NorthNSW

Yesterday, there were some thunderstorms about the local district, with the town of Forster receiving copious amounts of (mostly) small hail from a storm. Frosty Forster hit by hail storm By Tracey Fairhurst - June 21, 2014. Forster, on the Mid North Coast, was blanketed by ice after a massive hail storm left a trail of destruction at 3pm Saturday afternoon. In some areas, more than 10-15cms of ice covered the streets after hail stones up to the size of golf balls buffeted the area. The roof of the Kmart department store partially collapsed causing internal flooding of the Stockland Shopping Centre. (http://www.portnews.com.au/story/2367296/frosty-forster-hit-by-hail-storm-photos/?cs=257) Photos from around Forster: (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) (Source: NSW Incident Alerts - Facebook) (Source: NSW Incident Alerts - Facebook) (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) The large amount of small hail caused blockages and sections of ceiling collapsed at Forster's major shopping centre: (Source: NSW Incident Alerts - Facebook) You can see why the roof became overwhelmed with that pile of hail from one gutter outlet! (Source: The Great Lakes Advocate - Facebook) Parts of the shopping centre remained closed today. These storms that dump heaps of small hail aren't unheard of in winter along the NSW Coast. You will usually see a town or two somewhere along the NSW coast receiving a covering of small hail similar to this every winter. We had a similar type of storm here in August 2011: (Source: NBN Weather) (Source: NBN Weather) (Source: NBN Weather)

Min Temp Anomaly for May 5th: Max Temp Anomaly for May 5th: That area of min temps in excess of 12 degrees below the May min average is approx centred around Moranbah in the 'Coalfields' region of QLD (to the SW of Mackay and to the NW of Rockhampton).

Yep. If they don't blatently state that it's an old stock/file image, sometimes it is obvious when they've used an old pic, but other times it isn't or not immediately noticable. Here's the story that the photo I removed came from (with that picture being shared by other community pages since then...): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=633452046730371&set=a.517080601700850.1073741831.502089933199917&type=1&stream_ref=10 But I discovered later they had recycled it from 2011: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rfsmedia/5855731603/in/photostream/ Luckily I clued onto the road signage not having an alphanumeric route number (photo from 2013 showing alphanumeric route number for same highway: http://expressway.paulrands.com/gallery/roads/nsw/numbered/alphanumeric/a32/02_katoombatocobar/eastbound/images/201309_06_bathurst_durhamst.jpg). The cold front hit land in South Australia around sunrise on May 2nd, with its effects felt from that point onwards. Temperature Anomaly Maps: Maximum Temp Anomaly on May 2nd: Min Temp Anomaly on May 3rd: Max Temp Anomaly on May 3rd: Min Temp Anomaly for May 4th: Max Temp Anomaly for May 4th: As you can see, parts of inland northern NSW and the adjacent northern NSW ranges have had two consecutive days of max temps between 8 to 10 degrees below the May average. The max/min anomaly temps for today (May 5th) won't be available until tomorrow morning or afternoon. I suspect they will show similar(ish) minimum anomalies to May 4th though the maximum anomalies should have eased.

