Please continue discussion here.

A pleasant morning around the region this morning, looking forward to the cooling temperatures.

This morning's temps:
Mackay AP - 18.3
Mt Bassett - 19.3
Eton - 18.5
Proserpine AP - 18.1
Rainrunner at Mt J - 18.9
Firepac at Prossy - 18.7
Moranbah Airport - 14.4
Clermont Airport - 13.4

RD is so quick!

Feels like the wet season is over, it was only 21deg went we went out on our bike ride this morning.

March was really wet, I recorded 705mm

Yes the mornings are starting to become much cooler. It may have taken until the last day in March, but today was the first time this year the temperature at the Mackay M.O. dipped below 20.0°C. Since records commenced in 1960, only on five other occasions has it taken so long to reach this milestone:

2004 – April 1st
1997 – March 31st
1987 – April 9th
1982 – April 14th
1973 – April 8th

Worth noting, all above listed years except 1973 resulted in an El Niño.

For March 2012 I ended up with 810.4mm in Beaconsfield, with 22 days of precipitation. So didn’t quite reach last year’s 1056.9mm, though still well above the March average which is about 280mm for me.

5 Highest daily totals were:
• 149.8mm (16th)
• 147.2mm (20th)
• 140.4mm (19th)
• 128.8mm (21st)
• 83.6mm (18th)

Year to Date = 1415.2mm

Interesting WWW, the only thing I'd like about an El Nino year would be the cooler winter it brings, the dry summer would be a pain!

I just had a look back at my stats for March for the last few years.
This March, the lowest minimum was this morning with 18.5
March 2011 lowest was 20.4 on 30th
March 2010 lowest was 20.2 on 19th
March 2009 lowest was 17.5 on 31st
March 2008 lowest was 16.5 on 31st

So I think we're doing alright for cooler mornings so far. I'm hoping for a nice, long, cold winter like we had last year

The models are showing little if any rain for the next week or so with the words "Fine and mostly sunny" appearing in the forecast, looking like the cooler mornings will stick with us for a few more days as well, Tuesday looks like it'll be the coldest morning out of the next 7.

EC is predicting the humidity to drop to about 35% around here later this afternoon, will be interesting to see if it's right.

Latest BOM Précis forecast for Mackay updated 30 minutes ago sounds very nice:

SUNDAY: Fine and sunny. 19° / 29°
MONDAY: Fine and sunny. 19° / 29°
TUESDAY: Fine and sunny. 20° / 31°
WEDNESDAY: Fine and sunny. 21° / 30°

added up my figures 1611mm YTD. 950.5mm for march.

820.4mm MTD with 21 rainy days, for a YTD total of 1404.5

Definately NOT looking forward to the cooler dryer boring autumn and winter days ahead, roll on Wet Season 2012/13

March totals were 840.3mm & YTD 1479.9

Enjoying the cooler weather, but I'm missing the rain already!

Not missing rain, bring on winter.

Beautiful day in the bay. About 15 knots SSE,

Here's my detailed statistics for March:

Wind has dropped off to 10 knots. What a beautiful day in the Whitsundays

Missing the wet, love rain, everything green (including walls) and no dust

<< My poor frog, will dry out n die

Such is time and season, forever in a state of change

Just having a look at my statistics for April over the last 4 years of my records for it.
There is a clear drop in temperatures during the month over the last few years, I've put together a list of the average min and max temps during April based on the time of the month.

Early April (1st - 10th): 19.2°C / 28.4°C
Mid-April (11th - 20th): 18.1°C / 28.0°C
Late April (21st - 30th): 16.7°C / 27.3°C

Average temps for April around the region:
Te Kowai: 18.0 / 27.9
Mackay Airport: 19.4 / 27.6
Mackay Post Office: 19.3 / 27.2
Mackay MO: 20.1 / 26.7
Proserpine Airport: 19.2 / 28.6
Proserpine Post Office: 19.3 / 28.2

The 14th/86th Percentiles show that on any typical day in April around Mackay and the Whitsundays:
Minimum temps are likely to be between 15°C and 22°C
Maximum temps are likely to be between 25°C and 30°C

Great to see everyone had some decent falls for March making the wet season totals look a lot better than they were in February. This March was not quite as wet as last year (1339.6mm) but still ended up with a big total.

