Australia Day Long Weekend Chase

Chase Report by Andrew McDonald

After two days of nice storms in Victoria and with the model runs as they were, Chris and I held high hopes for the coming long weekend. We both rigorously checked the models and sat pics on Wednesday night and pre-arranged our working weeks so we could leave our respective jobs at lunchtime on Thursday. A broad trough was virtually stationary over N Vic and SW NSW on Wednesday and again Thursday before a stronger system linked up with it on Friday accelerating it through to E parts of NSW on Friday and then into NE NSW on Saturday. Upper level support was lacking but extremely high dewpoints up to 23C (which is very high for the inland regions of N Vic and S NSW) and some high surface temperatures up to 35C would make for an interesting few days. LI’s were progged to drop down to -7 or so on Thursday and then remain between -4 and -6 in NSW to the E of the trough and CAPE was forecast to get up to about 2700j/kg.

25/01/01

Chris rang me on Thursday afternoon after he finished work and was at my house by 2:00pm. Storms had just exploded on the ranges just to the N of Melbourne and my house and after a quick goodbye to my folks we headed out. We went out towards Whittlesea and then cut across to the M31 (Hume Fwy). We could see the cells as soon as we left my place but there was nothing photogenic when we got closer and lightning had died off a bit. We stopped N of Craigieburn but everything had weakened considerably.

New cells could be seen forming further N, NW and W of our vantage point and we already had planned to be in N Vic by the end of the day to set ourselves for the next day’s action. We cut across country again to A79 (Calder Hwy) but in the process we were interrupted by a large developing Cb that we’d seen earlier to our W. The rain core of this cell grew rapidly and a short stop N of the airport (Bolinda) had us listening to the first rumbles of thunder of the chase. Planes were still flying into the airport with this approaching storm, which although far from being severe, nearly caused some grief to one aircraft that narrowly missed being struck by lightning. We encountered a few CG’s and some heavy rain as we skirted around the E edge of this cell on our way to link up with A79.

Lightning narrowly misses the plane as it approached Tullamarine Airport

We got on A79 and headed N towards Bendigo amongst a cluttered sky but as we pushed N of Kyneton a small cell to our NW caused us to stop briefly for a quick photo. We continued N and just S of Bendigo near the Marong turnoff we cleared the clutter and the sky revealed large CJ’s and TCu going up in extremely warm and humid conditions. Updrafts were rock solid and growing like a time-lapse movie before our eyes and we were soon starring at a thick anvil with an overshooting top and a solid flanking line. We took some photos and video of this cell but it was drifting into a difficult area so we kept to our plan and drove to Bendigo.

Solid Cb shoots up just S of Bendigo.

After a short food and fuel stop in Bendigo we took the A300 (Midland Hwy) to Elmore and then B75 (Northern Hwy) to Echuca but before we could even get out of the suburbs of Bendigo we were greeted by a line of precipitation and some intermittent lightning. We pulled up to watch this system as it approached Bendigo from the N and a nice gust front developed with a big lowering to the NE. Another smaller lowing to the NW produced an interesting prong but we could detect no rotation. Although lightning was infrequent, the contrast allowed for some decent photos until the line of convection blocked out all light making it very dark at just 5:30pm. We departed this location just after the guster passed overhead. It wasn’t overly strong so we drove into the precipitation. Torrential rain persisted for about 10 minutes and Epsom, a small town just N of Bendigo, was awash with minor flash flooding affecting the highway.

Lowering and associated prong to the NW.

Big lowering to the NE which eventually passed over Bendigo.

We continued on but soon realised that it had reached its peak and was decaying. A few nice CG’s kept us watching for 5 minutes or so but we were once again heading down the highway towards Echuca. We made one more detour before reaching Echuca as we were informed of a cell about 50km to our W which was lightning active and as dark was approaching, we thought we’d see if we could see anything. We saw a few distant flashes but headed into Echuca to get some accommodation and picked up some food.

After checking into our accommodation we phoned for a quick update to see if we could get a lightning show as it was extremely humid in Echuca at the time (9:00pm) with obs. of 26/23. Our update master Anthony Cornelius delivered the gold, telling us of lightning active storms to our W and NW. We walked outside and were greeted by flashes every 5-10 seconds or so. A quick dash saw us call in at KFC before racing out of town just to the S where we stopped on a dirt road off the highway. There were no powerlines overhead (a first for a while) and a stock fence was keeping the cows at bay beside the car.

