welcome to a new year! may all your forecasts come true in 2012 and you beat your averages!!

One would think 3 weeks in Darwin and you'd see at least one decent storm in the city... well, it's been 2 1/2 weeks and nada! Come on, gotta get at least something before I head back to Canberra, land of the boring wx!

Wrong time of the year to be expecting decent storms though mate. More of a November/early Dec thing. After that it's often monsoon or in between mode. There have been some very intense storms inland if you are willing to chase however...like last night which was nearly my last...

TS

Yeah Lightningstruck ahh I mean Thunderstruck. Sounded like a pretty intense and close experience. Glad your still around to tell the story.

Yeah, was hoping for something "in between," or at least a nice, vigorous monsoonal flow.

What happened last night TS? Looked around for a post but couldn't find anything. A chase went wrong?

huge cell has formed right on us the lightning is going off

Yeah, didn't think my prayers would be answered so quickly. lol Was a very entertaining cell which seemed to grow from nothing. Quite amazing really.

Midnight in Darwin...





















TIMELAPSE http://webcams.bsch.au.com/timelapse.htm...m=darwin_hector

And a load more the cameras don't get

Yer mate big long post about it all on xweather

TS

Wow, I just discovered the xweather forum. Tons of info on there - and awesome stories on chasing storms! Thanks for that!!

Yeah same here, didn't know it existed. Nice!

hi, been a while. we are still trying to deduce what to put up on the mast of the Radio Station for accurate weather, Has to be reliable(long time between getting up the mast) and self powered( well not really can run POE) suggestions?
what we want:
Wind,
Rain,
Humididy,
Temp,
UV.
If anything else please add.

Regards

Jon
Katherine FM

Oh, Movable Webcam would be Grouse....

Moveable webcam may be a tall order if you don't have 240 or at the very last 12v up there. For the weather station though, if you absolutely had to have everything up on the mast... I've never used one of these myself but I do know people with them and they seem happy with them. Davis Vantage Vue - nice compact little unit and completely solar powered. Wireless transmission back to a base station. Link below but shop around for prices

http://shop.davisnet.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=216

How high is your mast? The temp/RH readings that the BoM (and most amateur weather stations) provide are recorded within 2m of the ground level. If you're taking readings from 10-20-30m up, or however high the mast is, your readings will be different (lower)... just something to consider. The ideal setup would be the temp/DP/rain/UV recorded at ground level and the wind at 10m up your mast but I realise that may not be possible. Really the only components that would benefit from height would be the webcam and the wind.

Question for all you Topenders. I have a friend in Berry Springs. When I was there a few weeks back, he was telling me how they had this massive storm overnight (sometime in November) with tons of lightning that lasted for hours. He said the lightning was so ferocious that sparks were flickering in his power / light sockets. Now, I did not know if he was being dramatic or for real? Surely this cannot happen?

But, it must be awesome to experience that sort of electricity in the air.

hi Ben, et al.

yes understand most readings are 1.5-2m off ground, its unsecure to put anything on hte ground, so mast mounted will be the choice. Wind would be up the top of the mast, everything else, should be about 1/2way or so.

Regards

Jon

I just noticed this weird disc on the national radar. It's in the NT so I figured I should post it in this thread. It looks like quite a rain event. There must be some weird clouds up there.

Darwin cbd is having a good downpour now quite heavy so much for the dry spell and another good shower storm appears to be on its way going by the radar yay.

first couple of lines wernt to active but now a proper one is incoming who said WA cyclones where boring

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR632.loop.shtml#skip

http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDD26100.html

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Northern Territory

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST


SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING - DARWIN and RURAL AREA
for DAMAGING WIND
For people in the Darwin, Palmerston, Cox Peninsula, Bynoe and parts of the Litchfield Shire areas.


Issued at 7:45 pm Friday, 13 January 2012.


The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 7:40 pm, potential severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Humpty Doo and Noonamah.


These thunderstorms are moving towards the west.


They are forecast to affect Darwin City, the Northern Suburbs and Palmerston by 8:10 pm and Dundee Beach, Belyuen and Mandorah by 8:40 pm.


Damaging winds are likely.


The Northern Territory Emergency Service advises that people should:
* secure loose outside objects;
* avoid remaining in the open when storms threaten.


The next warning is due to be issued by 8:45 pm.


Warnings are also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau's website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 214. The Bureau and Northern Territory Emergency Service would appreciate warnings being broadcast regularly.