MARCH
Rainfall 1152.8mm (YTD to 1959.8mm)
21 days of rain
Avg wind speed 5km/hr (dom direction E)
Max wind gust 51.8km/hr (20th)
Mean temp 24.7C
Max temp 33.3C (6th)
Min temp 18.2C (29th & 31st)

Sad to see the end of the wet season and the start of boring weather

Didn't eventually end up as a very wet month here:

March: 359.1 mm
YTD: 1272.6mm


March Weather Summary

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 27.5
Mean (min+max) 24.5
Mean Minimum 17.5
Mean Maximum 29.0
Minimum 14.5 on 31/03/2012
Maximum 33.4 on 5/03/2012
Highest Minimum 28.3 on 5/03/2012
Lowest Maximum 24.8 on 31/03/2012
Air frosts 0

Rainfall (mm):
Total for period 359.1
Wettest day 67.5 on 20/03/2012
High rain rate 25.2 day 19/03/2012
Rain days 13

Wind (kts):
Highest Gust 46.9 on 20/03/2012
Average Speed 3.6
Wind Run 113.3 nm
Gale days 1

Pressure (hPa):
Maximum 1015.4 on 31/03/2012
Minimum 997.5 on 1/03/2012

Wow TeeCee, you had 14.5 yesterday morning?
That's the coldest for the CC&W region.

Dunno what happened there PV - Lowest temp was 21.5 deg @ 0215hrs 31/03/2012.

All my low temps appear wrong?

Morning all.
A pleasant min this morning of 17.7° here.
I wasn't up earlier this morning but wouldn't be surprised if there was fog around.

And given we have SW to SE'erlies at 5 to 10 knots for the next few mornings, I wouldn't be surprised if we had some fog around the place. I'd say probably slightly cooler temps for tomorrow morning.

I'm going camping this weekend between here and Nebo. I'll be sure to take my old min/max thermometer with me, as under good conditions I've recorded min temps as much as 4° below home when there in the past.

@ TeeCee

Mate thats beause ur on a hill and the breeze losses its touch the temp drops. My girlfriend just up the hill from here has the same problem. Its due to height mate. Have u adjusted alutuide {sp} on ur weather station. In Cannonvale we tend to have quite abit a varion "spelling" in tempture due to our topgraphy.

Altitude adjusted BC - The minimum temps are not correct, I'm running both Cumulus & Easyweather software - when I check the monthly records everythings fine but when I "copy to clipboard" it doesn't pick up the minimum temps (see below)

Summary for April 2012

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 25.7
Mean (min+max) 14.7
Mean Minimum 0.0
Mean Maximum 29.4
Minimum 0.0 day 01
Maximum 29.4 day 01
Highest Minimum 0.0 day 01
Lowest Maximum 29.4 day 01
Air frosts 0

Big difference in the humidity currently.

At 1:35pm, both Mackay stations were reporting 71 and 72%, Proserpine was reporting 48% and here my station is reporting 43%.

PV - Here @ 1400hrs: 33.5 deg - 41% Humidity (Lowest this year)

A very nice start to April weatherwise. A beautiful day here in paradise for the school-holiday-makers.

Well here is my March summary for interested readers...

The ants have come out in force again. Is there another rain event down the track. The BOM dosnt think so, but the ants say theres something comming.

The highlights for my place

Summary for March 2012

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 25.9
Mean (min+max) 26.6
Mean Minimum 23.0
Mean Maximum 30.3
Minimum 19.8 day 30
Maximum 34.9 day 06
Highest Minimum 25.2 day 04
Lowest Maximum 23.8 day 19
Air frosts 0

Rainfall (mm):
Total for month 564.4 (variance between w/s & rain guage)
Wettest day 156.4 day 19
High rain rate 261.6 day 18
Rain days 17

Wind (km/h):
Highest Gust 29 day 27
Average Speed 2
Wind Run 1381.4 km
Gale days 0

Pressure (hPa):
Maximum 1017.8 day 27
Minimum 996.6 day 21

Also getting some nice fog early in the morning in the lower paddocks.

A pleasant minimum of 17.0°C here this morning, looking like morning temperatures will be on the rise again over the next few days before falling again for the weekend.

Had a very thick fog out this way this morning, enough to drop 0.2mm into my station's rain gauge.

What have you been recording for Minimum's the last few days out your way Ree?

Absolutely stunning day here in the Whitsundays - great visibility with the low humidity - Hayman Island looks like you could touch it & it's 20km away!

Minimum overnight temp of 20.3 deg @ 0603hrs.

