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April 2010

Not a lot to report on unfortunately.  I was able to get some excellent lightning shots mid-April but things have really dropped off with the onset of the dry season.  There's several low pressure areas surrounding the Top End but none of which are expected to form into anything significant since the monsoon trough is well to our north.  A depression off Western Australia has a moderate chance (as of April 21) of forming into a cyclone but where it goes or what it does is a bit early to tell.

Below are some images of the final storms of the wet season proper..unless something happens prior to May!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February/March 2010

Julian Harcombe from the UK, a passionate weather enthusiast visited Darwin during late Feb/March for the first time and his experience was so profound that he's moving his entire family here!  Chasing with Julian gave me a chance to pass on what I know to him so he can use it back in the UK, but given the UK does not get the numbers associated with regular storms he said the only thing to do was to move here to appreciate all the action we get!  His first day here ended up being a 10-15 hour chase through the inland and rural areas of Darwin.  We located plenty of daytime storms but sadly not too much in the way of decent daytime lightning.  For Julian simply seeing the structures of our storms was an eye opener for him.  He saw just about every type of storm structure and maturity level and was blown away by it all.

 Photos will follow the report, so there's plenty to view.

Day two of our chasing was much on par with the first day but by around 10pm we were mulling over what convection was around and there were storms forming to the NW of my home.  Looking at the radar was an hourly thing but one storm did surprise us when we saw this almighty strike and loud thunder associated with it.  We grabbed our gear and went for a 'local chase' around the corner of my home which offers great views in that direction.  We were not disappointed!  We set up as quickly as we could and I shouted 'Point that way!'.  No more than 20 seconds later a massive strike hit in front of us - and another - and another!  We could not see the strikes due to the bright flash, but the camera showed us beautiful positive strikes that had hit no more than 300metres from us!  They were so fast that even the lightning detector at the bureau did not pick up on them!

Some photos from the night prior to Julian's arrival.  Some great daytime strikes and one photo that ended up blurring the car with a nice crawler in the background

Absolutely fuming mad over this shot - I was repositioning the camera after taking the previous sunset shot and this streamer lightning shot out but I was not able to hold the camera still just at that point - AAAAH! Would have been a corker shot with TVN logo and mine!!! Dammit!

 

STORM CHASE REPORT 22/23RD FEB from Julian Harcombe


On my very first real chase i get to see more Lightning than ive seen in my entire life !
And many more firsts as well, couldn't have hoped for much more, well apart from really big CGs outside the clouds instead of inside of them, must not complain though !!

Set off knowing storms were initiating and had a few target areas already set in our minds. First area we actually stopped and set up for was Beatrice Hill where there is a large viewing platform overlooking endless miles of marsh and scrub, and STORMS !
Just before we parked we noticed a nice little Vorticity Funnel and of course had a little stop to capture that.
On the platform we viewed a large storm complete with Shelf Cloud and a well defined Inflow Tail as well. So thats 3 firsts for me within an hour of leaving here !
Hope were high but for all the great structure very little lightning action on view, all inside or behind the storm. So after giving the storm every chance to show us something we decided it was time for another target.

Cameras in the car and off about 20kms to Adelaide River.

 

Again a storm with incredible structure, more shelfing and hopes were high this time. But again the lightning was always out of view. Whilst watching this storm we could see another monster with an overshooting top behind it. It wasn't long before this storm was active with lightning way up at its top, a very good sign.

In the car again with lightning all around us but so few place to stop and get those shots. So after 20 mins of being in the car watching the sky go crazy we found a reasonable viewing area and finally got some shots. The crawler shots were what was managed there.

And yet again more storm were initiating that soon become more active so off we go again, we dont want to miss a thing. The very same scenario as the previous storm where viewing was difficult. Eventually did find a good area but teh storm was weakening. Waited a while and could see yet more storm firing further down but at this time we decided that having been out for over 10 hours decided to head back.
Even then we just had to stop once more and have another try at a storm that was active. Managed a few shots but nothing much.

So after over 12 hours on the road and 250+km we returned both tired but very satisfied with our efforts. Would have been great to see more CGs that were not hiding themselves but as a starter what an amazing day.

