Hervey Bay Gossip

If you find the weather that we’ve been having here in Hervey Bay in the last week or so just a little confusing all you have to do is accept the fact that the weather in Australia is always little odd.

On Friday when the maximum temperature here in Hervey Bay only reached a very cool 24.6C way down in Hobart it was forecast to reach 31C and while we had rain, rain and more rain both Victoria and Tasmania were facing the very real threat of more serious bushfires.

And if you’re looking for bright sunshine in the coming week then the current forecast might disappoint you. The Bureau is certainly forecasting hot days with temperatures up to 30C but they’re also forecasting showers right through until Thursday.

The end seems near for the Centro group of companies now that trading in Centro shares has been halted on the stock exchange. You can read that story here

What that will mean for Centro Hervey Bay and the extensions that were started before Christmas is anyone’s guess but the site was open last week although there didn’t seem to be much work being done there (that could have been due to the wet weather).

 Perhaps we’ll see more work on site if the weather clears up during this coming week.

Well the low that hung around to the north of Fraser Island has finally gone and our regular summer weather has returned to Hervey Bay but the fallout from the storm looks as though it will linger for quite some time.

The tourist operators on Fraser Island are very unhappy that tourists on the island were forced to leave at the height of the storm and of course once they left few bothered to return once the conditions improved. The operators’ position seems to be that the evacuation of the tourists was something that was completely unnecessary for there were sheltered campsites on the island that the campers could have moved to.

Whether the decision to evacuate was a wise one to make in the circumstances is probably something that will never be resolved. It’s always far better to err on the side of caution than to make a decision that could rely on luck more than anything else.

Here in Hervey Bay there are tourist operators who are more than a little unhappy that nothing was done to promote Hervey Bay as an alternative for holidaymakers who wanted to have a good time despite the storm. Certainly there were big seas and wild weather on the east coast of Fraser Island but here in Hervey Bay the water remained relatively calm but the message that Hervey Bay was the place to come to … and that there were vacancies around town … was never made known.

Newspapers, radio and television were all too busy having a field day with tales of wild weather mass evacuations and no one was bothering to promote the calm conditions in Hervey Bay. Some local tourist operators are beginning to wonder why the Fraser Coast South Burnett Regional Tourism Board didn’t step up to the mark and make it known that Hervey Bay was still a great place to come to even though a storm was raging up and down the coast.

The severe weather warning issued by the Weather Bureau on 3 January for Hervey Bay has now been cancelled but is still in effect for coastal areas south of Cape Moreton.

A coastal wind warning for waters from Sandy Cape (Fraser Island) to Point Danger was issued by the Bureau at 4.10am this morning. For waters from Sandy Cape to Double Island Point the Bureau is forecasting south to south-easterly winds blowing at 25 to 30 knots with seas to 3 metres in open waters.

Winds below 30 knots are expected within Hervey Bay.

The forecast for Hervey Bay is for showers throughout the day with a minimum of 21C and a maximum of 26C.

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING for Damaging Winds, Flash Flooding and Dangerous Surf causing coastal inundation.

For people on Fraser Island through to the Sunshine and Gold Coasts.
Issued at 11:10 am on Thursday 3 January 2008

Synoptic Situation: A developing low pressure system about 650 km east of Noosa
will move west during the next 24 hours and be located about 300km east of Noosa
by 10am Friday. 

Very large waves are expected to develop on top of the current swells causing
dangerous conditions today and into Friday. Waves heights are expected to
gradually decrease Friday afternoon. Winds are also expected to increase along coastal areas during today with gusts likely reach 90 km/h in more exposed parts which will then ease during Friday. 

Increasing rainfall overnight Thursday and into early Friday could lead to flash flooding about the Southeast Coast District in smaller streams about the coast and west towards the Dividing Range.

The State Emergency Service advises that people in the affected area should:

- if near the coastline, stay well away from the water’s edge. 

- People are advised to secure outside items, move cars under cover and seek
shelter.

Contact the SES on 132 500 for emergency assistance if required.

The weather outlook for Hervey Bay continues to include a lot of rain. In fact the latest forecasts suggest that we could have rain right through until next Tuesday.

The low pressure system that threatened to turn into a tropical cyclone late last week continues to move northward and a another low is moving up the coast. There is also the possibility of a tropical low forming in the Gulf, crossing the Cape and developing into a tropical cyclone before moving south by Saturday.

At 5am this morning Hervey Bay had received 34mm of rain since 9am yesterday. Rainfall of around 20-40mm is expected today and that will be accompanied by winds that are expected to reach 50 km/h by this afternoon.