Current obs @ Cannonvale 1105hrs:

Temp - 34.1 deg
Wind - South 2.7 knots gusting to 4.1 knots
Barometer - 1014.7 hpa
Humidity - 58%
Heat Index - 42.2 deg
Dewpoint - 24.9 deg
Rain yesterday - 0.0mm
Rain today - 0.0mm
MTD - 12.3mm
YTD - 1272.6mm

Driest day of the year here today!

Quite a dry heat at the moment, 31°C with 36% humidity.

Observations from Moranbah Airport are now being listed on the BOM's website at http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/observations/qldall.shtml#CHC

Loving the forecasts and the cool mornings!!! We're off to Cathu tomorrow afternoon so hoping for a fine weekend (overcast will do fine) and then from Monday afternoon it can rain again will we have an extra cold winter this year? I hope not because I'm a sook for the cold and my power bill was nasty over summer.

A possibly stupid question, my husband and I are looking at buying land and someone was saying get one that faces north as you'll always get a breeze? Is this true? We get very little breeze where we are at the moment so would love a house where a breeze is present.

My house faces towards the north, we have doors/windows on the eastern and northern sides of the house.

We only usually get breeze from the eastern side of the house and occasionally get breeze on the northern side only on a rare occasion.

Tel check out this website. We've just built a passively cooled home. house orientation is very important for catching breeze and blocking out heat in summer. Our house faces south http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs432.html

Can someone with the knowledge explain why it is warm and humid in Yeppoon today yet hot and dry in Rocky . Is this normal ?

Weatherzone had predicted dew points around 16 deg and 40 pc humidity or therabouts for Yeppoon.

Yes, it's normal.
Yeppoon is humid and warm because it's on the coast with the pleasant sea breezes.
Rockhampton is hot and dry because Mount Archer blocks out the pleasant sea breeze that comes in from Yeppoon way and leaves the city in a little area of extra hot, extra dry conditions compared to Yeppoon.

I've experimented this one in the past. I was in Rockhampton one August and it was about 31 degrees, very dry and nearly dead calm. Yeppoon was reading closer to 24 I think and had a nice breeze.
So I drove up to the top of Mt Archer, on the Rockhampton side it was hot and still, but once you went to the other side of it there was a near instant drop in temperature and a lovely cool breeze started blowing, was amazing!


In other weather news, I always find it funny during the cooler times of the year that the BOM persist in forecasting minimum temperatures exactly the same as what OCF is saying despite OCF's failure to accurately forecast cool mornings in the few previous days.

For example, over the last 3 to 4 days, OCF has been forecasting about 17 for Moranbah in the mornings, as has the BOM, yet every morning has been about 13 to 14.
OCF has been saying 15 for Clermont Ap, the BOM has copied and every morning has been about 12 to 13.
The same in Mackay. For the Mackay AP OCF has been saying 20 to 21, the BOM has followed, and it has been 18 to 19 every morning.

Surely it can't be that hard to forecast the morning temperatures when the conditions have been the same every day and OCF has been saying the same thing and getting it wrong by the same amount every day.

I find the best way to work out the upcoming temperatures is to keep a record of OCF's previous forecasts against what actually occurred, I've been doing this for over a year now and find that to be more accurate that what OCF itself actually says.

Wow! Radar's looking good for the Proserpine area at the moment.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR223.loop.shtml

Nah mate they’re false returns. No rain within about 300km. Only a few isolated showers way out in the Coral Sea.

Was very humid and hot in the evening early night yesterday, phew.

Looking good for some of the best Easter weather ever seen for years! Not a chance it will fail either

Thanks for that WWW. Never heard of false returns before!

Found some info on false returns (after reading alot about stuff related to 'false tax returns') and will check it out when brain is not so mushy after the last week of work! http://blog.memphisweather.net/2012/02/identifying-false-weather-returns.html

After a dry day down to 34% humidity yesterday afternoon, it was a very pleasant cool morning here this morning down to 16.1°C at 5:46am.

Happy Birthday Firepac!!!!

Thanks nooty, quite a boring day weatherwise but I did get a Canon DSLR for my birthday so now can't wait till storm season to try to get some awesome ligthening/storm photos!!

Hope you had a great day Firepac, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Will have a rum for you


2nd 17.8C, 3rd 17.4C, 4th 17.1C

Had thick fog here on Tuesday amounting to 0.2mm.

