Hervey Bay Gossip

Most people who live in Hervey Bay tend to think that it’s one of the most beautiful places to live in Queensland. To hear us talk you would think that the sun shone 365 days of the year and it hardly ever rains … or gets cold.

So perhaps I should whisper this … at 4pm today it was just 17C and the rain was coming down. The above photo was taken down at Cafe Balaena in Urangan and we’re looking through their plastic curtains at a rather bleak view of the Boat Harbour.

Now I’m off to dig in the wardrobe for some warm clothes.

Although it certainly got very dry here in Hervey Bay we were never drought declared however parts of Tiaro area certainly were but things are looking up.

Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries Tim Mulherin said several shires now in the new Barcaldine, Fraser Coast and North Burnett Regional councils were now no longer drought declared.

Mr Mulherin said today that the drought declarations had been lifted on the recommendation of local drought committees in Longreach and Maryborough.

The revocations took affect from April 30, 2008 in the former Barcaldine and Aramac shires, and on April 13, 2008 in Biggenden Shire and a part of Tiaro Shire.

At 12.55pm today the Weather Bureau issued for a severe weather warning for parts of the Queensland coast including Fraser Island and Hervey Bay.

Synoptic situation: A strong ridge lies along the Queensland coast south of an active monsoon trough with a low centre 100 km northeast of Townsville. Reorganisation of the monsoon trough should result in a deepening low being located 550 km east of Proserpine by 4am Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding is likely in the northern Central Coast and Whitsundays district. A band of heavy rain currently lies through the Whitsundays and inland to near Proserpine and Laguna Quays. Heavy rainfall in this area is expected to persist through the afternoon.

Damaging wind gusts to 90 km/h are possible about the exposed coast and islands in the Central Coast and Whitsundays and extending down to Fraser Island and northern parts of Hervey Bay by Tuesday morning.

Dangerous wave conditions are expected about exposed areas of the Central Coast and offshore islands and should extend down to the east Coast of Fraser Island by Tuesday morning and down to Point Danger late Tuesday. High tides over the next few days will result in waves running up over levels exceeding the highest tides of the year in areas exposed to the open ocean causing beach erosion.

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

- secure loose outdoor items.
- take shelter, indoors if possible, and never under trees.
- beware of fallen trees and powerlines.
- avoid driving, walking or riding through flood waters.
- keep away from the waters edge in beaches exposed to the large waves.

At 4.25am today the Weather Bureau issued a severe weather warning for the Wide Bay and Burnett as well as the South east Coast.

Synoptic situation:  At 4am the monsoon trough lay across northern Queensland with a 997 hPa low located around 100km west of Mackay. The low is moving southeast and is expected to be located on the Sunshine Coast late tonight.

The low is expected to remain an intense system as it moves rapidly towards the southeast. Very heavy rainfall is likely, both along the coast east of the low and extending inland to its south.

Locally damaging wind gusts up to 90 km/h are also expected east of the low reaching 110 km/h in coastal areas exposed to the north.  Southeasterly wind gusts to 90 km/h are expected to develop over the Southeast Coast district tonight. Westerly wind gusts are expected to ease north of Townsville during the morning. 
 
The State Emergency Service advises that people in the affected area should:

seek shelter, indoors where possible, and never under trees.

- secure outdoor items.

- beware of fallen trees and powerlines.

- avoid driving, walking or riding through flood waters

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.

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.

… Hervey Bay is the place to be.

Currently the Queensland coast - from Rockhampton in the north all the way down to the Gold Coast is experiencing some very rough weather. Beaches are closed as big waves pound the coastline and, when they combine with high tides around lunch time, the Weather Bureau expects that in some parts of the Gold Coast and Fraser Island the waves will extend beyond the beach zone.

But here in Hervey Bay, even though we’ve got wind gusts up to 57 km/h at the moment, the water is quite calm as you can see from this image taken from the Aquavue Cafe Watersports webcam just a few minutes ago.

With a current temperature of 24.3 C and that calm water Hervey Bay is definitely the place to be in the rough weather that the rest of the coast is experiencing today.