Stormy Weather

[craigb]

Looks Mick and Cliff are in for a big blow with cyclone Ingrid upgraded to a category 5. :eek:

Time to batten down the hatches boys.

[namtrak]

Looks a fair way from home. Wouldn't want a left turn though!! I think Cyclone Steve would have gone over the top of Mick's house in about 2001? I was working in Mareeba at the time and the floods were pretty amazing, I think our home at Lake Eacham had about 7 metres of rain that year and Mt Bartle Frere had about 12 metres!!

[TassieKiwi]

Move to high ground too - the tide for Port is 3.2m for tomorrow. Maybe she'll stay up north.

[namtrak]

Ouch. That has always been the fear for FNQ, maybe not so much for Port Douglas specifically, but some of the nearby beach communities Cooya Beach etc and even more so for Cairns City and some of the Northern Beaches has been the coinciding of a high tide and surge from a cyclone. From memory I think the predicted flood could get to around Edmonton somewhere? Cairns itself is more or less built on mud flats and the bulk of the inner city is on exceptionally flat land!!

[namtrak]

For those that may be interested here's some links to keep an eye on. We used these when we lived up there, however we always found the ABC radio was right on top of the game, and funnily enough often provided a better picture than just looking out your window!!


Current 250km radar image of Cairns, the cyclone is just to the Northwest of the image at the time of posting

Radar (http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR192.loop.shtml)

Latest warning released by BoM. These are always really handy, and you know your in trouble when you move from being in the Warning area to being in the Watch area.

Warning (http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQP0005.txt)

And lastly the Cyclone tracking map. When the tracking line dips towards the South then things can start to get hairy!!

Tracking Map (http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml)

Cheers

[Cliff Rogers]

G'day.

Here's a moving pic from space....
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDE00902.loop.shtml (http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDE00902.loop.shtml)

Here's a moving pic of the rain from the local radar....
http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR193.loop.shtml (http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR193.loop.shtml)

You can get a bit of an idea of the wind speed from the way the little showers of rain go flying past.

Treat map....
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml (http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml)

It's a very dangerous cyclone but it looks like it is dry.
IE: no flood rain on the Southern side
There may be some rain behind it but I don't think so.

Currently looks like it will go through above Cooktown.
Cairns to Cooktown is about 170Km as the crow flies.
The centre of the cyclone is still about 225Kms northeast of Cooktown.
The destructive winds are about 90Kms out from the centre so...
we are fairly safe at the moment but I wouldn't like to be in Cooktown or
Cape Flattery or Cape Melvile.

We will have strong southerly winds here, we already have but
because they have come across the land, they are hot & dry.
There is cloud but no rain apart from a bit of misty stuff in the hills.
Gina says the nights are cold (less than 20) & windy on the hill.

The 'Hill' or 'the house in the hills' I refer to is, if you look at the rain radar map, about half way between Malanda & Ravenshoe. Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland, our place is about 865m above sea level.

[Daddles]

Have fun boys. Just remember, it could be worse ... you could be living in Canberra.

Richard

[craigb]

Looks like it's a long way from Cairns at the mo.

I wouldn't want to be in Cape Melville though :eek:

[journeyman Mick]

It looks like it's going to cross the coast in a fairly sparsley populated area. Unfortunately for those people living there, with mainly dirt roads and low level creek crossings, that any help, if needed may be difficult to come by. Apparently some communities have been evacuated. The area is experiencing king tides at the moment and some of Cairns' beach suburbs are experiencing flooding from the combination of King tides and wind blown waves.

I wonder how prepared most people are for a cyclone. I dropped into the supermarket on the way home from the dentist (and yes you can have enough clamps! Three in your mouth is too many :( ) and people had been panic buying, torches, batteries and baked beans. I wanted to get some beans for Sunday breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, beans, croissants :) ) but there wasn't a single tin left-all bought by panicky residents. We always keep a stock of food on hand, gas for the barbie and lights, batteries for torches and radios and fuel for the generators and chainsaws, plus we have our own water supply. A lot of people living in Cairns now have never experienced a cyclone and many people I speak to don't seem to take the threat seriously. Since the Asian Tsunami crisis though, perhaps people may rethink this.

Anyway, where ever you are, hope you're safe (and not suffering the after effects of a dentist cramming half a hardware store in your mouth :eek: )

Mick

[craigb]

I was in Darwin for the last cyclone they had there (Max) in 1981.

It was only a cat 3 from memory but still pretty awesome.

I can't imagine what a cat 5 must be like :eek: :eek:

Glad to hear you're well prepared Mick, althought getting in that Dentist appointment might have been a bit extreme :D

[journeyman Mick]

Craig,
didn't plan the dentist appointment with reference to the cyclone, but as you've sat out a cyclone before then you know it may involve a day or three stuck at home, without power or phones, roads cut etc. If there's one time you really don't want a toothache then it's when you're sitting around, cooped up, with nothing much to do except for think about how much pain you're in!

Mick

[craigb]

If there's one time you really don't want a toothache then it's when you're sitting around, cooped up, with nothing much to do except for think about how much pain you're in!

Mick

True enough. I was only joshing. :o

[beejay1]

Wish you all over there good luck with the cyclone,, and no damage to property or self.
beejay1

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

[vsquizz]

Down to Cat 3 now, looks like some rain around Mick, getting a drop?

Cheers

[journeyman Mick]

Not a drop of rain :( (we really could do with some more, it hasn't been a brilliant wet season) Apparently most of the rain is to the north of the system, and the system is a fair way north if us anyway.

Mick

[vsquizz]

The Cairns Radar shows some activity, out to sea, Murphy's Law, anyway glad I wasn't a floggin for Cairns, any word from up north.

Cheers

[journeyman Mick]

Nothing on the news, if you're checking out the BOM site, you know as much as (or more than) most people. Even downgraded to a cat 3 I feel sorry for the people living up there. Building regs tend not to be as strictly enforced, roads will be cut and if required, help will be longer in coming.

Mick