Maleny Weather

Up to 60 vehicles were stranded on a major road overnight after heavy snow hit parts of Devon.

The snow caused accidents and fallen trees across the county, and about 18 schools were affected, closing for the day or deciding to open later than usual.

Last year we had a wet summer with 1,197 mm of rain on the Ranges.  It was also a cool summer with a mean max temperature of 24ºC. It is somewhat different this year with summer rainfall less than half the previous year and an increase of two degrees in the mean maximum summer temperature.

A complex synoptic weather system prevailed for most of February. By the beginning of the month the monsoonal trough had drifted lower and brought some useful falls of rain to our region. A high pressure system in the Tasman Sea extended a ridge up the east coast. The associated south-easterly winds with isolated showers brought the ‘brollies’ out. We had thick fog on the 19th.  As winds backed north-westerly temperatures climbed to thirty degrees, which would not have been too bad had it not been for extreme Relative Humidity prevailing at the time. The Heat Stress factor recorded on Friday 20th was 41ºC; dangerously high for the young and elderly alike.

Weather data was lost at the Maleny Weather Station due to ants building their nests in highly sensitive recording equipment; resulting in the loss of some computer graphics.

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.

New Year’s Day was a hot one with a maximum temperature of 34ºC. Winds backed to strong south-easterlies by Saturday, bringing a drop of twelve degrees in daytime temperatures and some light to moderate showers.

An extensive high pressure system has remained hovering over the Tasman Sea for the past two weeks and is responsible for our recent inclement weather. The cooler strong counter clockwise winds around the system brought strong maritime winds with showers, heavy at times, on to the Ranges. The same air stream looped south and heated rapidly bringing scorching conditions to South Australia with temperatures in the forties. This is a normal synoptic weather pattern for the time of year but this year it is unusual for the anticyclone to remain so long over the Tasman Sea before dissipating or moving east. The result is record breaking heatwaves in cities such as Melbourne and Adelaide.

January rainfall was 174.2 mm, representing 66 per cent of the 116 year average, with 219 hours of Bright Sunshine recorded.