Brisbane • Wed 3 Dec 2008
Click the thumbnails for a larger view.
Images are available to purchase.
Thanks
first and foremost to my good
friend Drewy for the magnificent
view this evening, which produced
an image
that made into the Courier Mail
On Mon 8 Dec!
For a day
where the Bureau did not forecast
storms, nature turned on quite a
light show.
The
conditions were always
reasonable, but I think a lack of
moisture was the main concern.
Eventually, during the day the
forecast went from fine, to a
possible shower or thunderstorm
to a severe thunderstorm warning.
What we ended up with was an
awesome shelf cloud and brilliant
lightning display!
With storms
forming along a line, I couldn't
decide whether to go north or
south. Here's the last radar I
saw just before I left:
First stop
was a local lookout in Springwood
for a view of the upper two cells
above. The larger northern cell
is on the right, and the middle
cell on the left with the sun
poking in between:
It's
difficult to make out on the
photo above but it looked to me
like both cells were developing
nice gustfronts.
My new best
friend Drew was staying on the
22nd floor of the Park Regis
Hotel in the city. I'd already
written off the northern cell,
assuming I was too late, but
decided to go for the bolt into
town anyway. A beautiful
gustfront became visible as I
approached the city with
lightning constantly flickering
around it.
 
The traffic
inbound was great until just
outside the city where it became
a nightmare, even at 6:30pm, and
while I missed a proper view of
the gustfront (which was now on
top of me), I just made it to
Drewy's hotel room for the
approaching lightning. The
display easily made the trip
worthwhile.
For the
time being, most of the lightning
activity seemed to be focused
just W of the city.
   
The
following image is a 100% crop of
the previous shot:
 
Suncorp
Stadium is on the right below,
where violinist Andre Rieu
delayed the start of his concert
because of the storms:
The booms
of thunder from these bolts made
our building shake. I wondered
out loud what it would sound like
if our hotel got hit. I didn't
have to wonder long. The sound
was like a sizzling or crackling
noise and was like nothing I'd
ever heard before... even having
been close to a few bolts on
previous occasions. The thunder
and lightning occured at the same
time.
I can't be
100% sure, but I suspect the next
image is where lightning struck
our building. A small straying
branch is visible at the top and
the bright light from the bolt is
reflected on the William Jolly
Bridge and nearby buildings:
Here's
another 100% crop of the above
image which shows a closer view
of the bolt and raindrops lit up
by the lightning:
As the
storm progressed north-eastwards
over us, lightning activity
became more visible down the
Brisbane river to our south:
Hitting a
crane at Southbank:
And a
close-up of the crane:
Lightning
lands near the Gabba where a
Qld-SA one-day match had to be
abandoned:
This one made it into
the Courier Mail on the following
monday.
And another
crop for good measure:
Eventually
it continued on it's merry way
over the sea, but another smaller
cell was forming south around
Beaudesert:
It didn't
last long however and soon died.
During the
Brisbane storm, 30,000 homes and
business lost power, power lines
were brought down in a dozen
different locations, and a
10-metre section of a pine tree
pierced the roof and floor of a
Taringa home after the tree was
struck by lightning.
Want me to email you when I add a new storm chase report? Click here.
Home
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)