Crikey it’s wet

[Jerry_Atrick]

5 hours ago, old man emu said:

Looking at the radar, it seems that the Great Divide is doing just that - dividing the flooded east from the dry west.

The Fohn Effect in action!

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

The Fohn Effect in action!

Well, the drier air is definitely warm. Warm in the sense that the temperature is around 20C during the day, which is warm for late May.

[red750]

[onetrack]

But fossil-fuelled vehicles are equally useless! So much for the anti-EV brigade rant. All the people drowned drove their fossil-fuelled vehicles into deep floodwaters.

EV's have the same fording depth ability as fossil-fuelled vehicles.

 

I was sitting on 120kmh in my diesel Hilux on the freeway yesterday, heading North to Muchea, when a Tesla came up behind me, going faster. He pulled up level with me for a minute, then took off in an acceleration spurt, that no fossil-fuelled vehicle could ever achieve. The HP ratings of some of the more powerful EV's put IC engines to shame.

 

In floods, there's not much use for any currency, either cash or electronic. You're just looking for food and drinkable water, and hopefully find some rescuer prepared to provide them for free. Money doesn't come into it when rescuing people from life-threatening disasters.

[facthunter]

 A flooded Service station is not much good  for a long time. Corded power tools are practically obsolete, now.  Electric is  coming.  Nev

[spacesailor]

In the west as on the outback farms , diesel tanks are elevated & don't need electricity.

so , you can get fuel if you have the  " money " .

credit is only for the wealthy that have an account .

spacesailor

[red750]

[facthunter]

It's really SA that's in severe drought, and Western NSW and north Western Victoria. Nev

[onetrack]

We actually got a little bit of rain in the Lower West over the last couple of days, but it never made it very far inland. In the City we got 11mm on Friday and another 17mm yesterday, up to 9:00AM this morning. But the Wheatbelt and even the Lower Great Southern didn't get anything worthwhile, a few mm at best in some of the coastal and near-coastal areas of the Lower Great Southern.

 

I had to take a drive to just out of Albany yesterday to deliver some items to a buyer. I was surprised at how dry the Great Southern was. Many crops struggling to get out of the ground due to insufficient moisture and it was only when I got down near Mount Barker (W.A.) that the country had a green tinge to it, and early crops (canola especially) were looking quite good.

 

The farmers must all be confident, the agricultural authorities are saying the area sown to crops this season in W.A. has increased by 2%, with an emphasis on canola sowings, and a pullback on the area sown to wheat and barley and oats. Canola has an advantage in dry start seasons, it will cope with a long dry spell better than wheat, which is surprising to me.

[red750]

A really weird sort of day today. Our maximum temperature was 10.5 at 6:00 am. By 8:00 am it had got to 8 deg and hovered around there the rest of the day. That's right, it got colder.  Later in the day bright sun was streaming in the window, but it was raining and the wind was freezing. Hail in some areas, and lots of snow in the ski fields.

 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Our forecast is one degree from now 8 pm until tomorrow morning.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have had to do something I haven't had to do for a long time.. water our outdoor pot plants.. One I think was too thirsty for too long; the others were looking wilty, but OK... I can't recall the last time I watered an outdoor pot plant - with no losses to pot plants yet. 

[onetrack]

Here on the Left Coast, we have had some Winter rain, but overall it's been much warmer for Winter than the average for this time of year. We are well down on annual rainfall, and the residual ground moisture levels are very low all through the State.

 

Winter crops such as Wheat and Canola are out of the ground and away, and got a boost with good rains last week, but they had a long dry spell in early June. Many crops seeded in May had spotty germination due to low moisture levels, and some farmers did spot re-seeding.

 

The crop areas that didn't germinate earlier are behind the rest of the crops. If we get reasonable rains in July, it may turn out to be an average cropping season, but I suspect it's going to turn out to be a spotty, below-average year for grain crops.

 

The high pressure systems are still dominating over Australia and the cold fronts and low pressure systems are still well South of the continent when they come through from the Indian and Southern Oceans to the West. Some of the rain we've had, originated from the Northern part of the Indian Ocean, and came in from the North West in troughs, rather than from cold fronts from the South West, as we'd normally expect in Winter.

 

Despite the warmer Winter, we're still going to head off to Broome for 12 days next month. Looking forward to a decent break, we haven't had one since before COVID started. We had two failed attempts at holidays in 2022 and 2023, both were cut short by COVID outbreaks, and we ended up locked up for a fortnight, both times.