Lightning was coming from two cells and Chris videoed the one to the W and I videoed the one to the NW. The frequency of the lightning increased significantly until there was a flash every 2 seconds. Thunder was rumbling all around us and we were soon seeing a barrage of CG’s hitting in and around Echuca (just 3km to our N). We got several CG’s on video including one which hit just SE of the town and left a fantastic glow on the ground. I think we had about 5 strikes which hit within 1km of us with their tell tale whip cracking thunder. The cells eventually moved off to the E and weakened a bit so we headed back to the motel to watch the footage from the day.

We were reviewing the lightning footage and discovered that we were extremely lucky given that the CG which left the residual glow had two sperate leaders/streamers coming off the fence just 3m away. We first thought that it was a reflection on the lens but we checked the other camera and also saw it on that video too. Further review of the footage revealed another leader/streamer on a separate strike (but this may’ve been a reflection). This incident ensured that we were very cautious for the rest of this chase (and I’m sure many more after it).

Awesome CG and leader/streamer.

Second leader/streamer.

Big CG only 1km away following the second leader/streamer.

The afterglow from the above CG.

26/01/01

After watching the weather on Ch9 this morning (and seeing that more storms had developed JUST to our E at 3am) we knew we’d have to head further N today due to the rapid increase in cloud over Victoria. We ate at a bakery in Echuca before heading N on 75 (Cobb Hwy) towards Deniliquin. We had some road options from Deniliquin but we arrived too early to make any decisions. We filled up with fuel and did some maintenance work on the car while we waited for something to happen. It was hot and humid with the temperature approaching 30C by 11am and DP’s well into the low 20’s.

Eventually we spotted some crisp CJ’s to our W and extending in a line southwards. We headed towards Barham and within 20 minutes we had a nice CB in front of us with a flanking line extending off to the N. It wasn’t organised but a nice RFB dumped it load just to our W and a few nice CG’s came with it. We stayed here until it started raining so we turned back towards Deniliquin to get ahead of the rain and hopefully back into phone reception. This small system wasn’t doing much and was heading SE towards Victoria and cloudy skies and we wanted to stay in position for the trough so we let it go. We called Anthony when we got to Deniliquin and he informed us of two areas on activity - both to our N. There was lots of small Cu in the way so we couldn’t see anything up that way but we had to go by what he told us. There was an isolated cell to the NW of Hay and a line of cells to the N of that ran from Ivanhoe – Parkes. Either way if we headed N we couldn’t miss. After a quick fuel stop and lunch we headed N but stopped just 30km from Deniliquin to watch a heavy shower/storm just E of the road. We took a few photos of this cell which dumped a nice microburst and of the CJ’s that were congesting almost overhead to the W.

While watching the stuff to the E, we heard a rustling in the trees about 30m behind us. I thought it was just outflow from the CJ’s that had just started to precipitate to our SW. I turned around to look and about 10m away was a dust devil. Within about 3 seconds it was on us, squashing Chris between the car door and the frame and pelting us both with grass and rocks and dust. The entire vorticy was only as wide as the car but I swear it hit the entire 3.5m length of the car (side on) and it was travelling pretty fast (approx 50km/h) and probably had winds of about 80km/h. Of course no cameras were being used at the time and although I tried to get some footage of it as it moved away but to no avail. (I’m 99% sure it was a dust devil although there was congesting cumulus overhead which I guess could have potentially created a small vorticy as such.)

Strong microburst N of Deniliquin - note you may need to stand back to see the rain foot and associated up swirl.

After this minor interlude we continued N along 75 and again stopped to photograph Cb’s and CJ’s to the E and we also saw a mammoth cell down towards Echuca - possibly the storms we’d chased earlier towards Barham. The cells to our N were coming into view and soon Chris and I were in awe at the size of this storm complex and it was only 3:30pm. We really had no choice but to drive towards and then through the cell if we wanted to get anywhere. We drove into light anvil rain and then it gradually got heavier. Static was constant and it became so dark that you could even see the in-cloud lightning and it was mid afternoon. All of a sudden we reached the core and the rain became torrential and outflow winds slammed us and gusted to 40knts, pushing the car all over the road. We were a little concerned that the car might get struck by lightning and it is so flat and treeless in the Riverina that we were the highest object for miles. The core was HUGE and we were still in it when we got to Hay. Hay was drenched with minor flash flooding and some tree damage had occurred here. The fire brigade was heading out somewhere - probably to downed powerlines.

