Supercell and giant hail near Lismore

Tuesday December 30 2008

A trough edging very close to the coast produced some incredible storms today. Very powerful updrafts were the order of the day, and an amazing supercell developed in the region near Lismore. I headed out to Tregeagle and watched it build. The power of the updrafts was really something to behold. There must have been huge amounts of energy being tapped into to produce updrafts like these!

            

I proceeded north towards McLeans Ridges as the storm got closer. This would have to be one of the best storm chases I have had in a while, getting to experience such incredible storm structure and then copping giant hail as it moved overhead! The constant roar of hail in the updraft, the almost total lack of rain revealing the entire updraft - it was just awesome! Hail up to around 6cm fell in my location, leaving a few fresh dents on my car.

      

What an amazing two days with two beautifully structured supercells affecting the region. Below is some timelapse of the storm in its early stages, some amazing updraft structure and the giant hail falling at McLeans Ridges.

Violent HP Supercell

Monday December 29 2008

A massive and rather violent HP supercell ripped through the region west of Casino this afternoon. I headed out to check out the somewhat lacklustre convection that had developed SW of Casino in the hope something would get organised. On the drive to Casino it became obvious a cell was rapidly organising behind the original convection I was watching and it quickly developed a large mesocyclone with a wall cloud. I watched from about 10km out of town as it gradually moved in, developing a lovely inflow band and producing frequent staccato cloud-to-ground lightning. The storm hit with wild winds and heaps of small hail up to around a maximum of 3-4cm in my location. Trees were down everywhere and eventually I got blocked by a huge gum tree over the road - a shame as I was hoping to get further west to where the core of the storm passed through.

         

I have just gotten a new HD camera and plan to start adding some video to this blog. Below is some timelapse of the storm as well as some of the hail and wild winds inside the storm.

Christmas Eve storms

Wednesday December 24 2008

Headed out to enjoy some Christmas Eve storms, and despite not going entirely to plan, it was still another enjoyable chase. Quite a nice storm was moving up from SE of Grafton, and although concerned it wouldn’t make the distance, I opted to head down to Woodburn anyway in the hope other cells might develop in that area. Driving south, quite a powerful looking storm was brewing near Kyogle – there was no hope of getting ahead of it in time so I kept heading south. The Grafton cell had died and things looked messy for a bit, until a storm NW of Coraki developed rather rapidly. I watched this from the outskirts of town and it provided quite an interesting gust front that looked quite bright compared to the base ahead of it as it moved overhead. The killer was that the outflow from this storm messed up a rather nice looking storm moving up from the SW. It proceeded to produce some amazing lightning and torrential rain (and a tiny bit of hail) before it was time to head back home.

            

Storms on repeat

Thursday December 18 2008

Today felt so similar to November 20 (see below). A few storms developed early in the afternoon but seemed moisture starved. By late evening a line of cells that had moved in from the west began to intensify and produced another great gustfront right on dusk. There was quite a bit of lightning hitting ahead of the storm with some spectacular anvil crawlers too. For me it was a case of driving down to the end of the road, getting a few pics, and driving back home as the rain and strong outflow hit. Another nice summer storm day.

   

Two Beasts!

Wednesday December 10 2008

Finally bagged my first supercells of the season today. A strong cap meant convection held off till very late in the afternoon, leaving any storms that managed to develop with the full energy of the day’s heating. And boy did it go off! I was able to head out at 6pm and I wouldn’t have wanted to have left any later! I raced towards a rapidly organising cell near Casino, choosing to take the Lismore-Kyogle road option as the storm was getting too close to the usual road to Casino for my liking. While the views aren’t as good, I got into good position to see the cell rotating away. The rotation was up there as some of the most obvious I have seen since I've been storm chasing, with a little tail of cloud being vigorously sucked into the base too. As with all good Australian storms though, it soon began to become a bit more disorganised, and soon powerful outflow gushed through. I decided to shoot back to Lismore and drive through the storm.

            

I got pounded by very strong winds on the way home and 1-2cm hail, though there were a few larger stones in the mix. The lightning was wicked though – pulsating CGs hitting all around the car with impressive frequency! It was odd driving out the back of the storm in Lismore, as the rain stopped and pure hail started to fall again! At this point, powerful CGs were popping WAY out the back end of the storm! Of course the real excitement was to come out of the storm and see the earlier supercell had tracked up into chaseable territory! I shot down to Ruthven to setup the camera and watched as the storm slowly crept up. It sure looked impressive and was such a nice way to finish a fantastic evening of storm chasing!

