Friday 31st of March 2006

Chase Report

Today a trough through South East Queensland produced thundery rain all day and several very nice isolated cells that came off the ranges in the early evening. The forecast models showed excellent shear for supercell development, but it appears that none formed, possibly due to not quite enough instability. I began my chase after knocking off from work at around 6pm.

The sunset at around 6pm was absolutely brilliant, the best I've seen in many years. The air was absolutely clear and the sunlight reflected brilliantly off high level cloud, with a contrast of blue sky and dark thunderstorms alongside it. I took this photo to the right here, near Bald Hills looking to the west. Looking to the south I could see lightning flashing in a line of cells that looked very impressive. It appeared to be coming off the ranges and moving ENE.

I decided to try to head south and intercept them in the Gold Coast hinterland. However after discussions of road conditions on UHF 40 I decided instead to head for Mt Cootha which would provide a good view. An accident on the M1 unfortunately had traffic backed up to the Gateway Bridge. The Mt Cootha lookout provided every bit the excellent lookout I wanted. To the south I could see the entire line flashing with lightning every 3-5 seconds, with many crawlers and clear air CG's. Unfortunately do to the fault on my camera with the display I was unable to really capture much of this. Not being able to control settings makes it really hard. Eventually low cloud rolled in from the west and blocked my view of the cells as they were moving closer. I decided to head further south looking for good CG's.

I headed down Milton Rd, then through the Riverside Expressway onto the South East Freeway, continuing onto the M1. As I continued south I could see some cells to my west but they didn't seem as active as the one to the south, which for a time seemed to have a well developed visible base to it. I eventually turned off at Shailer Park looking for a decent viewing position. UHF 40 users had alerted me to hail of golf ball size at Park Ridge and other areas in the southside, and I didn't really want to get hit by hail tonight. Just then a large number of huge drops started arriving, a telltale sign that hail might follow. I turned around and started heading north. The cells that had been to my west had now crossed the highway and there was quite heavy rain. Reports of hail were now coming in from everywhere, although I seem to have missed it all. By the time I was out of the rain the lightning had died down and I decided to call it a night and head home.