(no subject)

It's things like this that make me remember why I so love my field and that I haven't wasted the last decade of study. Because even if I never work in it, I can still appreciate it as few can.

It was chilly last night, usually cloudy and rainy nights are warmer as the cloud acts like a blanket. The cold air draining down from the Blue Mountains saved our hide.

From SMH:

ONLY a fluke of nature saved Sydney from being battered yesterday by gale-force winds.

Generated by a severe low pressure system over the Tasman Sea, the winds swept across the city just as the weather bureau had predicted - but almost no one noticed. At 5am wind gusts averaging 90 to 100kmh were howling - 1000 metres above the sleeping city.

"It missed us by a fraction," said the bureau's regional director, Barry Hanstrum. The saviour was an unexpectedly chilly blast of air, driven over the Blue Mountains during the night by westerly winds.

After dumping snow on Oberon, Blackheath and Katoomba and blocking the Great Western Highway, the cold air settled close to the ground over Sydney, plunging the city's temperature to 8 degrees.

When the gale blew in from the Tasman, the blanket of cold air shielded the city, acting as a wedge that pushed the warmer winds from the sea up and over the top.

Called an inversion, the same effect is often blamed for trapping pollution low in the atmosphere, producing Sydney's familiar murky brown haze.

The westerly winds also acted as a barrier, keeping the storm further east.

"We were very lucky," said Mr Hanstrum, noting the winds could have created significant coastal damage. The inversion formed too quickly to be taken into account in the bureau's storm weather predictions.

However, it was different story out to sea yesterday, where there was no protective inversion.

"We have had storm-force winds out to sea all night. It's causing havoc," he said.

At 6am yesterday one ship off Newcastle reported being hammered by winds of almost 100kmh. Waves averaging five metres, with some reaching 10 metres, crashed onto Sydney's beaches. "You don't get waves of that height without a lot of wind," Mr Hanstrum said.

He estimated the storm was raging from about 100 kilometres off the coast to "nearly all the way to New Zealand".

Yesterday the low was heading out into the Pacific, where it was tipped to batter Norfolk Island last night.

Sydney has been drenched by enough rain this month to meet the city's water needs for 18 months.

Bureau of Meteorology records suggest that about 280 millimetres of rain have, on average, fallen over Sydney's 3000 square kilometres. That would equal about 840 billion litres of water - enough to fill Sydney Harbour almost 1.7 times. However, most just soaked into the soil, evaporated or ran down drains. By comparison, 311 billion litres collected in the water catchments have flowed into Sydney's dam network this month.

Figures to be released today are expected to show that the dam system is now about 48 per cent full, up from 39.2 per cent last week - the biggest weekly rise since 1998.

(no subject)

It's things like this that make me remember why I so love my field and that I haven't wasted the last decade of study. Because even if I never work in it, I can still appreciate it as few can.

It was chilly last night, usually cloudy and rainy nights are warmer as the cloud acts like a blanket. The cold air draining down from the Blue Mountains saved our hide.

From SMH:

ONLY a fluke of nature saved Sydney from being battered yesterday by gale-force winds.

Generated by a severe low pressure system over the Tasman Sea, the winds swept across the city just as the weather bureau had predicted - but almost no one noticed. At 5am wind gusts averaging 90 to 100kmh were howling - 1000 metres above the sleeping city.

"It missed us by a fraction," said the bureau's regional director, Barry Hanstrum. The saviour was an unexpectedly chilly blast of air, driven over the Blue Mountains during the night by westerly winds.

After dumping snow on Oberon, Blackheath and Katoomba and blocking the Great Western Highway, the cold air settled close to the ground over Sydney, plunging the city's temperature to 8 degrees.

When the gale blew in from the Tasman, the blanket of cold air shielded the city, acting as a wedge that pushed the warmer winds from the sea up and over the top.

Called an inversion, the same effect is often blamed for trapping pollution low in the atmosphere, producing Sydney's familiar murky brown haze.

The westerly winds also acted as a barrier, keeping the storm further east.

"We were very lucky," said Mr Hanstrum, noting the winds could have created significant coastal damage. The inversion formed too quickly to be taken into account in the bureau's storm weather predictions.

However, it was different story out to sea yesterday, where there was no protective inversion.

"We have had storm-force winds out to sea all night. It's causing havoc," he said.

At 6am yesterday one ship off Newcastle reported being hammered by winds of almost 100kmh. Waves averaging five metres, with some reaching 10 metres, crashed onto Sydney's beaches. "You don't get waves of that height without a lot of wind," Mr Hanstrum said.

He estimated the storm was raging from about 100 kilometres off the coast to "nearly all the way to New Zealand".

Yesterday the low was heading out into the Pacific, where it was tipped to batter Norfolk Island last night.

Sydney has been drenched by enough rain this month to meet the city's water needs for 18 months.

Bureau of Meteorology records suggest that about 280 millimetres of rain have, on average, fallen over Sydney's 3000 square kilometres. That would equal about 840 billion litres of water - enough to fill Sydney Harbour almost 1.7 times. However, most just soaked into the soil, evaporated or ran down drains. By comparison, 311 billion litres collected in the water catchments have flowed into Sydney's dam network this month.

Figures to be released today are expected to show that the dam system is now about 48 per cent full, up from 39.2 per cent last week - the biggest weekly rise since 1998.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recent rain has filled Sydney's dam levels to a three-year high, with capacity hitting 50 per cent today.

Today's reading was 10.8 percentage points higher than last week's mark of 39.2 per cent.

Not since May 20, 2004, have water storage levels been so high.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, said rain over the past 14 days had added about seven and a half months to the longevity of Sydney's drinking water supply.

"Over the past two weeks up to 320mm of rain has fallen on Sydney's catchment areas, boosting the dams by 336 billion litres of water," Mr Iemma said.

"This is some of the best rain we've had in more than eight years, with strong dam inflows recorded over the past two weeks."


After heavy rains the dams usually continue to fill for a couple of weeks, so I expect it may go up another few percent at least. 4 of the small dams are full, and Warragamba (our major water supply and by far biggest dam) has gone up 9.1% over the week to 43.5% full.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recent rain has filled Sydney's dam levels to a three-year high, with capacity hitting 50 per cent today.

Today's reading was 10.8 percentage points higher than last week's mark of 39.2 per cent.

Not since May 20, 2004, have water storage levels been so high.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, said rain over the past 14 days had added about seven and a half months to the longevity of Sydney's drinking water supply.

"Over the past two weeks up to 320mm of rain has fallen on Sydney's catchment areas, boosting the dams by 336 billion litres of water," Mr Iemma said.

"This is some of the best rain we've had in more than eight years, with strong dam inflows recorded over the past two weeks."


After heavy rains the dams usually continue to fill for a couple of weeks, so I expect it may go up another few percent at least. 4 of the small dams are full, and Warragamba (our major water supply and by far biggest dam) has gone up 9.1% over the week to 43.5% full.