         

Another nice lightning show!

Saturday December 6 2008

Another hot one today with rather oppressive humidity, despite the fact there was hardly any sunshine thanks to a deck of mid and high level cloud during the day. As dusk approached however, storms began to develop locally, and although fairly lightning inactive at first, they soon started to produce more frequent flashes. I got home after helping out at the local Christmas markets just in time to climb up on the roof and enjoy the show! There weren’t a huge number of CGs, however when they did occur they were spectacular, popping right out the top of the storm clouds in some cases. It was such a nice time sitting on the roof in the sultry summer air watching the show!

         

Amazing Dusk Lightshow

Wednesday December 3 2008

Today was easily the most frustrated I have EVER felt storm chasing!! I watched a nice lightning active cell from Woodburn earlier in the afternoon, followed by another decent storm which moved over Wollongbar and produced quite a bit of small hail and more great lightning. After this I headed out for dinner, not thinking about more storms developing as it seemed quite cool now. Sadly, not even the power and TV station flicking on and off made me realise another storm was on the way. I happened to glance outside as I eventually realised the thunder was not from a previous storm, but a new one to the NW, and low and behold there are pulsating CGs everywhere!!! I grabbed my gear and rushed to the car, realising quickly the storm was so close I had no hope of getting into prime photographic position back at home. The setting sun set the sky awash with amazing, rich colours and massive branched lightning bolts pounded the area one after the other. It was an incredible sight!! The next 10 mins was a frantic rush to find vantage points whilst dealing with having to set the tripod up in the car due to rain starting to fall etc. Amazingly, I still managed to get a couple of nice shots. But yeah, I had waiting years for a photographic opportunity like this one and managed to botch it rather easily! Ah well, that’s the highs and lows of storm chasing!

            

Impressive guster

Thursday November 20 2008

Today was another day that was just a tad short on moisture unfortunately. One storm managed to get going mid afternoon, so I shot down to Woodburn, however it wasn’t till it was off the coast in better low level moisture that it developed any interesting features. As it headed offshore the western sky was growing dark with a line of storms moving in. Just on dusk a solid line that became very lightning active moved in with a rather impressive gust front. The greenage was amazing! Despite looking impressive the storm produced little more than heavy rain and a few gusts of wind.

         

Hail everywhere!

Wednesday October 22 2008

A rather strong cold pool pushing through the region helped stir up some pretty full on hailstorms today. While SE winds and loads of moisture at the surface made this a bit un-photogenic, there was still plenty of punch in the storms. I chased a storm that moved in from SW of Lismore, and while it originally looked rather nicely structured while it was S of Casino, by the time it got to me on the outskirts of Lismore, it looked a bit messy. But it still delivered strong winds, torrential rain and tons of hail! The highlight for the day was the hail roar as the precipitation curtain approached – it was so obvious and quite dramatic! There was hail on the side of the road the entire way home, so there was certainly hail over a widespread area. It was a bit of a novelty coming home from a storm chase and finding hail all through the front lawn! While I only saw hail around 2cm in diameter during my travels, the storm did produce golf ball sized hail in pockets along its track.

      

Just a tad short of moisture

Tuesday October 21 2008

Today looked like a real giant hail setup, with plenty of instability and good wind shear, however a slight shortage of moisture seemed to kill the chance of any real big monsters around the Lismore region (Woolgoolga copped cricket ball hail though!). I set out mid afternoon to Coraki, watching as two cells which had looked real moisture starved began to strengthen and head on a collision course with each other. At one point, the cell had a massive updraft region and it looked like it could turn into a real hail monster. Sadly, the warm and moist winds that were feeding into it died right back, and within about 5 minutes, the now moisture-starved looking cell rapidly fell apart. The outflow kicked up a bit of a gust front which I followed back to Tregeagle as the storm moved out to sea.

