Weather winter 2010/2011

[arillady]

The cyclone bearing down on Qld would have me shivering in my boots and nervous as anyone could ever get. It is going to be a real doosy. I hope that loss of life is not too great. Ah to live in the very dry and extra hot which we have at present. We all need to pray with the buildup this cyclone is gettting. The Queenslanders have had so much to bear lately - they need all the help and support that they can get.

[Paul T]

Pat,

Some of the sensors off the coast have registered the highest waves they've ever recorded (a record 6.6m off Townsville), so unfortunately it looks like the build-up might be accurate.  Even today they revised areas of flooding in Townsville up from 5000 residents to 30,000 residents, once they realised the storm swell was going to be a lot higher than initially thought.  The cyclone is also slowing as it nears the coast, which means that the areas will be affected by winds for a longer period.  They're also saying that TC Yasi may still be a category 1 cyclone when it gets to Mount Isa, which is something like 1,000km inland.  The storm is just so big that it won't dissipate quickly over land but could hold on for quite some time at higher wind levels.  While a fair amount of the coast is I'm sure used to cyclones, places 300km inland are I'm sure not normally expecting to get a category 3 cyclone go through them, which is what they're expecting at Georgetown tomorrow morning.

I am SO glad I don't live in a cyclone area.

[Stephenb]

Pat,
Some of the sensors  off the coast have registered the highest waves they've ever recorded (a record 6.6m off Townsville), so unfortunately it looks like the build-up might be accurate.  

6.6m seemed a bit low for a major storm, although 6.6m could well have broken the previous record. Therefore I checked my sources on wave data (I work providing clients with wave climate data globally    

The following link shows that the peak significant wave height measured by the buoy off Townsville was around 12m! That means that it is likely that there were single waves over 20m from trough to crest!! Yes, a major event...
http://www.coastwatch.com.au/Weather/WaveHeightBuoys-337/#Townsville

Numerical wave models are nowadays pretty accurate and this shows a nice simulation of where the high waves are at the moment (also between 10 and 15m significant wave height) – the duration of the high waves is also exceptionally long as the storm slowed down:
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/viewer/index.shtml?domain=combinedW&type=sigWaveHgt
(Press the animate button on the right at the top)

Actually, back in the early 1980s I had the choice of moving to Townsville or Trondheim in Norway - I chose the latter....Think I made the right decision...

[Maggi Young]

All these ghastly weather problems and all we can do is hope that people get to safety.  This is turning into a really horrible period, all round, isn't it?

[astragalus]

The newspaper today had a picture of a large sign in front of a local church. 
"WHOEVER IS PRAYING FOR SNOW PLEASE STOP'.
Guilty. 
We've had more snow, now getting snow plus a little ice and this will really keep the deer out of the garden.  This is supposed to last until 6a.m. tomorrow but I think the brunt is over.  Now it's just going to be incredibly messy.  The roads at present are not safe, but being snowbound has some advantages - I've spent time reading posts on the Forum from way back, never had time to do that before. 

[Maggi Young]

Every cloud has a silver lining, Anne, every cloud

[cohan]

All the best to all of those in the path of storms!

We are above freezing now thru Sat again, (after -30's mon and tues mornings) so things will be a little slick when it refreezes and snows again Sunday (besides below freezing every night of course)... nothing major, though..

[Paul T]

I was just watching tonight's news.... there were 7 evacuation centres set up in the Cyclone Yasi area.  One of those was to be a Senior Citizen's Centre.  Apparently the people turned up to set up yesterday morning, took one look at it and said there was no way they were using it.  They set up the shelter somewhere else instead.  The Senior Citizen's centre was destroyed by Yasi.  Good decision to not set up there!! 

The cyclone ended up coming ashore in less populated areas than it could have.  No lives are reported as lost, nor serious injuries.  It crossed the coast as a Category 5 Cyclone with winds of around 295km an hour, not far south of where Cyclone Larry hit almost exactly 5 years ago.  Almost all of the banana crops in the area have been destroyed, just like with Larry.  They'd only really just got over Larry and now they have to start again.  NOT fun.  Yasi is currently now a category 1 cyclone, still heading inland.  Heavy rains accompanying it of course, with damaging winds.  At least no-one killed or seriously hurt, thank the Goddess.

[Roma]

Windy here now with rain battering the window.  It started just over an hour ago.  I don't think it is going to be as bad here as on the west.  The Grampian mountains often protect this north east corner of Scotland from the worst weather by deflecting it north and/or south.  I believe there is snow on higher ground.  I hope it doesn't come here.

[TC]

Here on the Clyde coast we have a force 8/9 southwesterly gale at present.  The whirligig clothes dryer is giving a good imitation of a helicopter's rotor blades.  As I write this I can here a Sea-King from HMS Gannet off on some business.  As all the ferries are off, it is most likely a medical emergency on the Island of Arran.  These boys earn their money !  I don't want to go out the door just now.  As a thanks for their service, the government have decided to close down the SAR activities from Prestwick and privatise it, after all, it doesn't make a profit !!!!

[Anthony Darby]

Cyclone Yasi must have been a terrifying experience? Much worse than when Anthony blew in last week!

[angie]

Cyclone Yasi must have been a terrifying experience? Much worse than when Anthony blew in last week!

Last night was really windy here, because I have a forrest behind the house I always expect some trees down but looking out this morning everything looks fine just branches on the road.
I can't and wouldn't like to imagine staying where Cyclones hit. Glad nobody was hurt.

Anthony you will be like a bit of fresh air blowing in.

Angie

[Paul T]

It's ended up with 1 confirmed death from the fumes of a generator being operated in a completely closed building.  I guess in an emergency he just didn't think about it.  Two people are missing who went out to check on their boat.  They're trying to find out whether they've turned up somewhere else, but they haven't found them last time I heard the news.

[Panu]

Quite an ordinary winter, though December was colder than average, minimum temperature -31ºC. Depth of the snow 55 cm, now -8ºC. Lenght of the day has doubled since december and it´s now 7 h 11 min. Nice day for swimming.

[Maggi Young]

Oh, my goodness!
Now that is a real shocker...... a brave man indeed