Monday September 4th 2006

An unexpected storm chase took place around my local area as a southerly change pushed up the NSW North Coast during the early afternoon. Several cells popped up N of around Grafton, however it was the southern most cell, which was closest to the coast, which was the strongest. As it moved over Evans Head it produced wind gusts over 70km/hr along with reports of hail up to around 2-3cm in diameter. This cell was visible from my home at Wollongbar, however I headed to the eastern side of Alstonville for a closer look.

While the initial storm that went over Evans had weakened and passed out to sea, a line of cells were extending inland a little ways on the southerly change. A gustfront marked this boundary, and at one point quite a nice shelf cloud rapidly developed on the W part of the line of cells. It didn't last too long however, falling apart pretty quickly as the line of cells moved over the Alstonville plateau. Anyway, it's always pleasing to get a nice gustfront so early in the storm season. Welcome to Spring 2006!

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Last Updated: September 7th, 2006

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