Hail, storms, fire and tornado hit Australia

22 Sep 2009, 6:19 pm   -   Source: AAP/SBS
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Dust storms across Canberra and parts of New South Wales have drastically reduced visibility (AAP)

Dust storms across Canberra and parts of New South Wales have drastically reduced visibility (AAP)

Hail, thunderstorms, dust storms, floods, bushfires and a tornado have all hit Australia over the past 24 hours - and there's more wild weather on the way. 

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Hail, thunderstorms, dust storms, floods, bushfires and a tornado have all hit Australia over the past 24 hours - and there's more wild weather on the way. 

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued severe weather warnings across the country with reports hail is smashing parts of NSW, dust storms are blanketing Canberra and Broken Hill, and damaging winds are lashing three other states.

It follows heavy storms in Adelaide on Monday night which flooded streets, knocked over trees and recorded winds of up to 150km/h.

The bureau said a tornado was recorded by a severe storm monitor in the mid-north of South Australia, with the strong winds experienced over that state now extending across western NSW and into the ACT, bringing with it thick dust.

"We have reports of visibility down to about 200m in some parts, which is like a thick fog," senior bureau forecaster Deryn Griffiths said.

"It is occurring right across NSW and into the ocean."

Damaging winds, large hailstones

A severe weather warning for thunderstorms, damaging winds and large hailstones has been issued for southern and western NSW and the ACT.

A line of thunderstorms was hovering over Goulburn, Parkes, Young and Bourke on Tuesday afternoon.

"They're moving quite fast so we're getting severe wind gusts in the southern part and we've had received reports of 2 to 3cm hailstones in Goulburn," Ms Griffiths said.

She said no thunderstorm warning had been issued for Sydney but the situation was being monitored, with gusty winds expected.

Meanwhile, firefighters in Queensland spent the day battling a dozen blazes amid dry and hot conditions and high winds.

They were bracing for another busy day on Wednesday, with the windy weather expected to continue.

'Extreme' fire danger warning

"Grassland and forest fire dangers are forecast to reach extreme on Wednesday," the bureau said.

Severe weather warnings of flash flooding and damaging winds has been issued for parts of Victoria, while the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland have also been issued with warnings of damaging wind gusts.

Emergency services across the country are advising residents to stay away from fallen power lines, stay indoors away from windows and keep children inside.

Meanwhile, a total fire ban has been declared for the NSW north coast on Wednesday.

Drought-hit Australia has just endured one of the hottest winters on record, with authorities fearing worst-ever fire conditions in the coming southern hemisphere summer.

Entire towns and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed in a firestorm in Victoria state in February, killing 173 people in Australia's worst natural disaster of modern times.

 

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Your Comments

Mrs

Cheryl - from Qld, 1 year

If you listen to the right scientist you would know that the world is going through a cycle. A cycle that is continuous and what we now see is what happened many years ago.It's the erupting volcanoes emitting their gases and polluting the ozone layer causes more damage than the population of the world ever could. That is why no matter what we try to do to make change to the green house effect it will never help..unless someone out there knows how to stop the volcanoes around the world erupting

dr

cnw - from thee reggionnn, 2 years ago

Or how about that God is just coming back more swiftly than we can imagion?

mr

brian dillon - from newcastle, 3 years ago

I suppose a lot of people are going to deny this is happening, or at least deny any links to climate change, it's actually tragically comical how far we we will go in denying what is happening before our eyes. People take on conspiracy theories before they will listen to the evidence of our chief scientists rather than imagine changing their lifestyles to suit the new dilemmas we face.

So what!!!!!!!!

JJSTEALL - from Adelaide, 3 years ago

That's right! Fear monger! Let's blame all present weather conditions on anthropogenic Co2 emissions (global warming).Normality is the diagnosis.Sorry! What about the Australian maritime disaster of all time spilling millions of litres a day of crude oil and gas into the local Australian environment? Must have slipped your mind! Conveniently redirecting disinformation is the name of the game, Checkmate! Let it be said and let it be written.

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