Cmar
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately (or fortunately) we happen to live in a unique area of Australia where we are close to the tropics so there is plenty of summer heat to drive the weather system, and there is a mountain range right near the coast to trap the moist air and force it to rise. This creates perfect storms, literally. Storms this severe happen several times each summer between October and February. Usually everybody who works with a computer spends their afternoon after about 2:30 scanning the "BOM" Bureau of Meteorology radar website to see if storms are coming, and if so, the likely paths. Generally if you work for a government department and can be spared, you are allowed to leave early to secure your vehicle and property if possible. Even if there is no hail, the winds and rain can be extremely destructive ripping the roofs off houses bringing down powerlines, and flooding bridges.Rarely do we have hail here (in my area), thankfully. That would be very scary!
At the end of last year an area behind the Gold Coast, Mt Tambourine, was hit twice in as many weeks, destroying houses, collapsing some of the access roads, and destroying so much power infrastructure they brought in the Army to help with the cleanup, and to restore power which took weeks.
After Jan / Feb the tropical monsoon comes down over the northern half of Australia from Asia and the storms give way to rain which usually continues through into early/ mid April clearing up into clear cool weather for winter.
Sponsored
