Weather for the weekend of 2 - 3 June 2012

Updated 1/6/2012

A large high centred in Bass Straits extends across the continent, moving east. A trough extends south from the Gulf. This is expected to remain largely stationary until Sunday, when it will be pushed south east across the coast by a high ridging up behind it.

About 15mm of rain has fallen across the eastern Downs in the last seven days. NOAA is now predicting nearly 20mm of rain over the next three days, with the bulk of this falling from Saturday night to Sunday night.

Saturday 2 June 2012
Dalby           21C
Stability       B
Convection   Convection to 5,500ft with cloud base at 4,000ft
Wind            ENE @ 10kts

 

There will be considerable cloud in layers to well over 20,000ft.


Sunday 3 June 2012
Dalby           21C
Stability       C
Convection   Convection to 5,000ft with cloud base at 3,500ft
Wind            NE @ 10kts

There will be extensive low level cloud above the convection layer.

Weather for the weekend of 26 - 27 May 2012

A high centred over SW WA will move to the eastern Bight by Sunday evening. A trough in western Queensland will move slowly east through Thursday and Friday and is expected to cross the coast late on Friday. This trough is expected to bring about 20mm of rain to the Downs as is passes, leaving a dry, cool, southerly flow for the weekend.

There has been no rain on eastern Downs in the last seven days.

Saturday 26 May 2012
Dalby            17C
Stability        A
Convection    Blue to 4,500 ft
Wind             S @ 10 kts increasing to 20kts at 4,500ft

Sunday 27 May 2012
Dalby            18C
Stability        B
Convection    Blue to 5,500 ft
Wind             S @ 5 kt

Weather for the weekend of 19 - 20 May 2012

Updated 18/5/12
The continent's weather is dominated by a practically stationary, strong high in the Bight. A trough is developing in western Queensland, but this too is not expected to move until well after the weekend. The weekend will thus see a continuation of the cold southerly/easterly flow of the past few days.

The has been no rain on the Downs in the last seven days and none is forecast until the middle of next week.

Saturday 19 May 2012
Dalby            23C
Stability        C
Convection    Blue convection to 8,000ft with some wispy cloud possible
Wind             Calm

Sunday 20 May 2012
Dalby            23C
Stability        C
Convection    Dry convection to 8,500ft with thin cloud
Wind             SE @ 5 kts

Weather for the weekend of 12 - 13 May 2012

Updated 11/5/2012

A weak trough in western Queensland separates a high off NSW from a high in the Bight. The trough is expected to remain weak and cross the SE Queensland coast on Saturday night. No rain is expected from the trough.

In the last seven days, the eastern Downs has seen less than 10mm rain, except for a narrow band east and north of Chinchilla, where 20+mm has fallen.

Saturday 12 May 2012
Dalby           25C
Stability       B
Convection   Dry convection to 8,000ft with cloud base 7,500ft
Wind            SW @ 5kts

There will be some high cloud about.

Sunday 13 May 2012
Dalby           21C
Stability       A
Convection   Blue to 6,500ft
Wind            SW @ 10kts

Weather for the long weekend of 5 - 7 May 2012

Updated 4/5/2012

A high in the Bight is moving slowly east and is expected to be in southern NSW by late Monday. A trough off the coast will develop a low off the NSW coast during Saturday. However, this will not affect SE Queensland weather.

About 20mm of rain fell on the eastern Downs in the last seven days, with some falls nearer 30mm further west (Miles 27mm). Minimal rain fell in the eastern Downs with the passing of the recent trough, but Miles received 9mm.

Saturday 5 May 2012
Dalby          23C
Stability      B
Convection  Blue convection to 6,000ft
Wind           SW @ 5 kts

Sunday 6 May 2012

Dalby          22C
Stability      C
Convection  Blue convection to 5,500ft
Wind           SW @ 5 kts

 There could be some thin, high cloud about

Monday 7 May 2012

Dalby          22C
Stability      C
Convection  Blue convection to 5,000 ft
Wind           SW @ 5 kts

There may be some high cloud about.

Weather for the weekend of 28 - 29 April 2012

Updated 27/4/2012

A high in the Bight is moving only slowly and is expected to reach Tasmania by Sunday evening. A trough in western Queensland will slowly move east, but remain in central Queensland by Sunday evening. A mid level low has developed which is moving SE across Queensland, bring significant rainfall to the Downs during Friday. NOAA is forecasting over 25mm of rain during the next 24 hours and this is already visible on the radar in the Carnarvon area, with preceding showers stretching to the coast.

NOAA is suggesting that rain could fall for most of today and into early Saturday.

Saturday 28 April 2012
Dalby             22C
Stability         C
Convection     Dry convection to 5,000ft with cloud base 4,000ft
Wind              SE @ 10kts

Sunday 29 April 2012
Dalby             25C
Stability         B
Convection     Dry convection to 8,000ft with cloud base 7,000ft
Wind              S @ 5kts

Aleutian Island lenticulars from space

All glider pilots are interested in lenticular clouds, which form in the right conditions in the lee of mountains (and quite frequently at the boundary of air masses such as the troughs that pass through south east Queensland). We are used to viewing these from below - but satellite photos can capture these from above.

I somehow doubt that anyone has ever flown a glider in the Aleutian Islands (population about 8,200), but their volcanic peaks rise to 6,200ft and are thus eminently capable of causing wave in the right conditions. On 17 April 2012 the NASA Terra satellite captured the image below (using its MODIS instrument) - and you can see the lenticulars (along with the downstream trailing vortices) clearly.

The photo and a more detailed explanation of the fluid dynamics is at the NASA MODIS website.