Every1 have a fun and safe Easter break

Happy Birthday Firepac. Must be 25 this year are we? Hope you had a great day mate. Looking forward to the photos too.

Bit of a lull in the weather at the moment. But I guess that’s to be expected given the time of year. Was actually quite a glorious day. Fine, sunny, light wind, temps 18 – 29. What more could you want?

BTW, we’re all turning up at Ree’s place Sunday morning for an Easter egg hunt. Only joking. Although make sure you never show up at her place unannounced, she’s a pretty good aim with the shotgun!

Yeah, Firepac. Hope ya had a great birthday and many more to come.Hope you didn't drink too much.

Evening all and happy birthday Firepac.


Thought this time of year (holidays) it would be raining and blown a gale - nice weather for a change


Never mind shotgun, Ree's got her own local thunder-storms with lighning strikes, so bring your own camera and rain-guage.



Good to hear from you bigjohn. Been busy lately? Don't know about you but i'm looking forward to Easter. Hope the weather stays fine (for a change).

Hope you day was a good one Firepac - many happy returns.

Happy Birthday Firepac

And Happy Easter to everyone for the next few days.

I'm heading away tomorrow to do some camping up the range near Nebo, expecting cold temps up there over the next few mornings, last year when camping up there we had similar weather conditions and I recorded a min of 12 up there when it was 16 here. It was 16 here this morning, so I'd assume it would have been close to 12 up there this morning.
So I'll be sure to take some equipment with me and record the temperatures while up there over the next few days.

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone, what a great friendly bunch of weathernuts we have in our region.

Happy and safe Easter to all, hoping to wet a line and catch a few muddies.

I'm currently out camping at an area called Epsom, between Eton and Nebo. Cool and pleasant here at the moment.

Current temps are:
Here at Epsom: 19°C
Home at Eton: 22.4°C
Mackay AP: 24.8°C

PV,Thanks for the response to my last question.

Does the dew point ever drop below 16 deg here in Yeppoon in Winter or relative humidity below 45 percent. I have been here since November and the lowest humidity I have seen here was about 45 percent and I think the dew point was 14 deg. But it has only happened one or two times lately.

I suppose I am used to it living 7 yrs in Perth where the humidity got as low as 5 percent one summers day.


Weather must be dull if I keep popping into Central Coast forums and North Qld forums lol

Holy shoot just had a heavy shower out of the blue.

Good morning everyone.

A cool 15.5°C this morning here at the campsite, with a min of 17.8°C at home.

Around 6:30 this morning there were 2 extremely heavy showers, not much in total but torrential for a couple of mins

Something maybe for next Wed it seems

Happy Easter all

Happy Easter and Catch ya later off fishing for the weekend.

5.6mm from an early morning shower,only lasted about 10 mins

Woke up to clear skies so took my new camera out for a test drive, managed to capture this. Not the best but quite happy for a first attempt and without a proper tripod.

That's an excellent shot, Firepac! Happy Birthday for the other day, by the way. I've not been on here for a week or so & missed it! I gather you got the 7d? Which lens did you use to get this shot?

Thanks nthqlndr.

I got the 1100D and used the EF 75-300mm lens for that shot.

Another amazing day in the Whitsundays. Fine and not too warm, with a coolish breeze.

Hope the Easter Bunny finds everyone.

Nice moon there Firepac.

Hi all from down in Brissie - hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Far out the first week of my holidays has gone so quick Will be back in Mackay before I know it! The last of the wet season is well and truly finishing off now that's for sure with only the odd shower about the coast in the SE winds. Been quite cool down here at night but the days have been lovely with tops in the high 20's

Had 1.5 mm in the gauge yesterday no idea of when from :-)

Sorry if it's off topic, but wanting to ask the knowledgeable people in here are there any lookouts in or around mackay? (obviously accessible to the public)

Hope evey1 had a good and safe Easter!

Jupiter71: Nth Mackay lookout (Pollock St off Norris Rd), Slade Point lookout (off Pacific Esp), The Leap estate (Bonson's Scrub Rd off Bruce Hwy) might be more but that's all I can think of now.

Nice pic of the moon Firepac and great to hear you have a new camera, you are now obligated to post pics for us


Now come on guys you are making my place sound like a mad house RR I'm already storm deprived and can't wait for the next storm season.

Nice moon shot, I was also out with a tiny telescope having a look that night, was amazing clear for once

MM, yep she's all over I think, SSTs are still ok for a cyc but nothing else seems to be

Thanks Ree.

