Melbourne - Sea to the Mountains - 14/6/99

Jane ONeill

Port Phillip Bay from Beaumaris (Melways map 86-B8)

Chris Gribben, Andrew McDonald & I had been chewing over the developing systems from Saturday morning (12th June) for more hours than any of us cares to remember.  We were looking at a reasonable cold outbreak for Monday 14th - I'd even driven up Mt Donna Buang (1250m) in the Yarra Valley on the Sunday afternoon only because I had this gut feeling that there would be some snow - and yes there was snow - 1-2 cms only but some flakes were making it down to 900m. 

On the way home, I rang the Bureau and reported my findings and the snow heights to them - which were actually lower than the forecast heights for Monday - and we weren't in the coldest air - that was yet to come. We finally decided to be on our computers by 6.30am on Monday 14th & have a close look at what was in the offing - a decision would be made then as to whether we all went back to our respective beds and then drove up to Mt Donna Buang in the afternoon - or whether we would throw ourselves into our cars by 7am.  

Next morning, Andrew & I sat there and weighed up the possibilities - finally decided that even though we didn't feel that we had a great chance of spotting a funnel, we'd go and watch out just in case...by using that very basic piece of  'storm chaser logic'  - "If we aren't  there, there will be funnels / tornadoes / supercells / hail  - so we'd better go - just in case!!!"

Looking S from Beaumaris Yacht Club Carpark

Photo - J ONeill (ASWA archive)

I made it to the meeting point on the Bay just before 8am and saw a couple of very short lived vapour vortices at about 8.30am but the setup just wasn't right for funnels - a northwesterly surface flow until about 10am, when it finally shifted around to the SW.   Andrew & Claire made it to Beaumaris Yacht Club carpark by 9am - they had stopped for breakfast - something I hadn't even considered as I shot out the door. Chris arrived at about 9.30am.

Looking SW from Beaumaris Yacht Club Carpark

Photo - J ONeill (ASWA archive)

Looking SW from Beaumaris Yacht Club Carpark

Photo - J ONeill (ASWA archive)

We sat and watched the showers move up the Bay for an hour or so, and I amused myself videoing seagulls flying nowhere over the car in the strong NW wind as well as  filming Andrew & Claire rocking their Ford Laser to the beat  of ACDC (which was playing in my car mind you!).  After no activity for a while our 3 car convoy headed further down the Bay trying to intercept another cell moving rather ENE than the others - but it beat us to landfall - and a quick look to the northeast convinced us that a trip to the mountains was called for at this point.

Claire McDonald

Section 2 - The Mountains

A stop for petrol, and we continued on through the eastern suburbs heading for the Yarra Valley. The sky to the northeast was looking beautifully ominous, and light showers started to fall as we left Melbourne. A pie in Warburton (to be highly recommended) and off up the mountain which is located just north of the town.  We didn't see sleet till about 1100 metres & it quickly turned to snow as we drove upwards.  The 'turntable' (a large bus parking area) was covered with about 6cm of fresh snow, and the roads were just starting to turn icy as we arrived at the carpark.

Carpark at Mt Donna Buang
Photo - J ONeill (ASWA archive)

Walking up the road (which hadn't been cleared) was a bit of a challenge but my $10 runners fared better than a pair of *much* more expensive Nikes for warmth, traction & dryness <g>.  At the summit there must have been a good 10-12cm of fresh powder, the trees were covered in ice and drooping under its weight.  It was still snowing lightly at this time (1330AEST).  We wandered down the hill, threw the obligatory snowballs (I've got this on video too - it's always safe to be the cameraman when a snowball fight is in the offing), took photographs to prove that it really did happen, and drove - or rather slid, out of the carpark and down the mountain.  Rang the Bureau on the way home again & reported our findings once more.

We learnt a couple of valuable lessons this day:
- funnels on the Bay really need a deep SW airstream to be a reasonable chance
- it's totally dumb to drive the distances we did with 4 people in 3 cars
- if you've advertised a job in the previous day's paper - don't answer calls you don't recognise - taking 3 job applications over the phone took away some of the fun of the day
- the Bureau of Meteorology really appreciates snow spotters reports from lower than alpine levels

MSL Analysis courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology