Douglas Fenton, Tuesday March 22, 2011 – 15:08 EDT
A low pressure system lingering along the NSW coast has brought yet more heavy rain.
In the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday the Illawarra and South Coast were bombarded by downpours that would normally be reserved for the tropics.
The Illawarra received a daily total of 249mm to 9am today and that is their heaviest in 19 years.
The South Coast had scattered heavy falls of between 100-400 mm. Mount Darragh picked up 398 mm to 9am which would be classed as torrential even for the tropics and is more than 250mm above any daily total there in at least the past 4 years.
This heavy rain on the South Coast led to major flooding on the Bega River this morning.
This rain has now eased thanks to the southward movement of the low.
The heaviest rain is about eastern Victoria today which is also generally easing as it makes its way to Tasmania tonight.
– Weatherzone
Douglas Fenton, Thursday March 24, 2011 – 12:38 EDT
Tasmania's east and north coasts have been inundated with the heaviest rain in up to 49 years.
Northeast Tasmania has received scattered falls of 100-300 mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday, thanks to a deep low pressure system moving over the state.
Gray picked up a tropical like downpour of 327mm to 9am today, which is the highest daily rain since at least 1998. This comes after a previous daily total of 125mm, bringing the 48 hour rain total close to half a metre.
Pyengana got 200mm to 9am the highest on record since 1962 and St Marys received 173mm, the highest for March since 1974.
This low pressure system has now brought flooding rain to coastal NSW, eastern and Central VIC and now on to Tasmania. The South Esk and St Pauls Rivers have exceeded their major flood levels from Wednesday.
The low will move offshore today bringing strong and gusty southwesterly winds through until tomorrow.
The heaviest rain has already fallen, with a further 20-40mm of rain expected over the interior and east today, before rain tends to isolated showers on Friday.
– Weatherzone
Also comment by Blair Trewin from the BoM on the austpacwx list:
The range of places which have recorded 300+ daily falls so far this month is impressively diverse, covering such regions as the East Kimberley (Durack Range), the Gulf of Carpentaria (Mornington Island), outback Queensland (Bedourie), the NSW South Coast (Mount Darragh and Brogo Dam) and northeast Tasmania (Gray) – plus possibly the unofficial value at Tidal River VIC (although it's not yet clear to me whether this was for a standard rainfall day).
