Storm Chase 19th February, 2003

I was not expecting anything exciting today. The likelyhood of storms was not that good for Brisbane. The wind shear was quite low and the dewpoint was fairly low. As well as this, the sky was filled with cumulus early in the morning. It had been a fairly average day with the temperature hovering around 24-25 degrees and the humidity fairly low. It wasn't until around 1.30 that the dewpoint and humidity took a sharp rise. The dewpoint had gone from around 16 degrees to 18 degrees in around 20 minutes. I immediatelly took a look at the radar image and went outside to investigate and saw the cell just outside Ipswich and another to my north west.

The storms came in fast from the North west at around 2.00pm. I went outside to be greeted with a very turbullent base that was starting to precipitate. Soon after, audible thunder was heard coming from the cell which was slowly moving south east towards my area. I took a look at Weather monitor and it showed that dewpoints were up at 21.6 degrees which was favourable for severe storm development.

At 2.20,the precipitation was very heavy and registered in the pink area. This cell soon joined up with one moving north west from Ipswich. The lightning, thunder and rainfall increased and not long after 2.20, the first severe storm warning was issued. The storm moved through Brisbane's southern suburbs slowly with heavy rainfall but no hail was reported yet. At 2.58, another storm warning was issued for a storm to the north of cabolture.



TOP PRIORITY
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
Issued by the Bureau of Meteorology, Brisbane
at 2:58pm EST on Wednesday the 19th of February 2003

For the Southeast Coast District

A thunderstorm with large hail, very heavy rainfall, and possible damaging wind
gusts is expected to affect Ipswich and the western Greater Brisbane area
between now and 4pm.

At 2:50pm, the thunderstorm was located in the Ipswich area and was moving
north-northeast at 30 km/h. Hail and very heavy rainfall with some local
flooding is expected with the storm.

A second storm to the north of Caboolture is moving north.

People are advised to secure outside items, move cars under cover and seek
shelter.

The next warning will be issued at 3:30 pm.



The storm over brisbane lasted for a good half an hour before slowly moving north. The storm continued to cross Brisbane and Cabolture bringing hail and very heavy rainfall before finally moving out to sea. More cells followed this storm but were not as bad as the first that moved through. Rainfall within the first 40 minutes saw Archerfield receive 24.8mm.

The final warning for the storm was issued at 3.33pm.


TOP PRIORITY
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
Issued by the Bureau of Meteorology, Brisbane
at 3:33pm EST on Wednesday the 19th of February 2003

For the Southeast Coast District

A thunderstorm with very heavy rainfall, hail, and possible damaging wind gusts
is expected to affect northwestern Brisbane suburbs and the Caboolture area
between now and 4:30pm.

At 3:20pm, the thunderstorm was located in the Samford area and was moving north
at 30 km/h. Very heavy rainfall with some local flooding is expected with the
storm.

People are advised to secure outside items, move cars under cover and seek
shelter.

The next warning will be issued at 4 pm.

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