 

Edited Monday at 12:36 AM by onetrack

[facthunter]

I don't reckon Broome is what it used to be. It's nearly always warm though, Big tidal effect.  Isn't accommodation at a premium?   Good luck anyhow. Nev

[onetrack]

Nev, everything in Broome is at a premium during the Dry. We were lucky, we normally stay at the Habitat Resort, it's on 7 acres out near the Port and the accommodation units are self contained and nicely spread out, which is what we like. Because we've stayed there regularly for years, we got a discount calling them direct. But it's still $290 a night.

 

The main problem was we could only get 8 days straight at the Habitat, then it was fully booked from 20th July on. But we found a nice AirBnB on the Northern outskirts of town, so we scored the last 4 days at the AirBnB, so it's all good. Even got a good deal on car hire at Thrifty through our RAC WA card, 20% off the hire rate. I'm looking forward to the warmth and relaxation.

[old man emu]

Over the next couiple of days the WEweather Bureau says that the coast of NSW will cop a hammering from a dumbell of two Low pressure centres just off the coast. I looked at the expected rainfall areas oiver thoise two days and, as a ereult, I am considering doing a lot of laundry because it will be planty dry around my way.

[nomadpete]

Looks like you are stuck in a rain shadow.

 

I bet you are hoping for some climate change 😉

[facthunter]

Go somewhere with a different Climate if YOU WANT rain.. You often miss out from all directions.  Nev

[old man emu]

A couple of years ago I got more than enough rain. I've seen what this place is like in drought. That's why I get concerned when there is no rain for a long time.

[nomadpete]

Rain shadow areas are very prone to floods....

 

But only those rare unexpected ones

[Litespeed]

I can certainly say it's fuckin wet and windy with huge swells in Port Stephens.

 

Lots of flooding expected, down trees, pot holes that swallow cars and it's only getting started.

 

It's only 4 weeks since our last disaster declaration and still repairing from that.

 

Doesn't stop fuckwits fishing or surfing though. If they get hurt, they deserve it. The rescue guys are in big enough danger without wankers putting them at risk. No rescues except for imminent danger to life at the moment.

 

Stay safe peeps

[old man emu]

I think that it should be an offence to drive a vehicle into flood waters to maybe make people think again before doing it. At the moment there does not seem to be a trafic law that covers thyt sort of stupidity. Negligent or Dangerous Driving requires that there is danger to other persons or property. That makes them pretty high level offences. 

[spacesailor]

We , ( on the Blue mountains ) were waved on by the ' traffic police ' ,  because only 4wd 

Vehicles could navigate the detour,  through a flooded road .

The rest of the vehicles had to wait hours,  before that road was reopened. 

We watched it on the TV news , after getting home ,

So if a competent vehicle can ' safely ' navigate a flooded road .

Why penalise that driver ! .

Who knows , it could be an ses volunteer getting to a larger emergency,   rather than a couple of feet of water .

My ' deepest ' creek crossing  was to the bottom of the windscreen, 

Towing a heavy rope , to be used for a stranded vehicle recovery .  All successful completed. 

spacesailor

 

PS. : our " snorkel " is not for water crossings. 

But to keep the " air-filter " out of the duststream " . When in convoy. 

 

 

[onetrack]

4WD's have a "safe" fording depth, set by the manufacturers, that is a very sensible figure. It's usually between 500mm and 800mm maximum. Over that depth, high mounted diff and transmission breathers go under water, and the cold water effect on hot transmissions and axles creates a vacuum that makes them ingest water via the breathers. Corrosion in those compartments then follows.

 

Wheel bearings will only withstand a small level of water pressure before the seals admit water to the bearings, and bearing failure follows as corrosion pits the races and rollers when the vehicle is left parked up for a period. 

 

But the worst part is, the body of a vehicle is essentially a largely sealed bathtub on wheels. It has to be largely sealed to keep dust out and keep warm or cool air in. Once you go into deep water (deeper than 800mm), you risk the vehicle starting to float, and it loses traction, and the ability to direct it where you want it to go, via steering input.

 

Add in a serious tonnage of water pressure from fast-flowing water and this becomes an irresistable force. The result is the vehicle simply gets washed downstream.

 

Add in the serious level of water pressure from the tonnes of water force, being applied to the side of the car in fast-flowing floodwater, and this becomes an irresistible force.

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by onetrack

[nomadpete]

All true for modern motor vehicles.

 

But my 1955 Austin champ had a safe fording depth of 6 feet.

 

Safe depth if you stood on the driver's seat.