Hervey Bay Gossip

Hervey Bay is facing the possibility of a tropical cyclone hitting the city on Saturday. At 3.11pm today the Weather Bureau’s three day cyclone outlook included this warning:

At the present time there are no significant tropical disturbances in the Coral Sea. A low pressure system is expected to develop over the western Coral Sea within 180nm of 20S 153E during Thursday and then further intensify into Friday as it moves southeast.

The likelihood for Tropical Cyclone development within the next three days is:
Thursday: low
Friday: Moderate
Saturday: High

While the low is expected to head south-east it is expected to turn towards the coast as the cyclone forms. If the cyclone does eventuate the Weather Bureau warns that we should expect big seas along the coastline.

Tropical Cyclone Guba has formed in the Coral Sea off the far north Queensland coast and may cross the coast north of Cairns.

Experts are suggesting that this could be the first of up to a dozen cyclones expected to form this season and there are expectations that this could be the worst season for tropical cyclones since 1998.

That was quite a nasty storm that swept through Hervey Bay just after 5pm yesterday. Watching it sweep over the Bay was rather awe inspiring too.

This is how it looked just before it reached Kawungan.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s weather radar at Mt Kanigan near Gympie was turned back on today so that we can now have a more reliable picture of what the weather is doing here in Hervey Bay. The radar has been down for several months now while it was upgraded and those upgrades seem to have taken longer than anticipated.

However, it’s up just in time for the start of storm season and the forecast for the next three days is for possible thunderstorms.

If you’ve never visited the Mt Kanigan Radar’s web page you will find it at:

http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR083.shtml

 

It’s going to be another great weekend here in Hervey Bay.

Saturday we can expect a maximum of 25 and a minimum of around 13 and the relative humidity will be around 60%. Winds will be from the east and there’s a chance of a late thunderstorm.

Sunday is expected to be mostly cloudy with a top of 23 and a minimum of 14 with stronger winds again from the east.

The UV index is expected to be high on both days.

For further information and forecasts for right around Australia head over to http://www.weatherzone.com.au

After the storm here in Hervey Bay I doubt that there are many of us who will every take the weather for granted again. While the weather on the Sunshine Coast had been bad all day here in Hervey Bay it had stayed relatively calm but that changed in just one or two minutes.

Within moments of the wind springing up power lines and trees began to go down. The Esplanade at Torquay was blocked when a big tree fell across the road near Gringo’s, branches and trees large and small came down right across town, large signs were blown over and live power lines fell on Boat Harbour Drive.

Some areas of town were blacked out for four or five hours and downed trees and branches can still be seen in many parts of town.

While many trees were uprooted – as was to be expected due to the drought – many others were simply broken off some distance up the trunk.

This is all that’s left of the tree outside the Torquay Post Office and even the shelter afforded by the buildings didn’t save this one. Further along The Esplanade around Scarness trees with much thicker trunks fared not better.

While many damaged trees have no been cut up so that they can be removed on Monday there are still plenty of fallen limbs and trees along the bike path and around the Botanical Gardens too.

Some parts of town seemed to be harder hit than others and while there was plenty of leaf litter on the ground around the Pier precinct in Urangan there was little else to show that the storm had hit there.

 

Perhaps the most spectacular damage that we’ve been able to locate was at the new toilet block being built on The Esplanade between Scarness and Torquay. Fortunately the building had still to be commissioned at the time the storm hit.

While there has undoubtedly been plenty of damage around Hervey Bay fortunately it has been relatively minor and there is no doubt that the rain that came with the winds was definitely needed.

 

Here in Hervey Bay the water has remained fairly calm despite the strong winds. The heavy rain hasn’t had much of an impact either although water courses are flowing and flood pans are full.

Further south though things are a little different and it’s not uncommon for storms off Fraser Island to wash up unusual things along the coastline around Rainbow Beach. This time the storm washed up one Indonesian naval vessel and parked it well up the beach.

The Arung Samudera is a 35 metre three-masted sailing vessel and, while canny fishermen were sheltering in the lee of any shelter they could find, the Arung Samudera was trying to head south to Sydney for a date with next month’s Apec conference.

If the history of previous groundings on that stretch of coastline are anything to go by then the future for the Arung Samudera may not be all that bright.

You can find a news photo of the vessel on the beach here.

 

Hervey Bay has now begun to feel the effects of the severe weather that has been looming for several days.

At 3.10pm today the Weather Bureau updated it’s Severe Weather Warning to advised that the low pressure system that is helping to generate this weather is now located east of Fraser Island and continues to move slowly northwards.

Damaging wind gusts to 90 km/h are expected in coastal areas between Redcliffe and Fraser Island and large seas will continue to affect Queensland’s Southeast Coast District and the east coast of Fraser Island.

A Storm Force Wind Warning is in effect from Sandy Cape to Double Island Point with SE winds of 35/45 knots reaching 40/50 knots at times in open waters. Seas will reach 4 to 5 metres on a 4 metre swell.

 

The State Emergency Service advises people in the affected areas to avoid open waters, secure loose outdoor items and to beware of fallen trees and powerlines. If emergency assistance is required the SES can be contacted on 132 500

At 3.10am this morning the Weather Bureau renewed its Severe Weather Warning for the South East Coast District, Fraser Island, the eastern Darling Downs and the Granite Belt District.

For Fraser Island we can expect large seas to develop along the coast today with damaging wind gusts to 90 km/h expected later today.

Storm Force SE winds of 35 to 45 knots in open waters are expected to spread north to Sandy Cape early this morning along with seas rising to 4 to 5 metres with and easterly swell increasing to 4 metres.

At 11.15pm last night the low pressure system that is at the heart of this weather was located east of the Sunshine Coast.

 

At 3.35 this afternoon the Weather Bureau updated its Severe Weather Warning. Large seas and damaging wind gusts to 90 km/h are expected to begin to affect the Sunshine Coast and Fraser Island tonight and continue into tomorrow.

This severe weather is being caused in part by a small low pressure system that is currently located east of North Stradbroke Island.

Residents in the affected areas are reminded to say clear of open water, secure loose outdoor items and beware of fallen trees and powerlines.

The Bureau will update this warning at around 9pm tonight.