Mike has posted a selection of pics but there are many many more, i certainly couldn't help myself with those stunning structures on show. And of course I've now managed my first real Lightning Shots, well 8 of them actually !.










First intercept location 45km East of Darwin prior to moving:



From Beatrice Hill (that famous place in the Raging Planet videos he posted in another thread!)





Wonderful large storm behind with wedging..





Second intercept location 120km from Darwin to the south







JULIAN'S FIRST EVER LIGHTNING SHOTS - GREAT JOB!!!











Some more images:

 

The late evening storm we encountered.  The first images are Julians and the second lot are mine.

 








EF5 wedge tornado??? Nah...just one of our monstrous inland storms with a 200km anvil spread!



And my photos:

Some shots of more chasing and Julian at the Bureau of Meteorology where i took him to sit on with their 'chart chat' discussion session.

road train exiting the storm!



English mascot or teddy bear - you make you own minds up!



Outside the Casuarina (Darwin HQ) Met office



Some cool satellite loops and radar up on the wall there..prior to listening in on the morning chart chart session with all the Met officers discussing the monsoon etc.

 During the monsoon there was not a lot to chase, so we ended up taking some coastal shots of the large waves pounding the cliffs.

 

By mid week during his 10 day stay we decided to head to Mandorah about 80km around the coast which looks back over Darwin.  There were storms in the area and we saw some nice ocean lightning on the way.  We found this massive anviled storm off the coast and its size was gigantic!  The first two shots I just had to get in...always wanted to plough through flooded water at speed!

Twin updrafts!

 

Some of my own shots after Julian had returned back to the UK.

This is the view from the city at my home area - hell!!!









no storms at night during tea break...take some nice reflection photos from the wharf area..

 

Images of a boat that had lost its mooring during a severe storm in the harbour...glad i got some images of this!

 

 

More storm images and a couple with two of the German media team for a photo shoot.

double Hector storms





Stuart, the news photographer, Annie the journo and two of the 9 party visiting media contingent for a photo shoot for the article. We wanted some 'clouds' in the background...how about a huge thunderhead instead!







Inland storm goes nuts - but little nighttime lightning



Quick dash rural for a shot









Hit the skids and a quick U-turn for a triple rainbow!

 

Located some lightning shots from one of the chases with Julian and ore chase action.

 

More updates as they come to hand whilst chasing.  I'm back at work so things are a little tricky getting nightime shots...missed plenty I can tell you which I'm not happy about! The monsoon is reforming as of today March 24 with an embedded low.  The low will be over Darwin in the next couple of days but it is weak at 1008hpa at the moment...things might ramp up considerably for chasing Sunday and Monday!

 

FEBRUARY CHASE REPORTS

Instability numbers are insane in the inland regions so once I've done with work this week I'll be out chasing the larger storms and hopefully Mother Nature will finally give me some nighttime action which I've missed out on for several months!

Late 2009 lightning shots - settings were not to my liking after reviewing the images but worth posting for you!

 

9 FEB report

Series of photos from the 6 storms in my local area and two from the city. Enjoy! Notice the updraft sequence with one set...complete anvil in less than 15 minutes!

Third set of storms roll in a cluster:



Camera must have picked up lightning whilst I was gathering some wide angle shots!

 

Not much chance of me chasing at night (well prior 1:30am) due to work so nabbed a few images of weather phenomena from the daytime storms about.

Iridescence and some weak but structurally cool cells around the city.

Dissipating cell in Darwin - it was tall enough to catch the sunset !



Some cells just don't sustain the lift to keep going - this one was just too good to pass up a shot.



Sundog over large storm inland



close up of capping layer



Storm front ambling around Darwin



Very late break in the CAP yesterday 7thFeb - storms did not fire till well into the late arvo. Naturally I was not impressed as all I could do is watch mutlicells flash away rural and have one large storm be active producing negative and positive strikes for - wait for it - 8pm-3am. Incredible. Even more incredible that it had moved way to the NE by the time we finished work at 12:30am - sick of it!

