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This was the most amazing lightning show I had ever witnessed! Dubbed "Flangfest 2001" - we were surrounded by CGs sometimes hitting trees and powerpoles around us! |
Today was an experience to be had, we had to get a new tyre in the morning before visiting the library again for internet access to see where to head. We had to move either west of south, or stay where we were. We decided to opt for the westward option and stop near Mithcell - we could access the internet if required again to see what was happening. Although visbility was slightly better than the day before, so it wasn't too bad.
We were a little later this time due to the tyre, but about 50km west of Roma we saw a noticable convergence line sitting over Mitchell - it was very defined! I had never seen such a defined convergence line before actually!
 
CJs and turkeys going up on the convergence line
We had originally thought we could sneak in the luxury of an airconditioned net cafe that cells ice cream, but that was to be short lived - we had to head back towards Roma to stay ahead of the convergence line. Cells eventually started developing - but one cell to our NW put out a massive anvil, but wasn't producing all that much. We decided to head south to some updrafts there going up in clear air, the updrafts were very explosive!
 
TCU forming on the convergence line
 
Up she goes! TCU going up explosively...and up...and up...
...and up...
We watched cells to our west and south, most of the cells were moving E or SE, they were producing frequent CGs at times on the outside of their rainshafts, it was quite good to watch! We headed a little further south and watched a cell to our west slide SE. We sat under anvil rain for a bit - massive drops! Interesting inflow patterns too into the cell, it was trying to do something - but didn't.
Flangest starts! A few CGs from the first storm
Scattered cells were developing into widespread cells, we debated whether to head north again (which had recently cleared), or head closer to the cells to try and get some better CGs (rather than at a distance). We decided to get closer - and that's when the 'fun' started! The number of flangs was phenomenal, we had cells going over us for 1.5hrs - we also had chaser convergence with James Harris and Matt Smith! Who drove by as we were pulled off on the side of the road taking video. The CGs and flangs kept coming, at times hitting the power poles and trees all around us!
An assortment of close CGs from Flangest. Click here for more captures!
Bright glow from a power transformer blowing up just after a CG beside it!
Sometimes flangs would roll into other flangs - and when the rain lightened off a bit thunder was constant from the CGs around us (some of there were more distant, within a few kilometres). Sitting in the car and watching a 6ft high CB aerial wave about in the wind was quite disconcerting when you're having CGs striking within 50m! But fortunately the seemingly inevitable didn't happen! This was the most amazing lightning show I had ever witnessed! I had never seen so many close CGs! It was simply awing, and it didn't really occur to me until after that we really should have left the area. But an MCS had formed over us, and it wasn't in much hurry moving, we slowly moved northwards as fresher cells developed and continued to got more and more CGs! One CG even had a bright blue glow for about two seconds on the ground!!! It was the first I had ever seen personally, presumably a power transformer blowing up/glowing! We headed back into Roma, before heading east behind the main MCS where we watched awesome CCs and crawlers across the back end of the storm - absolutely amazing!!!
Brilliant CC bolt rips across the sky in Roma
We then stopped off in Miles for the night.
Synoptic Overview
This day was looking like it was going to have more potential, and with the good convection on the previous day, then today could only get better! There was a broader and stronger area of instability, but that was mostly from the legacy of moisture left over from the thunderstorm activity on the day before. A broad area of -4 to -6 LIs existed, the forecast was for similar but with pockets of -6 to -8 LI, this may have happened locally - the analysis these charts were collected from have a poorer resolution.
Shear was increasing too, although stronger to the south with a jet well in excess of 100 knots. Over our area it was 60-65 knots, but that is still ample in these situations! Low level shear was very similar to the day before, with 10-15knots at 850, getting up to 30-40 knots at 500mb.
However cloud was building, so that was going to be a problem if it moved over - but it didn't, it stayed further to the south! The cloud essentially followed the jetstream, so this was perhaps a blessing in disguise not to have the best upper level winds over us, although storms did fire in NE NSW and the NW Slopes and Plains.
The trough had become more defined overnight, with a southerly pushing in behind it. The upper levels at 500mb had warmed up marginally, but that was in response to a weak upper trough pushing in behind the trough.
A weak 300mb trough was also present in the area - perhaps allowing storms to get a little higher on this day and become more electrically charged.
The 850 temperatures had cooled a fair amount, and with the additional moisture, the cap was significantly weaker, so storms fired much earlier - but were very persistent, and MCS-like convection exploded over much of the central southern area of Queensland during the day and well into the night, eventually reaching the coast the following morning!
Above - convection firing along the line at 1pm, below - convection exploding by 3pm.
Above - convection still firing along the line at 4pm with large clusters starting to join together, below - widespread convection and clusters joining together.
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