         

With moister southerly winds now pushing through the area, a number of cells popped up just SW of Lismore and moved over the area, with another gustfront pushing through overhead followed by the onset of some great severe storms! I drove into Goonellabah, amidst torrential rain and close-hitting lightning, hoping to catch the core which looked like it would pass over the southern part of Goonellabah. Sure enough, at the turn off to Skyline Road, I got pummelled with a fair spray of 1-3cm hailstones. The sound was deafening! With the storms moving quickly, it only lasted about 5 minutes, so I headed back home, enjoying heavy rain, winds and some very close lightning strikes on the way.

      

If I had a dollar for every CG I saw...

Sunday September 21 2008

For the first time in what felt like ages, I had a whole day free to chase any storms that were to be had in the region. I headed out after a rather beasty looking storm W of Casino, however it become outflow dominant and turned from a vicious looking monster into something more garden variety before it really got close to my position. Eager to not waste the trip, I drove a fair way NW of Kyogle trying to find the core. Gradually the rain got heavier, the wind got stronger, and the CGs closer, then....bang! I punched into the hail core where masses of hail up to about 3cm in diameter were pelting down. It dropped enough hail to leave the road white in some places, and it looked really eerie with the hail fog. After this I headed back home, thinking the day’s events were over.

      

About 6pm I ducked out to visit some friends in Wollongbar and while driving noticed some very puny looking storms on the horizon. But to my great surprise, these cells were popping CGs out of them left, right and centre. After leaving my friends place I refuelled in town and then headed to a favourite spot at Tregeagle with good views to the W. To say the display was phenomenal is an understatement. I don’t think I have ever seen so many CGs in one storm before. About 10 minutes after arriving, a massive blast of outflow came through which made keeping the camera still very difficult, but I still managed to get some nice shots. Below are a couple of samples, but I have setup a special gallery with the full set of photos here.

        

Consolation Prize

Saturday September 20 2008

What a scorcher for September! Over 30C and plenty of humidity as well. While conditions were well and truly primed for severe storms, the focus today was on one of my other great passions – raising awareness of the plight faced by Burma’s refugees and internally displaced people. The 2008 Run For Relief (www.run4relief.org.au) was a fantastic day and a resounding success. It also meant that I was unable to chase the rather impressive hailstorms which went through western parts of the Northern Rivers. But I was so stoked when some amazingly weak looking storm wandered by just south of my place and started dropping cloud-to-ground lightning bolts right on dusk! How cool is that! I managed to score a couple of bolts on camera, with the pick of the bunch below. It was such a nice way to end such a great and very busy/tiring day.

   

The sounds of spring

Friday September 12 2008

Who would have thought the first storm chase for spring would be a long lived severe storm! A storm which developed much earlier in the afternoon south of Grafton finally meandered its way up towards Ballina during the evening. Encouraged by an impressive radar signature, frequent lightning and nice rounded base features, I shot down to near Meerschaum Vale to try my hand at some lightning photos, having been a bit out of practice after about a year without great lightning opportunities.

Sadly, when I arrived, the storm wasn’t particularly co-operative and started to weaken out. The rounded base gusted out and only one or two CGs were spotted. However, another small base started to form as the storm moved quite close by, and it proceeded to drop a nice assortment of CGs. Ah, to hear the sounds of spring – crickets, the sound of strong NE inflow blowing through the trees and the deafening cracks of thunder as lightning hits close by! It was such a nice experience, and has made me even more hungry for more!

            

Rare late autumn storm

Saturday May 17 2008

It has been the weirdest year of weather... my camera has all but gathered dust over the last year with basically no interesting skies to photograph since December 2006, bar a few weeks in October last year. So you can imagine how bizarre it was to have my first storm chase for 2008 in mid May! A rather impressive cold change was going to bring the first dusting of snow to the Northern Tablelands later in the night, but not before unseasonably warm and humid weather ahead of the change led to the development of some spring-quality storms.

I watched some nice development from home during the afternoon but nothing seemed to be lasting long. I decided not to head out till radar showed a line of storms heading towards Evans Head begin to intensify as they reached the coast. I shot south as quick as possible, rather stoked to see a nice shelf cloud developing. I realised at Broadwater there was no hope of getting to Evans for an intercept, so I stopped at the beach at Broadwater for some shots of the storm heading out to sea. The scene was quite beautiful and the storm must have been reasonably intense, with quite a few CGs popping out the back of the cell as it headed seawards. Talk about a long time between drinks!

      

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