 

STORM CHASE REPORT 6 FEB 2010

Another big day for widespread storms. The best thing is that we had our SE -> NE steer back at around 27kts. Might not sound impressive but that's enough to ramp up our storms and give them plenty of lift.

GFS was pretty much the norm with CAPE at 3200-3600 and LI's hovering at -5. There was no CAP so that was even better. Convection started over the Tiwi Islands early and inland storms starting initiating around 1pm. It only took another hour to have several large beasts to the west of Darwin - one which became severe warned late in the afternoon.

Our target area was def east towards Annaboroo and Middle Point - both areas offer good view points and storms were growing in that region. A line of multicell storms had formed further south but was co-joining with our target area.

I had William again with me and we met up with two other chasers along the way and tag teamed to the same intercept point. William and I stopped on the way to try and nab some daytime CGs from a nice little cell only 10km from us..nice structure and a few rumbles but nothing coming out of the guts of the thing.

We headed off again and moved about 40km further east and found a bunch of cells rumbling away madly. We all set up our cameras and all had triggers - a maddening sound of all the cameras firing every second - the lightning was not visible to us, but the camera sure picked up on it. The largest strikes were just over a hill - inaccessible due to a gold mine in the area so we could not go in there but the CG's were frequent and strong. None of us got any shots of them and not from a lack of trying!

cell forming behind my home prior to leaving



No internet coverage where we were so we decided to stick behind these storms and follow them back north. Our other chasers decided on one spot but William and I wnet to Fogg Dam, a conservation park with open views.

Probably not a wise choice in the end...we set up and got some huge daytime crawlers and a few CG's but from what I now know the other team got 6 BIG CG's right in front of them and got the shots...(thumps inside door handle aka Reed and curses)

I actually got the strikes, but they were on the other side and looked very small in the photos...oh well...our target area was good for different types of activity, so not a complete loss.

First storm we encountered:


Severe warned storm is behind this bunch of cells - it was moving away from us and we'd never catch it:



Anvil from the storms embedded behind:



target zone!



daytime crawler which went right over our heads and spat out a CG:





Not a bad day's chasing...rain had been engulfing a lot of areas but we managed to stay out of it. Spewing that the CG's weren't more frequent in our final location, the lone cell was pretty strong and we had a perfect view of it's track path...it just decided to spit all the CG's out the back end of the thing. I hate that.


Radar from lunchtime. Our target was Annaboroo to the east on the map...notice how quickly the line formed but once it reached the 40km region from Darwin the sea breeze totally destroyed it. radar.strikeone.net.au/?fuseaction=loops...ateFinish=1265461200

 

 

2010 reports/January

JANUARY 19 - Chase was on the cards prior to isolated storms forecast inland for a few days due to a bit of drier air moving in.  Convection had started very late in the afternoon and storms were going to struggle somewhat.  Deciding which target area to choose was something which had to be thought out.  We could have gone east but the cells looked weak and CAPE was better south.  We left Darwin around 4pm and headed to Adelaide River, about 80km from Darwin, at least that way we had good internet coverage and we would simply wait it out and see what happened.  Storms were forming to the NW of us and could hear thunder, but I made the decision to wait a little longer.  There was a cap holding everything back and although the towers were rising quickly they soon failed to anvil out with any substance.

 

It was about 6:30-7pm that we relocated toward Batchelor, about 20 km northwest of Adelaide River.  There were flashes in the storms so it looked promising.  On the way to the township we saw an almighty single bolt from the cloud base and anticipation rose about 100%!  Rather than dive into the town and locate an open area we found a stretch of land looking directly toward the storm so we set up to see what we could get.  I had with me two friends who chase in New South Wales on the east coast of Australia and a freelance journo from Sydney who had her mum along for the chase.  Amanda was doing a story on tourism in the NT and storm chasing was something to be added in association with our weather extremes.

I was bit bit concerned that it might all be too boring for the journalist and her mum but they loved it.  It was a good chase in some respects as storms were not playing ball and I really had to make some decisions on what the weather was doing and where to go to maximize our success rate - it was looking a bit woeful but we got some lightning up close and everyone was pretty happy!   There's nothing worse than chasing with media and finding nothing - but that's part of it and she was quite happy to just see how this storm chasing thing works.  Our radar had not been refreshing so moving around the storm was proving a pain in the neck.  We were close enough, but the storm, as we eventually found out, was moving NW towards the coast - something we could not just chase.  The cells were weakening and produced a few more bolts but we had to relocate due to light rain.  A few images are below.