Easter came and went with the best weather in years - Sweet

A dry change has just moved through the Mackay area, currently 21/09 here with a humidity of 45% at 1:40am.

Both Mackay AP & MO are reporting 40% while Proserpine which is yet to receive the change is reporting 95% humidity.

Is that due to the strong high ?

I'm in Ree. Just pick a date... I do have to help my daughter move house in about a month but don't know the exact date yet. If i can make it I will.

A screaming wind has certainly arrived in Mackay! Some showers on Radar too. What is cooking up??

3.6mm from a few overnight showers

Just had a short downpour that bought overnight total to 13mm.

Windy and pleasant here at the moment.

Eton @ 11:55 AM on 12/04/2012:
Conditions: Cloudy. Windy.
Temperature: 22.9°C (19.4°C / 23.4°C) (App Temp: 19.8°C)
Dew Point: 16.9°C
Humidity: 69%
Wind: ESE at 28 km/hr, gusting to 37 km/hr
Pressure: 1019.95 hPa
Rain: 0.0 mm (since 9am) / 0.0 mm (24 hrs to 9am) (Current Rate: 0.0 mm/hr)

Winds here gusting up to 56 km/hr (30 knots) this afternoon.

Yeah, we have a Claytons cyclone - just no rain

Blowin its guts out here

I stayed at Cape Hillsborough (Seaforth)last night - not the best conditions for camping so thank goodness i stayed in a hut ... the wind was so strong there that a few trees lost their branches and the beach front looked like a sand storm rolling in for the best part of the evening..approx. 35knot wind gusts...

3.00mm rain from midnight.heavy solid shower at sandy creek around 5 today on the way home and wind gusting to 38 kmh today.

Hamilton Island AWS Observations at 7:09pm:
Wind Speed: 44kts (82km/h)
Wind Gusts: 49kts (91km/h)
Wind Direction: ESE
Actual Temperature: 23.5°C
Apparent Temperature: 9.0°C
Dew Point: 13.4°C
Relative Humidity: 53%
Pressure: 1020.0 hPa

Decided on the 28th April. Post here or PM me so I can get an idea of numbers and decide on location.

Must be insanely windy up there on Hammo Is.
Max gust here for the day was 56km/hr at 3:30pm with a cool maximum of just 24°C.
Ha, apparent temp of 9°C at Hamilton Is. wow!


Good choice of date Ree, was just going to post and say I'm away on the 5/6 May weekend. Assuming I don't end up having to work, i'll try to come along.

Sorry Ree, I can't make it that day. I will be at Conway Beach for a wedding that weekend.

Definitely want to be there, but can’t promise anything – though will try my best, so count me in Ree!

Another cool day here with a maximum of 24

Current conditions:
Eton @ 4:20 PM on 13/04/2012:
Conditions: Cloudy. Windy.
Temperature: 20.3°C (18.7°C / 24.3°C) (App. Temp: 17.9°C)
Dew Point: 16.7°C
Humidity: 80%
Wind: ESE at 27 km/hr, gusting to 44 km/hr
Pressure: 1019.10 hPa
Rain: 0.0 mm (since 9am) / 0.0 mm (24 hrs to 9am) (Current Rate: 0.0 mm/hr)

Hi all. Gee there's been some very nice scud showers here this arvo/evening but have only recorded 8.8mm. The clouds are moving across the sky so fast the showers are over as quickly as they start. Been good to get them as it's been warm/dry for a week or two now really drying out the ground.

I'll try to make the meeting on 28th. Where are you having it Ree? I'd suggest Airlie lagoon but not sure if kids soccer in Mackay or Prossy on that day. Soccer is in Mackay on 21st, so could be in Prossy on 28th.

Gota go, footy's on, GO BRONCOS.

RR, you should be a happy camper! 30 to 6. Not a bad score.

Wind is still blowing like crazy here. Have had 2.1mm rain in the last few hours. Brings MTD to 15.1mm.

Played soccer last night in heavy showers and close to gale force winds at one stage, wasnt pretty.

I ended up with 14.4mm to midnight and another 2.2mm since then, on top of 8.4mm on Thursday, so we've had 25.6mm since these showers started. That's not bad hey!

Yeah, happy with Boncs win nthqlndr. GO THE COWS (and STORMS)!

Happy birthday ExVicStormGirl!!! Hope you're having a lovely day!

