The title of this posting is not quite accurate. Australia is the driest of the inhabited continents, with only Antarctica drier. And some parts of southeastern Australia, though fortunately not here, are still in the grip of a seven year drought.
Occasionally, though, it can rain hard and two days ago a low pressure cell formed off the coast of southeast Queensland. It turned nasty - into what now looks like a mini cyclone (hurricane to you northerners) - and it is heading our way! Brisbane has just had 200 mm (8 inches) of rain in two days and nearby communities received up to 400mm one-third of their annual rainfall in 24 hours.
Now, that's heavy, even though Brisbane gets an annual 1200 mm. Some of the south coast of England receives750 mm annually, so 400 mm is like getting half your annual rainfall in a day. Armidale is now receiving gale-force winds as the system moves SW, and the eye of the storm, which has no rainfall, is located near Grafton, about 160km away. We're also beginning to get some heavy showers. I'll let you know if our house blows away.
AS
No comments:
Post a Comment