Maleny Weather

About 8,000 people were without power after a line of severe storms brought damaging winds and heavy rain to parts of south-east Queensland Monday evening

The Insurance Council of Australia says the damage bill from last November’s storms in south-east Queensland has topped $310 million.

An undersea volcano has erupted near the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa, sending plumes of steam and smoke hundreds of metres into the air.

1286

King Alexander III of Scotland died when he was blown off a cliff at Inverkeithing, Scotland by a violent easterly gale.

1925

The infamous Tri-State Tornado raced 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. to become the deadliest single tornado in U.S. history. The storm left 695 people dead, 2,027 injured and an estimated $17 million dollars in damage with 15,000 homes totally levelled.

1978

28 people were killed and 300 injured as a tornado touched down and stayed on the ground for over three miles in the northern suburbs of New Delhi, India

1990.

An intense hailstorm struck the Sydney region in Australia producing strong winds and heavy rain in a swathe from Camden to Narrabeen, causing extensive damage.  Hailstones were measured up to 3 inches in diameter.  The total insured damage was estimated at $314 million Australian dollars,

2006

Cyclone Larry, the most powerful storm to hit Australia in 3 decades, slammed onto the Australian coast south of Cairns in the town of Innisfail with estimated sustained winds of 115 mph with gusts to 150 mph devastating sugar and banana plantations and leaving thousands homeless.  Damage totalled a half billion dollars.  Miraculously, no lives were lost and no serious injuries were reported.  At one point, Category 5 Larry packed wind gusts to Category 5 strength of 180 mph.

10^th-11^th March. Highway crews worked to carve through snowdrifts that a blizzard piled up 10 feet high as hundreds of stalled motorists waited in bitter cold in North Dakota, USA. The storm was linked to at least four deaths and shut down numerous schools and businesses.

13th March. Air pollution has caused skies above most of the world’s land areas to dim over the past 30 years. The journal Science Scientists found that most of the blame can be traced to to aerosols that are released from the burning of fossil fuels. The dimming has been nearly worldwide

11^th March. Four people have been killed following an avalanche in the French Alps. Six skiers and a guide were swept away while skiing near the resort of Valmeinier.  The avalanche was said to be massive; 900m long and 600m wide

8th March. Strong storms including at least three tornadoes damaged or destroyed homes in parts of the USA Midwest. Rainfall brought fears of more misery to areas hard-hit by flooding last year. The National Weather Service confirmed that damage in Illinois and Indiana on Sunday was the result of tornadoes. In northwest Ohio, high winds tore a roof off of one house, blew the windows out of another and damaged a barn.

The week began with Tropical Cyclone ‘Hamish’ still in the news. It continued its t south-westerly movement parallel to the coast towards Fraser Island before decaying into a rain depression. Spring tides and heavy seas caused considerable erosion of the coastline. An early decision to evacuate people from low lying land and Fraser Island was carried out. The main casualty of the cyclone was a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship ‘Pacific Adventurer’. Heavy seas resulted in several of her upper deck containers full of ammonia nitrate being lost overboard. The containers pierced the side of the ship as they were washed overboard and released a considerable quantity of light and heavy oil into the sea. A big beach clean-up operation is currently underway.

(This brings to mind the super tanker Torrrey Canyon disaster when she went aground in 1967 on the Seven Sisters reef, off Lands End, England. Over 100,000 tons of crude oil spilt into the sea. Over 100.miles of coastline on both sides of the English Channel was covered by thick oil, with devastating consequences to wildlife).

On Thursday an upper level trough moved into the Ranges and interacted with ex –TC ‘Hamish’. Heavy showers of rain made roads treacherous. Total precipitation for the week was 118 mm. Humidity has been exceptionally high all week and many people complained of tiredness and exhaustion.

Strong winds blew in north-western Africa, particularly Algeria, At Chief, wind gusts of 80 mph were reported. Gale force winds over northern Sahara whipped up dust storms, reducing visibility to 100m.