4.5 mm here overnight bringing MTD to a whopping 13.5mm

Overcast, cool and a little bit of misty rain this arvie.
Go Cowboys!!!

Heavy rain here on Hamo. Took me by surprise.

GFS is forecasting some a return to unstable conditions next Wednesday 25/4, with LI's around -2 to -3 and CAPE around 1000 j/kg. Isolated thunderstorms would have to be a possibility. A long way out and sure to change I know but something to watch in an otherwise boring and uneventful week locally.

A little line of showers out off the coast hey

Good to be back in the warm Whitsunday's.

Just got back from driving a car down to the Sunshine Coast for my son - Bruce Hwy is a disgrace - roadworks for 800k's of the 1011k journey with long delays every 20k's or so.

Weather was COLD & wet so it's good to be back into some humidity.

Anyway - Current obs @ Cannonvale 2130hrs:

Temp - 24.1 deg
Wind - S/SW 1.4 knots gusting to 2.7 knots
Barometer - 1014.3 hpa
Humidity - 89%
Heat Index - 24.0 deg
Dewpoint - 23.9 deg
Rain yesterday - 13.8mm
Rain today - 0.6mm
MTD - 26.7mm
YTD - 1287.0mm

Eton, QLD - 20 Apr 2012, 00:55 AM
Temperature 19.9°C || 19.3°C --
Dew Point 19.9°C
Humidity 100% || 60%
Wind --- at 0 km/h
Gusting to 0 km/h || 28 km/h
Pressure 1013.04 hPa
Rainfall 0.0 mm since 9am || 0.0 mm 24 hrs to 9am || 6.4 mm Month || 1750.6 mm Year
Rain Rate 0.0 mm/hr || 0.0 mm/hr

Hi guys haven't been on here much in the last couple of weeks because I haven't had anything exciting to report. It hasen't rained at our place for over 25 days now. Time to start watering the grass again. The meeting sounds like a good idea and will try to come along.

Looking like it's going to be cool in the morning!
Driving home from work just before there was quite a lot of patchy moderate fog around.
Car thermometer reported 20.0°C in Mackay when I left and fell to as low as 16.5°C on the way home.

Eton, QLD - 20 Apr 2012, 23:45 PM
Temperature 17.3°C || 17.0°C 27.8°C
Dew Point 16.3°C
Humidity 94% || 51%
Wind SSE at 2 km/h
Gusting to 5 km/h || 20 km/h
Pressure 1013.04 hPa
Rainfall 0.0 mm since 9am || 0.0 mm 24 hrs to 9am || 6.4 mm Month || 1750.6 mm Year
Rain Rate 0.0 mm/hr || 0.0 mm/hr

Morning all. The Mackay radar looks great around the Whitsundays, pitty it's only bouncing off fog. Yes, lots of fog here at atm. This means gonna be a great day out on the water, but pitty I'm back at work today

A nice cool 14.1°C here this morning at 6:20am.
And getting quite dry early today, currently at 10:45am it is 26.9/11.0 with 37% humidity. Might help make it even cooler tomorrow morning.

PV - I'd have the heater on at that temperature, lowest overnight here was 21.5 deg @ 0311hrs.

Absolutely stunning day in the Whitsunday's!

Current obs @ Cannonvale 1325hrs:

Temp - 31.4 deg
Wind - NE 4.2 knots gusting to 6.7 knots
Barometer - 1011.6 hpa
Humidity - 55%
Heat Index - 34.0 deg
Dewpoint - 20.9 deg
Rain yesterday - 0.6mm
Rain today - 0.0mm
MTD - 26.7mm
YTD - 1287.0mm

Heater at 14°C, no way. 14 is a lovely pleasant temperature, just cool enough to get the jumpers out.

I don't even think about heaters until the temp is below 3°.

Heater? What's a heater? Winter here doesn't last more than a few weeks. Trakky dacks, long-sleeved Tshirt & ughhies ... Ahhh, winter in Mackay.

foggy morning here with slight breeze.1.5 knts from the North east and 23.6 Deg

I was speaking with Ree on the weekend and she suggested that some of you may be interested in a bit of photography talk at the meet?
I'd be happy to put something together if anyone's interested, just let me know
A - if you're interested
B - what areas you'd like to discuss

I will warn you though, I can dribble on about photography for a loooong time

Great to see some rain on the horizon. Predictions for 10-20mm for Thursday and Friday for Prossy. Can't wait

Noooo! OK, it can rain on Thursday & maybe even Friday, if it has to. Saturday has to be fine though. A good friend is getting married at Conway Beach on Saturday & we don't need to get wet. What do you think our chances are RR? Anyone?

