At the beginning of the week the monsoonal trough drifted southward and brought a sprinkle of rain to the Ranges.
Simultaneously, a cold front was moving north through the southern states to arrive in our region on Thursday evening. This resulted in two East Coast Lows developing off our coast. The existing monsoonal trough interacted with the East Coast Lows and triggered off three days of rain.. By Friday morning 29.6 mm of rain had filled the gauges. Rain continued throughout Friday and Saturday bringing the three-day rainfall total to 95.2 mm. February monthly precipitation so far is 120.6 mm.
IN THE NEWS
15.2.09. A week after Black Saturday bush fire inferno in Victoria people are still trying to come to terms with the tragedy and understand just how hundreds of fires could burn out of control, leaving only death and destruction behind. To date, at least 181 lives have been lost with more expected as authorities enter ruined towns. 1800 homes have been destroyed and 7000 people made homeless. 450,000 hectares of forests, farms and country incinerated. No figure has been issued for the countless number of cattle and other live stock that has been lost. In comparison, the Victorian Ash Wednesday Fires on 16th February 1983 burnt out more than 335,000 hectares. Seventy-five people lost their lives and several thousand were treated for injuries caused by the fires. More than 2000 houses were destroyed, 230,000 sheep and 18,000 cattle were burnt to death, or subsequently destroyed.
14.2.09. Heavy rain has caused localised flooding in parts of south-east Queensland.
11.2.09. A tornado has killed eight people when it struck a small town in Oklahoma, USA. Some thirty people are still missing.
11.2.09. A sandstorm has enveloped Doha, Qatar
11.2.09. The BOM reports the south-eastern Australian heatwave has set new all-time records for the state of Victoria. On 7th February, Hopetoun recorded a temperature of 47.2ºC and is, or maybe, the highest ever recorded in the world so far south. A total of 14 sites exceeded the previous Victorian February record of 46.7ºC on 7th February.
10.2.09. Last night, severe storms struck France with winds of up to 140 km/h reported in northern and western France. The two main airports serving Paris were closed for the first time in 34 years. Some cross channel ferries were suspended. 600,000 homes were without electricity.
9.2.0. Last week saw the heaviest snowfall in the United Kingdom for 18 years. Schools were closed and transport disrupted.