 

 

 

Joy (mum) and Amanda Wood (journalist)

 

 

Now that the monsoon has retreated somewhat it was time to venture out into the land of the never-never and target some decent storms.  Several attempts to get lightning have been proving very elusive at night...many of the storms are coming early afternoon but not lasting past 6pm which is annoying at most.  Chasing has been within a 120km radius of Darwin and the storms have had some good structure photographically and of course if one had a lightning trigger then the daytime strikes could be had, but I don't own of those gadgets yet.

 

Rainfall for the Top End region has been very, very good with average falls between 40-80mm in most areas and in the throws of the monsoon many locations copped over 100m.  Darwin averaged over 500mm for a 3-4 day period which is impressive.  Our rainfall average is well above what it normally is for this time of the year.

 

I've included some images of late from some of the chases.  Some lightning in a few shots, with one storm pretty close to me, but by the time I had changed location only a few minutes towards it, it had quickly died...I hate that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a bit of activity during the start of the new year.  A tropical low has been hovering over the NT for a week or so and is generating some good storms.  Added to this the monsoon trough is now upon the NT and it's quite overcast with intermittent heavy falls and thunder.  The low is drawing north-westerly monsoonal flow and by Tuesday January 5 it may well become a cyclone once it moves into the Timor Sea.  Central pressures have dropped slowly during the past days, so if it deepens more then decent storm activity will be more common.  Chasing during the monsoon is a bit of a pain as everything is just cloud cover and if storms are embedded then there's no way to find them unless there's a pronounced front - which is not too uncommon during the day...finding lightning though is a little more difficult.  Nighttime offers the usual flashes and bangs but visual lightning strokes is hard to pinpoint.

 

 

Several decent storms were around prior the monsoon arriving and i managed to get a few nice lightning shots.  Most of the shots of late have been structure shots of storms moving with the monsoon lines, quite nice and I'll post them soon also.  For now it's staying dry and seeing what this low does.  Chasing will def be on the cards as the skies clear a little, but the monsoon generates a huge amount of cloud cover so discreet storms are not on the cards to chase per se. 

I chased new years day and Jan 2 for just about all the day and night with a friend from Sydney who flew over just for some photography of  the storms about.  We left home New Years day around 2pm and headed about 80km inland.  Set ups were good there and the storms were quickly forming in just about all rural areas.  They are being generated by the low and their track and movement were fairly predictable - clockwise!  Arriving in Adelaide River there were some storms about but nothing large, the numbers and obs for the area was that there was a CAP holding back convection.  We waited for about an hour but nothing was happening so we decided to head back south as things were ramping up back toward home. 

Our new target area was Mandorah on the other side of Darwin which was roughly 70-odd km's.  It offers a great vantage point looking back over Darwin and especially for the storms looping back clockwise with the low.  The storms were reforming behind Mandorah, so that was the next location to go to.  There were lots of dark clouds and we did see some close daytime strikes over the ocean...we set up on the beach and tried to get some shots but it did not accommodate us.  After viewing the radar we had some tea and waite for dark.  Storms were rumbling behind us so we drove to Waigait Beach, only about 5 mins down the road - and saw some huge bolts.  But once again, as soon as we set up the storms stopped producing lightning strikes and were heading back out to sea!  We managed only a few crawler shots but the strikes were behind the main rain curtain which totally disgusted us!  After an hour of trying, avoiding the mosquitos and intermittent rain we said enough was enough and headed home.  Was a good day/night chase, plenty of miles covered and in reality storm chasing is not always about getting lightning (some don't even care for it!) and just photographing good stormy weather and landscapes is quite a treat.   Below are some of the shots during those days and as mentioned I'll add some more later on from the latter days chases.

 

 

 

Radar loop of the areas we covered for over 15 hours!  The locations, Adelaide River, Batchelor, Mandorah and Annaboroo were the target choices.  You can see during the loop how storms quickly initiated !

radar loop from 1January 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

more pics very soon!