We wanted to continue N to get into the development area of this cell but the rain became torrential again so we rang Anthony for an update. He told us that the cell was massive on sat pics, comparing it to the size of the ACT but the other line of storms to the N was going to make it difficult to get into clear air so we decided to head E along 24 (Mid Western Hwy) towards Griffith. It took a while to get clear of this cell but when we did it seemed that there was several areas of updrafts. We kept going E and got away from this cell which was becoming outflow dominated. There were quite a few cells in all directions so we just drove and watched as cells dropped several microbursts. We stopped once as a cell dropped its bundle right behind us and gave us strong outflow winds to about 45knts and sustained winds of 35knts – it was so strong at times it was difficult to stand in.

Another strong microburst that produced the strong winds mentioned above.

At about 4:45pm we came across a cell off to our NNW that seemed to have an inflow band leading into the middle of the core. We watched this cell as it moved closer. As it did it began to turn very green and it developed an interesting outflow feature on the front flank. At the time it looked like a gust front but looking back at the footage it could’ve been a front flank wall cloud. Another lowering developed under the original flanking line that also looked suspicious but was too far away to confirm anything. Apart from this cell, another cell off to our ENE had just pushed out another amazing microburst kicking up some dust as it raced across the plain.

Interesting front flank lowering enveloped in greenness.

Suspicious lowering under the flanking line.

Microburst off to our ENE.

The cell to our NNW was heading across the road in front of us and it was in our best interests not to drive through this cell due to the potential for large hail and very strong winds. We waited at our vantage point for a while just watching as it mowed across the road before heading down the road. The rain wasn’t nearly as heavy as the Hay cell and it turns out the road swung to the E just up the road from where we stopped so we could’ve made it around the edge of this cell after all.

Given our position and the fact that it was getting towards dusk, we decided that Griffith would be a good place to spend the night and get some lightning footage. We drove along side this cell for a while and as we neared Griffith we stopped to watch as it pushed out a nice smooth guster and also a rounded area that looked like an RFB but it was hard to tell. We watched this feature until it passed overhead and became disorganised.

Smooth outflow feature near Griffith.

We got into Griffith and got some food and booked some accommodation where we ate dinner and had a rest for a while after a long couple of days. I rang Anthony at about 8:00pm and he wanted to know what we were doing inside. There was a huge cell bearing down on Griffith and we were sitting inside. I raced out the door and over behind the building it was deep deep purple and lightning was strobing every 3-5 seconds. Chris was soon beside me and then we both ran back to the room, grabbed our camera gear and jumped into the car. We headed into the outskirts of Griffith looking for a clear view. We finally found one and we set up and watched an amazing lightning show. A big dark guster (or an RFB?) was pushing out towards us from the NW and a big precipitation core was to our W. The light was fading fast and CC’s and CG’s were pulsing like strobe lights. It was awesome until the mozzies invaded the car. They ate us alive and eventually we left the lightning show to get away from them. We drove back to the motel and watched an awesome CC and anvil crawler display for another hour while having a few quiet beers. One anvil crawler lasted over 2 seconds - it was awesome. It was a great way to end the day.

27/01/01

We woke up this morning with hopes of being able to follow the trough NE towards the Bathurst/Dubbo area but as it turned out the trough raced further NE than we could chase. We did encounter some weak thundery showers but nothing overly impressive. We drove from Griffith to Lithgow via Dubbo and we stayed the night at Bathurst.

28/01/01

This day was merely a long drive home.

Overall the chase was excellent. It was great to be able to share this experience with Chris. We saw some awesome storms and some of the best lightning either of us has ever seen. HUGE thanks to my parents for letting us take the station wagon. BIG thanks to Anthony Cornelius and Matt Pierce for the updates and also anyone else we missed (sorry if we nagged you a bit). BIG thanks to Jane ONeill too for putting this report up on the MSC page.