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Hottest January Ever

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Went back to rural SA over the weekend and it is the greenest it has been that I can remember in the last 20 years. The hills on the drive out almost look like NZ in parts.

One of the most consistent winters on record according to all the farmers/growers
 
Anyone interested in wild weather should go to ABC iview and watch the first 15 minutes of Catalyst.
Very well done. It explains the strange weather patterns very well. It will make you very careful buying insurance shares.

It is followed by an Aussie guy who invented an underwater 3D camera that is way better and cheaper than previously used commercially. It is now being used for major events.
 
Well it seems I've discovered the solution to drought.

Just post on ASF saying that the rain isn't falling and then down it comes, up to 200mm of it at some locations on the West Coast of Tas thus far (though most are only a bit over 100mm) and it's still raining.

It's so much easier than messing about with cloud seeding (though cloud seeding over the Gordon and Great Lake catchments has added to the rain over the past few days) and it's so much more reliable than rain dances and the like.
 
I'm not sure about Victoria but the basic pattern remains intact in Tasmania. That is, dryer and warmer than usual with the vast majority of rain having fallen on a few "one off" wet days here and there. Likewise the temperature is much the same with most days relatively warm, with a few very cold ones here and there bringing down the mean a bit.

That's a different pattern to normal, where you'd expect to have relatively consistent cold weather, and somewhat consistent rainfall especially in places such as the West Coast of Tas.

So it seems that the overall pattern from Summer is still around, it's just that the seasonal shift is hiding it somewhat in terms of practical effects.
 
Its ruined the ski season.
Even with snow machines you really can't ski except on the basic children's runs (if that). Even Mt Hotham says it has "fair" snow which means skiing on rocks from my experience. Mt Hotham is the highest and is usually a bit better than that in bad years.

Also, I have worn my overcoat only once this year. That's amazing for Melbourne.
 
I suggest its probably ruined a few ski businesses as well. We may get a couple more dumps in the next few weeks but there is no base left and after the last week the ground is now probably above freezing. Hard to see how many people will come in July/August with this scenario.

One of the first predictions of the effects of global warming was that the snow levels would rise on mountains and that ski industries would be severely affected.
 
To go from bitterly cold only a few weeks back in Melbourne, to a July high record indicates high (and rapidly increasing) volatility. Trends continue until they end, so the way I see it we will be in for freak storms, flooding, tornados, 50 degree summer days and more.

Buy the cold days and sell the hot ones.
 
Decent snow at last! Wouldn't stop raining yesterday in Melbourne.
The ski fields are heavily advertising to try to save themselves from a big loss.

Maybe I will try to enjoy some while it lasts.
 
"Sydney and Melbourne on target for warmest July on record"

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydney-and-melbourne-on-target-for-warmest-july-on-record/25057

Actually here in Hobart in has been no better either , only one drop of snow on the mountain this whole Winter.
Normally it would be once a week at least , but it's very warm with daytime and nighttime temps running about 2 degrees over on average and up to 8 degrees over some days. This has been the case the last 18 months now , my flowers and tulips are coming out everywhere and we still have another month before spring. Very strange indeed.
 
Well now it's raining. Lots of rain actually.

Launceston City Council and the SES are busy with sand bags and the like to ward off the floods. The water is currently 1.35 meters over the top of the spillway at Trevallyn Dam (Launceston) and that's despite constant maximum discharge through the power station plus water being held back upstream. That's not a problem in itself, it just makes for a nice raging torrent through the Gorge, but the forecast is for a lot more rain and it's the North Esk River rather than Trevallyn which is the real threat.....

The entire Mersey-Forth system (south of Devonport) is also spilling water. 7 dams + power stations and the whole lot are now on spill. Peak discharge has been about 270,000 litres per second at Paloona dam.

The lower 2 dams in the Pieman system are also spilling, with peak discharge hitting 600,000 litres per second. About 40% of that was going through Reece power station, which has been at constant maximum output for a couple of weeks now, and the rest over the top of Reece dam.

The 6 dams + power stations in the Lower Derwent are are also spilling, with peak discharge about 340,000 litres per second at Meadowbank dam. Upstream as much water as possible is being held back at Lake Echo and Lake King William but there's a huge amount of water entering the system downstream of there.

Even the small Lake Margaret scheme near Queenstown has been spilling for the past 3 days.

All that said, Hobart hasn't had that much rain and the major storages are nowhere near full (it's the smaller ones that are spilling).
 
The current written records continue to fall in 2013. Hobart has had it's warmest July day on record, it's going to be 23 degrees on Sunday . That is 2 degrees hotter than the January / February maximum .
So much for Spring we have gone straight to Summer. The rest of country is also feeling the heat and the records will continue to fall into next week.
Articles for those interested below.

www.weatherzone.com.au/news/tasmania-gets-a-warm-wet-winter/25305

www.weatherzone.com.au/news/hot-start-to-spring/25304

www.weatherzone.com.au/news/melbourne-is-moving-into-spring-warmer-than-ever-before/25302
 
Inflows have started to drop off over the past few days along with the warmer weather. But the entire Mersey-Forth system is still on spill as is most of the Pieman, Trevallyn, Lower Derwent and the Tungatinah side (eastern side) of the Upper Derwent. There's a massive amount of water at the moment.

The level in Lake Pieman (for example) peaked at 2.2m over the top of Reece dam spillway and that's despite maximum discharge through the turbines. It's now down to about 0.2m over the dam's spillway (plus full gate flow through the power station). That's a massive amount of water - I would say exactly how much but the flow gauge further down the river has broken. Current flow would be somewhere around 20 million litres per minute.

It's much the same everywhere - still huge inflows, but it's coming down. A short term flood doesn't fill major storages however - Great Lake is still only 27.3% full, Lake Gordon is 49.2% but the smaller storages are all either full or close to it.

Meanwhile at home, I'll have to get the mower out this weekend I think. Haven't used it since January but the grass is starting to get a bit long and the wallabies aren't coming around that much since there's more to eat in the bush at the moment. Here's hoping it starts after 7 months of no use.
 
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