Luna, I'm bringing my laptop to the meet, so if anyone wants to know about Photoshop stuff, you will be able to show them that as well. You & Ree are much better at that than I am,

Don't forget folks,CC&W Meeting, 19th May, The Leap Hotel, 11am. The more people who come along the better it will be. Don't be shy, we're all friends here.

Really depends on the speed of the predicted movement of the upper level systems, this is from the BoM's extended outlook.

"Outlook for Saturday, Sunday and Monday

The upper level trough is expected to progress slowly eastwards over the southwestern interior during Friday, and become reinforced by a new upper system over the weekend. This will maintain extensive cloud, rain areas and thunderstorms over the tropics, with some moderate to heavy falls may develop about the coast and nearby inland from the North Tropical Coast to Fraser Island. Some rain areas are also likely to extend into the southeast on Saturday, before clearing offshore by Sunday. "

I'd take your brolly to the wedding nthqndr. Prediction now for Saturday is 20-40mm @ 90% confidence. Fiday's still 10-20mm @ 90% too. Upper level systems seam to be more likely to come off than other rain events. We'll see what happens. Conway is a very nice area, but just hope a strong SE wind doesn't blow as it always hits Conway hard. 15-20knts is predicted for Saturday so might be a bit windy.

Well another photography nut here so the topic should i attend will interest me just as much as the weather My principal areas are nature and landscape/weather...

Rain is looking more than likely for the upcoming weekend Nthqlndr, especially on Saturday.

PME is going for falls around 50mm on Saturday, OCF and GFS also showing good totals for Sat.

EC is in agreement showing showers increasing on Thursday, Rain Periods on Friday, Further Rain periods on Saturday, Showers on Sunday, clearing to just coastal showers on Monday.

Looking like it'll be cool too! Minimums on the weekend around the 14 to 16 mark, maximums if the rain comes off only around the 19 to 23 mark I'd think.

Models are keen on Cool conditions with the expected rainfall over the weekend.

GFS is the most extreme with this temperature forecast:
Fri 1am: 15°C
Fri 7am: 15°C
Fri 10am: 14°C
Fri 1pm: 14°C
Fri 4pm: 13°C
Fri 7pm: 13°C

I've been having really good results lately from WeatherUnderground's BestForecast model (when set to use data recorded from my own weather station), it shows temps rising to 26°C here on Friday around Midday, before quickly dropping to 15°C by 4pm Friday afternoon.

EC is similar to WU's model, with a maximum around the 24°C mark then a drop to about 16°C by Mid-afternoon Friday.

OCF/the BOM's forecast are the most conservative of the lot.

Back to what I was saying before about WU.
My station reports to the WeatherUnderground website, and I've noticed it produces it's own forecast from it's "BestForecast" model based on the data collected by the selected weather station. I've set it to display forecast data based on my weather station and have been checking it out over the last week and have found it to be incredibly accurate. Correctly forecasting the minimum and maximum temperatures nearly every day for the last week, it even correctly forecast the minimum of 14°C I had here a few days ago.

Thanks Firepac, RR & PV. Looks like I'd better make sure the brolly is packed. Might just pack the big tarp too, sounds like they might need it. Oh well, after a few libations we won't care about the weather anyway.

Happy Birthday WWW hope it's a good one for you

Nice morning for the dawn service at Half Tide today.Light breeze and slightly overcast.
Lest We forget

Happy birthday WWW!

Beautiful day outside today

Happy Birthday WWW! Don't drink too much... jokes, drink plenty!!! Pitty the weather couldn't give you a storm for your big day!

Happy Birthday WWW! Hope you have a fun filled day.

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes everyone.

Sadly no storms today Lee, but with a bit of luck we may get the odd rumble of thunder over the next few days.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the meet next month...

Happy birthday WWW! Have a good one.

Happy Birthday WWW! I'll have a rum or two for you

Went to dawn service at Farleigh this morning was surprised I didn't need a jacket, I did this time last year.

Hope the predicted rain comes off I want to spread out some grass seed after repairing the mess leftover from the wet season. Again ended up with a few tonne of top soil at the bottom of pig paddocks.

Forecast is sounding promising!

