Very hot start to February: Feb 1-

[Skywalker]

What a night! That had to be one of the longest periods of constant lightning & thunder that I've ever experienced. Simply amazing stuff.

[James]

didn't get much sleep last night, this was outside my window all night!

[StratoBendigo]

5mm yesterday. Very lightning active but not a lot of rain in it. At least it's something.

Unfortunately this hot spell doesn't look like ending in a hurry.

[Adam38]

Epic lightning show last night! I couldn’t stop watching and I’m so tired lol. 35mm of rain was very welcome.

[weathergasm]

Sounding looks alright for Melbourne, storm-wise. Should see some storms popping up in the next few hours, but they are unlikely to be as severe or widespread as yesterday.

[Wilko]

Wow terrific light show last night
Cloud to cloud lighting till the early morning hours
We parked the car at Sandy yacht club and the wind was all time
It was chaos with people getting blown around you literally couldn’t stand upright: it was a lot of fun though a little dangerous at times
21 mm here which would be a blip for Townsville area at the moment

[Ryant1234]

I looked out my west facing window overnight and I think most of the lightning was to the south of epping or more towards bundora. We got 6mm

[Lucia]

3.5 mls

[Lighthouse]

While Aireys Inlet has only had 0.4mm this evening there has been some desperately needed rain in parts of the Otways tonight. Benwerrin, about 25km north west of us, where a lightning strike started a fire overnight, has thus far had 37mm. Talk about saved by the bell. Most of the fires in the Otways east of Apollo Bay have been brought under control, helped by rain and light winds. Definitely dodged a bullet today.

[Sean]

It's interesting how poorly the models have struggled with the finer details of the current system. But to have such heat and intense storms is interesting.

[StratoBendigo]

A nasty looking storm near Colac this evening. Is that some circulation I see?

[hillybilly]

Stinker of a day here in southern Tasmania. Couple of 37C, including at Grove which was just a degree of its February record. Really humid and a little unstable, but cells are sparse and weak.

Bit more active for VIC with some more good falls though pretty patchy. Western parts of the Otways have done well, as have some of the western plains.

Another hot one tomorrow but an arvo change with some showers. Then a bit cooler for a while before more heat.

[hillybilly]

It's interesting how poorly the models have struggled with the finer details of the current system. But to have such heat and intense storms is interesting.

Details are always a challenge when there isn’t a strong focus. The trough is diffuse and not a great focus.

This weather is just plain strange. 40C give or take for most areas yesterday but precipitable water values near 40mm. That combo just shouldn’t be happening. Our historical stinkers usually involved gusty northerlies and often dry air. Now it’s just stinking hot day after day with a big stuck heat low. Heat lows used to be rare or perhaps even not a feature of our climate. Now we get them regularly in both Victoria and Tasmania.

[hillybilly]

Hot start to Tuesday. Now waiting on the change early to mid afternoon. Should see showers and storms fire for both Melbourne and Hobart, and areas north and east. Getting really dry for many areas including here south of Hobart so hoping for a decent fall, but will be patchy and hit and miss.

[StratoBendigo]

Another 2mm overnight in a rain shower that popped up out of nowhere at 10:30pm.

Thinking a couple of mm this afternoon with the change (if you can call it that).

[Ryant1234]

39 and rising at viewbank.

I've been wondering.. how often were temperatures checked when stations were manned, and during early automation of stations?

Since daily maximums can be recorded in between the 10 minute updates from stations and heat can spike for a minute or so, is more recent data in some cases not comparable to when stations were manned?

Like when viewbank site had a recorded maximum +0.5 than the 10 minute updates the other day

If i analysed maximums from the last 10 years using recorded maximums, vs maximums using the 10 minute updates, i would get 2 diffeent results. Or am I missing something in the recording process?

[StratoBendigo]

39 and rising at viewbank.

I've been wondering.. how often were temperatures checked when stations were manned, and during early automation of stations?

Since daily maximums can be recorded in between the 10 minute updates from stations and heat can spike for a minute or so, is more recent data in some cases not comparable to when stations were manned?

Like when viewbank site had a recorded maximum +0.5 than the 10 minute updates the other day

If i analysed maximums from the last 10 years using recorded maximums, vs maximums using the 10 minute updates, i would get 2 diffeent results. Or am I missing something in the recording process?

Analogue thermometers had metal floats which registered min and max temps for a 24 hr period before they were manually reset after they were read.

[Ryant1234]

I thought there would of been some method for recording it. Thanks for the clarification. I mean you couldn't have someone checking it every 10 mins all year

Thankfully the cool change has come through. There was a few spits of rain and some thunder.

[hillybilly]

Well finally cooler temps now for a while. We got a brief shower here on the change, but missed the action with some cracking storms just norm of Hobart. A few spots scored 25-50mm. Mostly light for Victoria as expected but the odd good fall such as at Swn Hill.

Fortunately not much lightning here with those, but yesterday’s storms and now those rumbling through northeast Victoria are starting a heap of fires. The situations is starting to get very serious with an emergency warning for the western Grampians, and a heap of fires in very rugged country in western Tasmania and now in northeast Victoria. A bad fire day next week and we could be looking at a very ugly scenario

We’ve got a stalled easterly trough the next few days. It could well produce a few showers for coastal Victoria and for eastern Tasmania. Not great forcing but some potential.

Btw Gascoyne Junction in WA has scored three 49C days in a row, breaking its hotted day record three times. Shows there is some seriously ugly heat to our north atm. An AWS run by the state government using standard instrumentation in a slightly warmer spot has recorded 50.0, 49.9 and 50.0C

[QldTwister]

What a wonderful 4 days its being proper great summer weather this summer being unreal but going to fast

Saturday stunning warm sunny awesome sunset at beach

Sunday hot day then amazing storms for hours was at beach when outfolw hit stuff went flying all over then from 8pm to 1030pm non stop lightning unreal show over the bay so many bolts, so many out watching the storm enjoying warm summer weather. strom hit bay at 1030 drove home in it then 3 more hours of lightning at home had near 6 hours non stop lightning unreal. 14mm with storms here at home

Monday another hot but cloudly day, sunny breaks provided amazing beach weather with no wind bayside and stunning night time swim with lightning in distance and awesome hot night was there till after 11pm.

Tuesday hot sunny great morning lunch stunning legit redic how prefect beach was in full sun today and no wind magic till change hit at 230 then got chilly and violet then smokey evening sun looked cool

3 days in high 30s loved it LOVING this summer