The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology at 9.20am this morning issued a Severe Weather Warning for people in the Southeast Coast District, Fraser Island, the eastern Darling Downs and the Granite Belt.

For Fraser Island and Hervey Bay we can expect damaging wind gusts to 90km/h developing late today. These will be caused by a low pressure system that has developed to the southeast of Coolangatta and will spread to the north. Already severe wind gusts up to 109km/h have been recoreded at Byron Bay.

The State Emergency Service advised people to stay clear of the water, secure loose outdoor items and to beware of fallen trees and powerlines.

The Courier Mail is currently warning readers to be prepared for a storm with the intensity of a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone.

 

After two months with little or no rain here in Hervey Bay it was nice to hear the first drops on the roof last night and it was even better to wake up this morning and find that it’s still raining. And seeing people walking on the beach with their umbrellas up was wonderful.

While the rain tends to dampen things a bit I’m sure the crew at Aquavue won’t mind the rain either.

Unfortunately the current showers are forecast to clear later in the day but return sometime tomorrow.

While

The weather radar that so many of us here in Hervey Bay use to see what is going to happen with the weather will be switched off on July 10. The Bureau of Meteorology’s Mt Kanigan Radar will be switched off for a period of around six weeks while new radar equipment is installed.

If you can’t live without your daily fix of weather radar during that time then coverage for Hervey Bay will be provided by the 256 km Gladstone Radar. If you live further south towards Gympie you will find some coverage of your area will be provided by the 256 km Brisbane (Mt Stapylton) Radar. That radar provides coverage as far north as Tiaro.

 

 

Despite the threat of a very cold day yesterday it actually turned out to be rather pleasant although it was overcast at times. This photo was shot down at Scarness at around 1pm yesterday.

Today the forecast is for little cloud but somewhat colder temperatures and as I write this at 6.30am it’s a chilly 5 degrees centigrade.

I guess we really shouldn’t complain though – one of our daughters sent us a message yesterday to tell us that it was snowing where she was on the central west tablelands in NSW.

If you thought it was a bit on the cold side yesterday in Hervey Bay then you were right. The official maximum was only 12 degrees and today isn’t going to be much better.

At 4.25 this morning the temperature gauge here on the Gossip was reading a whole 8 degrees and the rain was falling.

We’ve already had some light rain around Hervey Bay today and heavy falls have been recorded further inland but the weather bureau says that more heavy rain is on the way.

A developing system is expected to bring heavy rain to the Wide Bay and inland areas on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Parts of Tiaro Shire were drought declared today and that now means that 62.29% of the land area of Queensland are now officially drought declared.

The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that the outlook for the period June to August suggests that we could experience a warmer winter than usual this year.

If you were out and about at 5am in Hervey Bay this morning you might have thought the Bureau had its wires crossed again.

You can read the Bureau’s outlook here

If you woke up yesterday and thought you could smell smoke then you were absolutely right. Several fires had been burning out to the north west and the smoke had been trapped over Hervey Bay for most of the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately an off-shore breeze blew most of it away although at 7.30 there was still quite a pall of smoke hanging over Point Vernon.

Then this morning parts of Hervey Bay were shrouded in mist although that dissapated quite quickly too.

 

If you thought that the last few days here in Hervey Bay have been hot and were hoping for some cooller days ahead then the Weather Bureau has some bad news for you.

The outlook is for above normal maximum temperatures across most of Queensland for the period March through to May. And it’s something we can look forward to in the years ahead too.

Edited to remove broken links)