 

 DECEMBER MAYHEM!

December saw the continuation of severe warned storms for the rural areas and sometimes Darwin.  The appearance of a half monsoon over the NE side of the Territory and Qld saw a tropical low develop.  It tracked westward during the past week of 1 Dec and by 13Dec the low was forming into a predicted cyclone, the first for the season, and came directly over Darwin.  There was major flooding due to constant rain and several large trees were felled with strong gusty winds associated wit the low's development. 

The low is now a CAT1 cyclone called Laurence and is tracking oh so slowly across to the W/NW although it did a big loop overnight of Dec14 - these thigns are very erratic and hard to forecast just what they do over a three hour period.  Darwin has received well over 320mm of rain in the 48 hours to today (14th Dec) and many areas had 100mm and more.  So the rivers, waterfalls, wetlands and dam will be nicely flowing now.  Nothing really to chase as any lightning and thunder will be associated with fast moving storms embedded in the rain bands...I've only managed a couple of shots when the rain has stopped and been able to target slower, more intense cells that hung around.  The monsoon  trough is up there above us, so over the week if it does lower then we'll see even more wet weather.  Darwin's average rainfall is already well over the average thanks to 'Laurence'

A couple of nights of intense lightning action - quite dangerous to be honest and although I have not been able to get any decent shots, I have most of it committed to memory - how sad!  The pitfalls of working nightshift on the nights it all happens to go ballistic.  My time will come soon enough, so keep watching for new photos - the kind I like to take - up close!

 

November rumblings

An inland trough finally made it to Darwin's rural and city areas during the afternoon and well into the evening.  I had finished work around 1am and there were a few storms skirting further out east/nor'east which were producing some nice lightning, albeit obscured by cloud from my vantage point.  These particular storms were tracking in an area not readily accessible - and not chase-able given their track speed and location!  Convergence really fired up around 1:30-2am as it went ballistic over the ocean confines and formed a very large line which seemed to stall somewhat between the Top End and the Tiwi Islands.  Another series of convection was heading towards Darwin also around 3am but it was not producing much and any discreet cells took another route!  I managed a few nice shots of the internal CG action one particular storm was producing, would have preferred to have been under this storm in the thick of things, but sometimes location of these cells means a spot of photography and not chasing them.  Storms are forecast for the next four days, so November, whilst I have not gotten anywhere near the type of lightning shot I desperately am after, has produced some nice viewing and great photos if you're not a night shift worker who happens to chase and can't get out!

International film crew from The Cosmos Factory arrive in Darwin Wednesday 25th to do a spot of chasing and also a very gifted photographer from Sydney, Philip Klaunzer and his partner Janine also arrive for their first trip to Darwin for storm photography also.  Manfred Christ from the documentary team has been to Darwin previously back in the late 80's chasing with the late, great Peter Jarver whom my site is dedicated to, so it will be fun chatting to him about Peter and the extraordinary talent he had with photographing storms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storm shots from the previous week.

 

(Helen Frank credit)

 

 

 

 

Storms have been firing for five days straight now in Darwin thanks to an inland low and associated moisture, plenty of decent rainfall about the place too.  A little frustrated not being able to chase much due to work but yesterday I managed a quick attempt in the rural area before family commitments to see a nice bunch of cells moving very quickly toward Darwin...they were going to miss Darwin anyway as they were tracking more northerly.  Two severe storm warnings were issued, but given what I saw in the rural area it was going to lose its punch until it hit the coast.  It went ballistic when doing that and quite a lot of lightning was seen. By the time I got back near home from rural the storm was well established and moving quickly off the coast...would have been a waste of time - timing wise - for me to get there as I don't like being late for storm action, especially lightning so rather than make things worse for myself I just grabbed a couple of lightning shots from home and was done with it. 

