? Cheers, ILS.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

My Hairdresser has family up that way also.
Looking forward to the reports.

[retiredweatherman]

ILS - Impossible to give that a accurate a forecast from so far out and also not knowing what part of NT you are referring to.

[I_Love_Storms]

Thanks RWM, straight through the guts of NT up into Singapore. Would be hoping for something around that time of year

Maybe head through WA though by the looks of things, unless there is a severe TC.

[daviescr]

Hi ILS, I've done that trip dozens of times, and chances are you will see some structure (assuming you fly in the daytime???) or some sparks at night - it is the right time of year for it after all.

Take a look in the Aviation thread - I just posted a bit more on your journey! (yes, I'm a closet plane spotter!)

[retiredweatherman]

0710 - ENE 1km/hr,26.1C,90%RH,23.5C DP,1005.7hPA,Mon. max.31.3C at 1443,Tue.min.24.1C at 0557, Max. wind gust. NE 32km/hr at 1418, 24 hour rain - 0.6mm, Jan 159.6mm. Overnight shower,Current weather as per pic.
/

[Lily]

Nawwww, no pic? Sounds a bit sticky up there (well, to us southerners anyway lol).

[retiredweatherman]

About to be hit here by a TS..

[daviescr]

Looks like the worst of it is south of Mt Stuart...

[retiredweatherman]

More TS activity starting up locally. With BoM expecting monsoon trough to be parked over us by tomorrow morning, this could be a long noisy night here.

[retiredweatherman]

0730-SSE1km/hr,26.6C,96%RH,25.8C DP,1005.4hPa,Tue.max.32.9C at 1428,Wed.min.24.8C at 0510,Max.wind gust NNE 31km/hr at 1524,24 hour rain-4.0mm,Weather - TS 1610, intermittent TS activity 2000-2300, now clearing with mid level(ex CB) showers around the horizon..

[Lily]

More scattered showers and thunderstorms on their way for you this afternoon too, RTW?

[Karl Lijnders]

The monsoon trough sitting a fair way south should give a few more days of thunderstorms which is great!! Nice to see that the desert part of the coastline getting some weather!

[retiredweatherman]

Line of storms to our SW and S, thunder heard here but these should slip away along the ranges toward Burdekin as they usually do. Maybe later on for us if heat induced storms further inland can make it this far.

[retiredweatherman]

TS commenced here 1800, more intense to the north.