Friday January 12th

The Northern Rivers will always hold a special place as my 'home turf' when it comes to chasing. However there is something quite special about storm chasing in the districts to it's west, where the varying landscapes of great mountain ranges to wide open plains brings a different, more dramatic atmosphere to chasing. That's why I love to get out for a few days each season to chase these areas. With cape values exceeding 2000j/kg for two days along the Northern Tablelands, I decided to spend my last couple of days of my holidays chasing this amazing area. Tenterfield was the target for the day, and I largely drifted around the town to its south and west for the whole day with Michael Bath and Rodney Wallbridge. Half-hearted early afternoon convection gave way to the explosive towers of crisp, icy white clouds that chasers cross the countryside hunting for at around 4.30pm. Weak shear meant storms were mostly of the pulse variety, so it was a case of driving to the storm yourself, as it wasn't going to be coming to you.

Sitting west of Tenterfield on sunset was great, as a mass of cells to our west produced some spectacular, branched CG lightning. While enjoying the display in the distance, a flash from behind followed by a loud crack of thunder brought a little nervousness to the otherwise excited chasers! It's never a good feeling when you know the bolt was close but you didn't see it because it was behind you! As a result, all the gear was thrown back in the car and we headed a little further west. The setting sun provided such a beautiful golden glow on the dry landscape which foregrounded the dark and turbulent skies in the distance, and it was just so nice sitting back and taking it all in. Activity really eased off around this time, but just as the last few ounces of light gave way to the night, a cell near Tenterfield went a little crazy! CGs galore with near constant in cloud lightning was the order from now until around 9pm, when outflow from the storms blasted through the area confining us the cars. After an initial drive further west in the hope of more lightning, we called it quits and headed back to Tenterfield for the night.

Full size photos available in Dave's Gallery soon.

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