Hot again with some showers and storms: 14-20 Dec

[hillybilly]

That band is bad for fires. Will be sparking fires all along it

Good pick by GFS and ACCESS which had convection this arvo... and more tomorrow. It's unstable aloft, though a dry later in the mid levels means mainly virga. GFS wants to produce some totals in central areas tonight but it often goes overboard.

Tomorrow looks like a scorcher. Fortunately, progs holding decent rain still for Sunday and the front is reasonably early - GFS and ACCESS has it just before noon into Melbourne.

Progs getting excited for xmas day storms..

EDIT> EC halved totals for Sunday Now only got light falls in central areas...

[Sean]

EDIT> EC halved totals for Sunday Now only got light falls in central areas...

Didn't have to be a fortune teller to see that one coming

[tonycynic]

Anyone getting anything from that stuff on the radar? Still 36 here, could do with a bit of damp to cool us down.
Got enough "rain" to drop the temp a little and put the humidity up to 99%. Sticky.

[Rivergirl]

Fire Weather Warning
IDV22000

Fire Weather Warning
for the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, North East, South West, Central and West and South Gippsland forecast districts
Issued at 4:02 pm EDT on Friday 18 December 2015.
Weather Situation
Strengthening north to northwesterly winds will direct hot and relatively dry conditions over much of Victoria tonight and Saturday.

For the rest of Friday 18 December:
Severe Fire Danger in the following forecast districts:
Wimmera, North Central, South West and Central
For Saturday 19 December:
Extreme Fire Danger is forecast for the following forecast districts:
Wimmera, North Central, South West and Central
Severe Fire Danger is forecast for the following forecast districts:
Mallee, Northern Country, North East and West and South Gippsland
The CFA advises that you:
Action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.
Monitor the fire and weather situation through your local radio station, http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.bom.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Call 000 (Triple Zero) in an emergency.
For information on preparing for bushfires go to http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

The next warning will be issued by 5:00 am EDT Saturday.
http://www.bom.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[I_Love_Storms]

One of the coolest sun showers ever! So refreshing. Rainbow and also smell of wet dust! 40c in rowville today now around 25. Nice relief before the dirty scorcher tomorrow

[Gordon]

Anyone getting anything from that stuff on the radar? Still 36 here, could do with a bit of damp to cool us down.

Yes proper heavy rain from that band here, but only brief. Temp has dropped about 11 C since.

[hillybilly]

Anyone getting anything from that stuff on the radar? Still 36 here, could do with a bit of damp to cool us down.

Yep.. brief heavy shower here. Dropped 1mm That 100 times more than I was expecting... GFS and ACCESS-C had the odd shower today but was thinking the'yd all evaporate above our heads. Temp down to a comfortable ~23C here now.

Tomorrow should see more high based showers and storms PM but a stinker.

[Jake Smethurst]

Just on a side note, we have a new website currently in beta at the moment. You can simply visit it by going to http://www.theaustralianweatherforum.com. If you get a message saying its "coming soon", just hit refresh and it should pop up. Any thoughts appreciated. The "news" page is still yet to be implemented as is the actual forecast section, however we do have Christmas forecasts available. The entire site will be functional just after New Year. Thanks!

Weather talk now ... we missed any rain. Was happily surprised to feel the effects of the seabreeze in the city around midday and then at home also. Unfortunately tomorrow's scorcher will be unescapable, and as expected, a number of areas seeing "extreme" ratings for fire danger. Needing good rains desperately.

[stevco123]

[quote="

I recorded a high of 40.8°C on my weather station, down to 35°C now, feels lovely and cool! Your old stamping ground certainly was hot.
Was Santa for the nursing home's Christmas party, Santa suits certainly are not cool.[/quote][/quote]

I do miss living in good ol North Dandy. The climate in Cranbourne West is somewhat different. The nights get cooler quicker, last winter felt numbingly cold and fog seems to last well into the afternoon inWinter. Could well be that there is a lot more open space.

The seabreezes come in quicker, but in saying that we don't escape the heat as we are JUST too far inland.

[hillybilly]

1mm in the gauge this morning

As for today.. a classic scorcher. Around 40C from late morning. Nothing stands out for me... it's just damn hot. Stay safe people and don't forget the pets and gardens.

Front tomorrow on track for middle of the day. Rains winding back... or more precisely splitting. Weakening rain band from the west breaks up and is replaced by a new band developing out of the north in eastern areas. Melbourne sits inbetween. GFS and ACCESS give 10-20mm here, but a few km's either way could drop that to 2mm or less. Waiting to see EC. Geez we need it... so over watering the garden and looking onto a garden that looks like it's being slowly fried.

Still something lurking for xmas day/boxing day. Time for a thread for that soon.

Bit of instability out this morning (photo looking south). Thinking a slight chance for a late arvo shower, but again anything will be high based and sparse.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

29.1 @ 6am,
Windy blowing,
Windows closed.
Boxing @ 7.30 then work out a form of attack on this heat..

[Dane]

Just been out watering the garden before the heat, reached 39.0c at around 3.30pm yesterday and then that cool southerly finally arrived here dropping temperatures back to the 20's. Got down to 18.0c this morning still only 20c now with just a light ESE wind. Should soon go northerly and pick and become strong.
BTW that 39.0c yesterday was only the 7th day over 35c this year, I think today will be my 1st over 40 day this year.

[Onetahuti]

The northerly just kicking in here now, currently 22.8°C, soon to soar.

[occluded]

Ferns in the garden slowly going brown and it's only December.

PWS already showing 29.6 and Viewbank at 33.6. Gulp.

[I_Love_Storms]

Already mid level convection and Storm cells in ne vic

[Skywalker]

Going to be a shocker here in the western desert, already 36.8 degrees in Laverton and it's only 9.27am!

Gave everything an absolute soaking first thing this morning in addition to the daily watering I've had to do all week. Ground is nice and damp so the gardens should hold up well.

Stay safe everyone, especially you guys up in the hills.

[hillybilly]

Temp here hasn't budged much. Was 25C at 6am and now 28C. That's consistent with the temps closing in on 35C around melbourne. EC has showers developing from early arvo so hopefully bit of cloud to cap the rises. Only lights winds here.. Thankfully.

[Rivergirl]

Beautiful photo hillybilly. You may know this but there was a small bushfire on the Mountain Highway just below us last night at 12.45am They sent 5 firetrucks and put it out within about fifteen minutes. I do hope there are no hot patches remaining there today.

Well done Jake, the website looks great!

[Rivergirl]

Fire Weather Warning
IDV22000

Fire Weather Warning
for the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, North East, South West, Central and West and South Gippsland forecast districts
Issued at 4:30 am EDT on Saturday 19 December 2015.
Weather Situation
Strengthening north to northwesterly winds will direct hot and relatively dry conditions over much of Victoria during today.

For the rest of Saturday 19 December:
Extreme Fire Danger is forecast for the following forecast districts:
Wimmera, North Central, South West and Central
Severe Fire Danger is forecast for the following forecast districts:
Mallee, Northern Country, North East and West and South Gippsland
The CFA advises that you:
Action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.
Monitor the fire and weather situation through your local radio station, http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.bom.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Call 000 (Triple Zero) in an emergency.
For information on preparing for bushfires go to http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

No further warnings will be issued for this event, but the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings issued if necessary

http://www.bom.gov.au

[Dane]

Already hit 35c here, some Accas in the sky indicative of some instability so very slight chance of a thundery shower later over outer Northern and Eastern Suburbs. North wind is already gusting to 20 knots here.
BTW my top of 39c yesterday was the Hottest this year but I think today has already got that covered.