Crikey it’s wet

[kgwilson]

They had Cyclone Vaianu last week and in its wake it left a massively unstable weather pattern and the huge downpours and local flash flooding has caused much more damage than the cyclone did.

Here on the NE coast of NSW it is tinder dry. The grass is now completely browned off & crunchy to walk on. We are supposed to be getting showers today & the rest of the week but nothing at all as yet with a blue sky, full sun and a lot of wind.

[Litespeed]

Been windy in Port Stephens last 5 days, no rain

[old man emu]

Had a shit of a night's sleep last night! Kept getting woken up by the rain pounding on the roof. When I got up this morning water was laying is sheets across the ground. I had to go out and clear twigs and leaves from the drainage channels I dug back when the last big rains came.

 

I measured 50 mm in the rain guage, and it is still raining. The rain event is supposed to last for the next couple of days. 

[onetrack]

So, does this mean the Great Gilgandra Drought is over? I thought you said previously, you didn't have a rain gauge? Did you go out and buy one?

 

Here on the Left coast, we are due for steady rain from Wednesday afternoon right through to Monday. A strong cold front is coming through the lower part of the State on Wednesday night, and it will be followed by a decent rain-bearing depression with another sizeable cold front, on Sunday.

[old man emu]

I ws given a guage by a friend when I had said that I didn't know how much rain I had got in a previous rain event. I didn't know how weel it would catch the rain as the mouth is ony about an inch square. Also, I oftern wonder how well guages catch rain becasue they are set up vertically and rain normally falls at an angle. Anyway, what it captured is only indicative of the rainfall within its immediate surrounds. It doesn't tell yoou how much rain fell 100 metres away. 

 

We'll see by the end of the week if the drought is broken. 

[nomadpete]

At last!

Good to see you finally got some rain. Now you'll be complaining about having to buy a lawnmower.

 

Where we are, I'd have to say 'Crikey it's damp!'.

 

Every day we wake to grey wet mist, punctuated by bouts of drizzle. Forecast is the same for the forseeable future.

[old man emu]

My lawnmower has sat in the shed for two years. I hope it will start if needed.

[onetrack]

The BOM has good advice as regards setting up weather stations and recording equipment, giving useful advice as to location and placement. A rain gauge needs to be positioned between 0.3M and 1.0M from ground level to prevent splashback, and must be well clear of obstructions such as overhangs and buildings, to give good accuracy. 10M is the recommended clearance to buildings.

 

A good rain gauge has a wide metal funnel on top of a tubular metal support, with a graduated glass collector directly below the funnel. These are durable units and the funnel provides greater accuracy in catching rainfall.

 

Yes, there can be a wide variation in rainfall over relatiely small areas. The topography plays a big part in whether clouds drop their moisture, and often, the topography shape and effect is subtle.

[pmccarthy]

And every creek a banker ran,

And dams filled overtop;

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"If this rain doesn't stop."

[facthunter]

Is it a 4 stroke? Nev

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

And every creek a banker ran,

And dams filled overtop;

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"If this rain doesn't stop."

I'm glad that you know and keep alive that bit of Australiana. 

 

Said Hanrahan published in the anthology Around the Boree Log by "John O'Brien" pen name of Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan, published by Angus and Robertson in 1921.

[pmccarthy]

Father Hartigan was my mum's teacher in Narrandera.

[old man emu]

I got a further 12mm on Tuesday and then the clouds clared away. There's more cloud today, but I don't know if much rain will come from it. Just in case it does rain, I'm hanging my washing on the verandah.

[nomadpete]

If you want more rain, hanging washing on the line should do it. In your case, It might help to wash the car, just to be sure.

[old man emu]

Tha car was parked outside in the rain. It's looking cleaner. I did have a clothes dryer, but haven't needed it for years. I've hung the clothes out under cover and they can drip dry.

[Marty_d]

Bit damp down here at the moment, over 140mm in last 3 days.

Our little creek which is normally a gentle trickle.

 

[onetrack]

We got promised a huge strong cold front last night, but we only got 18mm in Perth City overnight, and a lot of the Wheatbelt and inland areas, got very little. It's been a very dry May.

The BOM is promising another bigger and better cold front on Sunday and Monday. It remains to be seen if that one is a fizzer, too.

The long range forecast is saying a wet June, and then a dry July and August, thanks to El Nino. In El Nino years we seem to get a cutoff in Spring rains here on the Left Coast.

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

Bit damp down here at the moment, over 140mm in last 3 days.

Our little creek which is normally a gentle trickle.

 

Hey Marty, I'm bringing by kayak for a bit of whitewater fun!

[nomadpete]

There are 3 lows coming at us (in the south). Unusual, they are close together and bode for some active weather.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Marty_d said:

Bit damp down here at the moment, over 140mm in last 3 days.

Our little creek which is normally a gentle trickle.

 

If you had that flow all the time Marty you could set up a hydro system. A few years ago I saw a homebuilt one on youtube that a bloke had made from a Hitachi washing machine.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, willedoo said:

a bloke had made from a Hitachi washing machine.

He was on a spinner winner!

[willedoo]

Actually, now I think about it, he used a Fisher and Paykel smart machine. Something to do with the way he rewired it, he said was the reason for that model.

[Marty_d]

Yeah that would involve a working knowledge of electrickery.

[onetrack]

If he'd used a Whirlpool machine, it would've worked even better! 😄 

[old man emu]

Had a really extraordinary rain occurrence last night. Before I went to bed, the sky was clear. About an hour and a half later I began to hear a strange rushing sound from outside. It's hard to explain it until I tell you what happened. The sound at first was a bit low pitched. I wondered if it was a truck approaching, but the sound was coming from the opposite direction from the highway. The sound seemed to be getting louder as it was approaching. Finally the sound arrived and with it extremely heavy rainfall. It was as if a fire hose was in use. 

 

If there is rain from a thunderstorm, it usually starts with scattered drops and then the main fall catches up. But last night it was like a wall of water was moving across the land. The boundary between rain and no rain was distinct. This rainfall continued for a short time, maybe five minutes or so, then abruptly stopped. Later that night I saw that the sky was clear again. This morning I checked the ran guage and saw that it regaistered 11 mm of rain.

 

That brings total rainfall since last Monday to about 75mm. There is standing water in the more level paddocks and some dams now have water in them. The creek which runs through the place is roaring and the frogs are making quite a racket.