The orange color of the lightning actually comes from distance and nothing more.  Precip gives the illusion of the lightning being orange - purely refraction of light - but up close it would obviously be intense white!  The following images are from a rural town called Coolalinga.  I was intending to go out much much earlier as from the radar loop prior I had noticed cells forming about 55km inland, I ignored the storms nearest home but the inland stuff look interesting...should have gone out in hindsight (albeit family things to do at the worst time!) because the structure would have been awesome with the wetlands as a foregrround subject..here's some photos of being chased instead of being the chasee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All systems go!  A flood of moisture, great instability and the presence of inland low pressure cells all contribute to some long awaited storms and rains to Darwin this second week of November.   All signals point to things finally getting into a groove for daily storms about the place.  The last few nights from 9-10Nov were a little messy storm wise with a lot of rain and low cloud, but a severe weather warning was issued the other morning around 3am for damaging winds. 

I was out chasing rural during this time and although there was some CG activity, most of the lightning is intracloud and picking any location to shoot a decent strike was next to impossible.  I did manage one close bolt in Darwin, so that image is posted here.  The forecast for the rest of the week is afternoon storm/shower and this will continue for some time I suspect because all the right things are happening weather wise.  The lines of storms that are coming in are squall lines from rural and inland and then moving into Darwin, but they are fast moving and have a fair bit of shower activity with them - a bit like pea soup with the odd bolt seen here and here with constant flashes of cloud lightning. Not the best for chasing...but it beats staying home!

Great CG over Darwin Harbour 9Nov 2009

 

Plenty for me in the next few months with the media.  Austrian documentary crew from the ComosFactory will be visiting end of November to chase and film lightning with me. They have just completed a stint to tornado alley filming and they actually do lightning research through time lapse video, so a wonderful experience to join them.  Tourism NT included me in their November media newsletter on storm chasing and further afield in January there will be a 5 media contingent to chat to re our storms and weather and taking them out chasing.  Come February I have a guest from the UK who will be staying with me and chasing for around 10 days.  All this is great for tourism in the Northern Territory and all parties are here to see what all the fuss is about with our storm season.  They won't be disappointed if we get some great storm action whilst chasing!

 

Wrap up for October

 

A mixed bag of  atrocious dry winds really wrecked any chance of decent storms during October.  Whilst one can be forgiven to not forget that October is a hit and miss month for storms in reality, there were some storms that made it through Darwin as they broke away from the inland scenarios.  Most of which were very early morning storms which did not produce all that much except for a rubmle and a few strikes.  The majority of the instability is located on the western Top End towards Cannel Point and Wadeye.  They of late have seen some nice storm action although there's not a lot out that way except for Aboriginal Communities.  Darwin has been stuck in between two areas of moisture, but here a strong dry steer from the east kept moisture levels way down. 

 

 

There was never going to be anything worth chasing whilst this dry air hung around.  It was lways located at the worst levels - 700hpa - storms don't like dry winds to start of with, and being that low and extending towards the surface it's akin to lighting a fire under a wet blanket!

Mid to late November always has some regular storm activity as we break away from the dreaded easterly dry winds associated with high pressure cells down south - they have been very dominant lately and even the eastern seaboard has experienced very dry weather for this time of year, no doubt el Nino has something to answer for! 

The only positive aspect to the eastern states is that they have great storms when this happens as the troughs collide with the warm dry air.  For Darwin, well we have to wait until there's sufficient moisture feeding in from the NW - but it's coming and won't be too long before I'm able to post some photos and reports pending any sneaky storms suddenly appearing.

The graphics below highlight where the action is - well - where instability is at least.  Darwin is located at about 11 o'clock and the moisture is to the western coastal regions.

 

CAPE numbers are high and confined.  Darwin's CAPE is actually on par, it's the level of instability that is lacking due to moisture required to form convection.

 

 

Lifted index below is woeful - Darwin sits in the 0 to -2 region.  Remember that numbers in the minus are the things to look for!

 

 

 

Dry mid levels winds which steer storms are very dry.  Sweeping in from the east and from the interior of Central Australia where it's always very hot and dry.

