Maleny Weather

The week started with a slow moving upper level trough system over the Ranges bringing some light continuous rain that measured 31mm over a 24 hour period. We are now 31mm over the month’s average rainfall. This is to be expected for all months up to March next year due to the current La Niña episode.
By mid-week the upper level system moved out to sea leaving behind some occasional isolated showers.
A watch was kept on a small low off Fraser Island in case it developed into an East Coast Bomb. Thankfully it dissipated as fast as it came.
A ridge of high pressure extended up the east coast bringing fine conditions for the remainder of the week. However, thick clouds cover remained with us for nearly the whole week; reducing Bright Sunshine to no more than two hours a day.

Queensland’s first meteorologist appointed by the Government was truly an extraordinary person. At 32, he was tall and lean, restless with a mop of red hair and had bounding energy.
His name was Clement Wragge. Born in England in 1852 he spent some time at sea before joining the staff of the British Royal Meteorological Society. He made a name for himself when he was given the task of setting up and running a weather station on top of Ben Nevis, one of Britain’s highest mountains.
When in 1887, Clement Wragge accepted an offer of an appointment by Queensland Government; it rained incessantly for several weeks and resulted in him getting the nickname of ‘Inclement Wragge.
However, within a very short space of time he established 400 rain recording stations, including Maleny, and 100 synoptic weather stations, including Crowhamhurst Observatory, near Peachester, where Clement’s pupil and assistant, Inigo Jones set up the world famous centre for long range forecasting, based on weather cycles and sun spots.

Another first for Wragge was naming of tropical cyclones. After using the Greek alphabet, he turned to using names of Government politicians of the day, because he said both were ‘national disasters’. This didn’t go down well with the Government, and their objection resulted in the naming of cyclones discontinuing for many years only to be resumed by the Bureau of Meteorology in 1963.

Wragge thought he could break droughts by firing Steiger Canons at rain bearing clouds, as some success had been reported of similar experiments carried out in the Mediterranean vineyards regions. So he set up a ring of canons around Charleville and fired them all at the same time to create a tremor in the atmosphere. The experiment failed miserably. One of the Steiger canons is still place today and can be seen at Charleville.

Glider and hang-glider pilots are heading to Burketown in Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria this week, seeking to experience one of the world’s rarest natural wonders.
For the past 20 years they have been making the annual trek to Burketown to fly on the Morning Glory cloud which appears every spring.
The cloud is a meteorological phenomenon featuring enormous waves of cloud, which can roll for hundreds of kilometres in length.
Glider pilots say flying the Morning Glory is exhilarating. Flying on the Morning Glory cloud is probably one of the most exciting and extraordinary experiences you could actually ever do in a glider. It can be awesome. The cloud is beautiful and great fun to ride

A week of complicated weather patterns made it difficult to forecast the amount of rain likely to fall on the Ranges. In the first part of the week a cold frontal system moved in from the south and the expected precipitation turned out to be no more than a splatter, hardly registering in the rain gauges.

This system quickly moved seaward and the weather satellite showed a deep upper level trough system moving in our direction on a northwest cloudband.

This had a potential to bring some good falls of rain to replenish much needed moisture into the ground and fill rainwater tanks. The new system reached the Ranges at 9.15am Saturday morning with winds veering northwest and rain clouds developing and thickening overhead.

 We waited for the rain to fall. It happened but in the form of vertical virga streaks that mostly evaporated in the dry air before reaching ground level. Only 1.6mm of rain was recorded by 3.00pom Sunday afternoon. However this is a slow moving system and still provides a chance of giving some moderate falls before moving out to sea in a few days time.

The maximum daytime temperature was on Wednesday with 24°C. The nights were colder than the norm, down to 10°C on one occasion.

Answer to last week’s riddle. What does a clock do when it is hungry? Goes back four seconds!

At least 170 people have died from heatstroke and more than 54,000 have been rushed to hospital in Japan’s hottest summer on record, the government says.

The fire and disaster management agency said 54,386 people, nearly half of them over 65, were taken to hospital with heatstroke between May 31 and September 12 – 1,824 of them in a critical condition.

The agency said 170 people were confirmed dead shortly after arriving at hospital, and more were believed to have died later.

Japan has experienced its hottest summer since 1898, when records began, according to the meteorological agency.

In August the mercury often soared above 35 degrees Celsius in many areas of the country.

The average temperature nationwide between June and August was 1.64 degrees hotter than normal for the period, forecasters said.

The previous record margin, set in 1994, was 1.36 degrees.

This is the time of year when our eyes scan the horizon seeking the first sign of buds bursting out in colour on jacaranda trees. The heavy scent of jasmine and freesia fills the air, joy to some and an allergy to others.

It has been a fine week with 45 hours of sunshine and Friday was the only overcast day resulting from an upper level trough system moving in Thursday night over the Ranges. The associated rain cloud started to precipitate at 11.15am Friday and continued through to early afternoon bringing 10mm of rain.

The week’s top daytime temperatures was 22.4 °C on Saturday and the coolest night on Tuesday with 10°C

Answer to last week’s riddle – What gets wetter the more it dries? A towel

This week – What does a clock do when it is hungry?

A La Niña event is now well established in the Pacific Ocean. All computer models surveyed by the Bureau suggest Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures (SSTs) will remain above La Niña thresholds through the southern hemisphere spring, with the majority indicating the event will persist into at least early 2011.

La Niña periods are usually, but not always, associated with above normal rainfall during the second half of the year across large parts of Australia, most notably eastern and northern regions. Night time temperatures are historically warmer than average and Tropical Cyclone occurrence for northern Australia is typically higher than normal during the cyclone season (November-April).

 Last Week’s Riddle: Why did the woman go outdoors with her purse open? Answer: Because she expected some change in the weather.

 This week’s riddle: What gets wetter the more it dries?