Today's chase began a little late. Made to the Mt Victoria and Lithgow area with storms already brewing and a severe thunderstorm warning (advice) in place. After monitoring the region near Port;land, I decided to head west over the range to clearer air. The constant rumbles and distant loud thunder also meant a storm was in the region.
Just east of Bathurst, several cells approached on radar towards Mudgee and Kandos - the southern cell approached my vicinity. Outflow from the storms near Oberon fed a nice updraft base developing ahead of the southeast propagating cell. The base consolidated rapidly and showed inflow characteristics for a short while. A barrage of lightning ripped from this beautiful base with green tinge. The lack of shear though saw a collapse into a high precipitation cell with hailstones to about gold ball size though most 3 to 4cm in diameter. Persistent heavy rainfall including some flooding and streams of water across paddocks was also widespread. Unfortunately, the 20 to 30 minutes deluge melted the hailstones to 1.5 to 2cm in diameter rendering measurement meaningless.
After an attempt to head south ahead of the southern cell, it was clear the storms had already utilised the energy. Lightning and rain followed me back to Sydney.
Not for Media Use Licensing Available at www.extremestorms.com.au or 0408020468
Storms brewing ! I love mesobrews !
Nice pics mate
Thanks Colin – 2019 has started off with a bang in terms of hail – get it ?
Just an FYI, I would not bother trying to chase storms around Oberon… from my failed experience there were too many hills and the road flows through a valley so it was extremely frustrating trying to get pic’s and decent views. ?
Nice mate! You guys are certainly getting a great run of storm days!
Awesome shots!!