Pleasant outside this morning, can feel the slight chill in the air, currently overcast and cool with a slight breeze - 19.7°C as of 8:50am.

Has cooled down further to 19.1° at 9:50am.
BTW, Happy Birthday to WWW for Yesterday

Good evening you lot Long time no see!

Ok - very interesting setup coming up over the next few days, we've got a nice mid to upper level system coming through that will deliver some good falls anywhere south of about Prossy with the main area of focus south of Rocky. Tomorrow afternoon we've got the winds backing with height which means the wind shear direction is changing as it gains height. The advantage of this is that it helps to "suck up the clouds" to further heights when there is no instability. We could even see some mid level storms tomorrow in the 10-14,000 feet range, purely generated by the cold unstable mid levels and the forced lifting by the strong shear. Expect the activity to move swiftly in from the NW to the SE with no problems getting over the ranges - definitely a lovely wintery type setup. I wonder if the BOM will revise the max temp for tomorrow? They are going for 23 but I don't think we'll get much above 20-21 if GFS has anything to go by.

Looking forward to it

Me too, love the cool drizzly days. Yeah, was only up to 22.8°C here today, doubt we'll make it much over 20° tomorrow, for here tomorrow GFS says Morning min of 16°, warming to 18° by midday then dropping to 14° by 4pm.

Will also be interesting to see how cool it gets on Saturday morning.
BOM has gone for 20° for a Min on Saturday for Mackay, yet most models expect it to be much cooler than that, even OCF is saying 15° for Mackay.

Looks good MM, suprising developments of rain, good for the sugarcane which is totally out of moisture - great timing one week earlier but now is better than never

Here in Mid Pyrenee's (France) going for 80 kmh winds, rain, snow at 2900m tomorrow (springtime right) and for next few days, really sh*t* weather This afternoon was warm as toast and really sweet but temps dropping like a stone. No hiking in mountains or other sight seeing in the high regions.

Hearing reports that the Calen Pub is on fire

That's not good. Drove past there a few hours ago, everything was quiet, but it doesn't take long for a fire to take hold. Apparently the building is gutted & about to collapse. Luckily no one has been hurt.

Arrived at Conway Beach an hour ago. What a pretty place. The van park is like a candy-coloured playground. Every cabin is painted in multi-colours. Ours is pink, purple, turquoise, orange & green. So far the weather seems to be holding. A few sprinkles in Prossie this morning. Fingers crossed, the rain will wait until after my mate gets married tomorrow.

Grey skies,cool and overcast.not liking this much.Paddocks drying off and plants unhappy.Please rain,top up the tanks and the final greening before winter sets in......

The cold wet weather has arrived at last. Cumulus reporting an Apparent Temperature of 9.9 degrees.


Eton, QLD - 27 Apr 2012, 22:25 PM
Temperature 14.6°C || 15.8°C     25.2°C
Dew Point 14.3°C
Humidity 98% || 57% 
Wind SW at 25 km/h
Gusting to 33 km/h || 36 km/h
Pressure 1015.21 hPa
Rainfall 2.2 mm since 9am || 0.0 mm 24 hrs to 9am || 9.0 mm Month || 1753.2 mm Year
Rain Rate 0.0 mm/hr || 3.4 mm/hr

Not that cold or wet here!! 18.9C and only 1mm overnight...had heavier dews

Can't give a total, but it's been raining steadily all night here at Conway Beach. Not heavy, hasn't even washed all the dirt off the car. Looks like my friend's wedding is going to be a trifle damp

14mm here overnight,

Anyone in South Mackay around sports fields area can tell us how wet it is there.?

Starting to get more persistent and a little heavier here...4.1mm and climbing. Current RR around 9mm/hr.
Temp has been constant for a couple of hours at around 18.4C.

Forecast has the rain easing to only isolated showers by this afternoon.

Finally we have had some rain 16mm overnight. I haven't recored rain for 31 days.

31.2 millimetres to 9am here with an overnight minimum of 13.8°C which is the coldest for the year so far.

14.2mm for the 24hrs to 9am in Beaconsfield, with a few flashes of lightning offshore near Prudhoe Island around 2:15am.

Looking like we're heading for our first real cool period of the season next weekend.
At the moment I'm thinking minimums of around 10-11°C here, around 13°C in Mackay.

I'll be away near Longreach next weekend and looking at around 5°C out there so will be really experiencing the cold out that way!