 

 

 

No shortage of humidity at around 70-80 but these charts are not actually relevant in some respects to storm related formation but rather in the atmosphere as a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humid - dry - humid - dry..this annoying cycle rolls through the end weeks of October.  Whilst there's been weak thunderstorm activity inland over the past few days it all quickly disappears with those dominant high pressure cells covering the country.  As soon as our bureau issues fire weather and strong coastal wind warnings you know it's getting dry.  All the models were looking good for Friday and Saturday 16/17th Oct with nice instability and moisture, but as all things being equal...it quickly changes to a lack of everything.  Whilst October is not generally regarded as a month of repetitive storm action things should pick up during November.  That's the thing with storm chasing..we're totally reliant on the weather and regardless of the models telling you otherwise, that's not entirely true!  Whilst there was a chase or two during October, which even took me 200km out of town to get the storms, it's been below average for discreet storms.  There's been the odd rumble and flash, but nothing that would entice me to chase these - they'd only be a nuisance being so disorganized. 

Whilst the eastern states of Australia enjoy a bumper storm season - with supercells, hail and damaging winds, here up north it's a waiting game until the monsoonal moisture shows its head and the N/NW flow dominates over the Top End.  The models still show good coastal instability and moisture for Darwin...I don't know where it all is because at this moment it's fine, dry and sunny!

 

 

 

Chase report 3 October 2009

 

Instability was up a little for storms inland, where inland was anyone's guess.  Radar had detected some convection happening about 100-200km's inland from Darwin associated with a convergence line that had been lingering there with a trough line.  The  CAP was being stubborn in breaking so Darwin and surrounding rural areas missed out big time.  The sea breeze had really evaporated any moisture and nighttime moisture was the only thing that would form anything.  I met up with two chase friends whom I had not chased with prior, Rowland and his partner Samantha.

We decided that Adelaide River might be a good starting point for a location which is around 100km's south of Darwin.  We had a view of two cells which were struggling to get any decent height and they quickly dissipated.  Checking the radar once more there was good convective lift another 100km's further south so we made the decision to high tail it to Pine Creek, a mining town on the Stuart Highway.  On the way there we witnessed some big strikes, many double hits and a few positive strikes so we were keen to get some photos.

 

Our final intercept point was a rural airport - actually a cleared area with a flat strip of dirt for a runway - but it proved the best vantage point with no annoying trees in the way.  We had found the airport by accident, so that was a bonus!  There were flashes and CGs in the distance as the strikes were orange in color, so too far to capture any decent shots with any substance.  After about half an hour the storms had revamped and cells were forming back north at Emerald Springs.  Radar indicated storms that were reforming with outflow so we packed up and raced down the highway around 30km.  We drove through several moderate showers with constant intracloud lightning illuminating the night sky.  A bit like core punching but without the bear.  We quickly located on the lee side of the storms and found an intersection with a good view and set up.   There were quite a few large strikes but although we were 'close' we were not close enough to really capture bolts which would fill the frame of a photo.  We all managed the same amount of shots with the same strikes, and in essence mine were not that spectacular given the low cloud cover obscuring these big bolts leaping from the top of the crowns.

By around 11:30pm we decided to head back home and checking the radar the storms quickly weakened soon after anyway.  They were tracking NE from our past location and no roads led to them in any event.  There's not much on the horizon for further storm action this week unless something changes, so it will be another down time period.  Given it's still only early October we were pleased to have at least chased - and taken the risk to get some action.  Sometimes you have to just go and do it to get some reward and seeing those big strikes on the drive there was well worth the effort in some respects.  The storm season will really get underway soon, so there's better things to come by a long mile.  Here's three dismal shots anyway for a tease....:)

 

 

September 23:  No chase yesterday even with an inland storm, but decided to take a 'drive' to get the feel for things again after such a long spell between 'weather'.  This storm was not too far out in the rural area and was stuck in between road networks - unless one has a four wheel drive - but it was large enough to get some photos.  I decided to get just a couple.  It was moving quite quickly and did not take long to fire up, but as soon as it reached the outer boundary of Darwin's outer reaches it fizzled and became outflow dominant, meaning the updrafts were not sustained to maintain structure!  The photo shows a broad anvil spread from strong upper winds and an overshooting top just prior to it weakening, so the updrafts were good at this time.

Things should quieten down over the next few days once more and the odd day with something to offer...but come October there should be a lot more action to be had...