A collection of snow pics/info from the Central and Northern Tablelands of NSW. Orange (860m) had snow showers on the western Central Tablelands (as far as I'm aware they were non-settling snow showers in the city itself), with accumulations on the high ground just outside of the city on terrain above approx 950m: http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/story/2257029/gallery-oranges-first-snow-of-2014/?cs=103 (29 photos in article's gallery) About the peak of Mt Canobolas, near Orange (album of photos): https://www.facebook.com/amandabarnes20/posts/477239219075615 Further east there were accumulations on the high ground between Bathurst and Lithgow. See: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blizz-snow/14090458231/in/set-72157644404840991 https://www.flickr.com/photos/blizz-snow/13907081060/in/set-72157644404840991/ (Twitter: SousaEllo) (Facebook: Higgins Storm Chasing) Either non-settling / briefly settling snow showers for higher parts closer to the Blue Mountains, depending on where you were: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blizz-snow/13915117267/in/set-72157644404840991/ Guyra (1330m) on the Northern Tablelands had its earliest snow in 20 years. Although less snow fell than expected at Guyra, there were small accumulations mostly around 1cm. Guyra missed out on the heavier precipitation by a matter of just 30kms that would've brought heavier snow. Non-settling / very briefly settling snow showers were reported from other towns to the south on the Northern Tablelands, which are about 300m lower in elevation than Guyra (and therefore while the towns to the south had the more 'bulky' showers, they were sadly just a little too low in elevation to see snow accumulate). Inverell (about 600m) on the far western part of the Northern Tablelands had its coldest day on record this early in the year (66 years of records). Ben Lomond (near Guyra): Llangothlin (near Guyra): (Both photos - Facebook: Northern Rivers Severe Weather Group) Snow on higher ground about the southern parts of the Northern Tablelands around Hanging Rock: http://imgur.com/a/bUNlU (6 photos in album) Reasonable snowfall at the Barrington Tops as shown in this video and photo on the far southern end of the northern NSW ranges (Facebook: EWN Alerts New South Wales) Mt Kaputar, an isolated mountain peak, west of the Northern Tablelands also received an accumulation of snow. Images from the Mt Kaputar webcam (which is at 1475m): A bit of snow still remains late this afternoon: Edit: Apologies, I just removed one photo showing a snowcovered road sign. A short time ago, discovered the Bathurst Fire Brigade Facebook page had recycled an old picture from 2011. They didn't mention this on their page, but I thought it was weird that it showed a '32' route shield, because we have changed to alphanumeric routes in NSW since then (that highway is now the 'A32'), so I did more research and discovered its from 2011.

First wintry cold snap of the year currently moving through the southeast quadrant of the country. Tomorrow, snow is forecast to fall down to 1100m in southern parts of the local region (Mid North Coast), and also down to 1100m on the Northern Tablelands. The town of Guyra (at 1330m ASL) on the Northern Tablelands could possibly have its earliest snow in the year since 1994 (Snow dates toward bottom of page: http://www.weatherarmidale.com/guyra.html). A dusting of snow could possibly fall during Sunday morning above 1100m as well. A dusting of snow is forecast to fall down to 900m tomorrow about western parts of the Central Tablelands. The 'snowline' is expected to be higher further south in the state, with the coldest air to be over the central/northern parts. The Southern Tablelands and Snowy Mountains are expecting snow down to 1300m, and the South West Slopes down to 1200m. NSW BOM have a concise explanation of the weather situation: "A ridge of high pressure over New South Wales is weakening as a strong cold front approaches the western border, with a trough deepening over the western Tasman Sea today. The cold front is expected to reach central parts of the state later today, evolving into a complex low pressure system as it continues eastwards overnight. This system is forecast to bring a significant cold outbreak to the region, accompanied by vigorous winds later on Saturday as the low deepens rapidly offshore. Conditions should ease late on Sunday as the low moves away and the next high pressure ridge extends across from the west."

Here's a map of the northern ranges of NSW showing the elevation. The Barrington Tops are the area of elevated terrain west of Gloucester. The highest areas of the northern ranges include the Barrington Tops, the area around Guyra / Ben Lomond, and also the area of elevated terrain about halfway between Coffs Harbour and Armidale (no placename is shown on this map for that elevated area, but it is the 'Ebor' area). These three areas have spots that reach between 1500-1600m, with large areas of terrain above 1300m. Btw, Stanthorpe is in Queensland, and that area is referred to as the 'Granite Belt' (Texas and Goondiwindi are also in QLD).

A cold front moving through most of the southeast tonight should bring a bit of snow above 1500m in Victoria and above 1700m around the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales during tomorrow. Then, a stronger cold front is expected to bring wintry weather to the southeastern quadrant of the country over May 2nd/3rd. At this stage, snow is expected to fall above 1000m in Tasmania and Victoria, and above 1200m in the Snowy Mountains of NSW. In this evening's forecast update, the Bureau is considering the possibility of sleet/snow about the northern ranges of NSW on May 3rd. There is a mention of sleet/snow in my local district forecast (the Mid North Coast) for the Barrington Tops, an area of elevated highlands in the southwest of the district that rise as high as 1586m: "Saturday 3 May Partly cloudy. Scattered showers. Possible sleet or snow about the Barrington Tops." And also in the neighbouring Northern Tablelands' district forecast (this district covers most of the northern ranges of NSW. The district is also known as the 'New England'): "Saturday 3 May Cloudy. Isolated showers. Possible sleet or snow on higher ground."

Decent storms around the central and northern coasts of NSW today. Some dawn and morning ANZAC Day services were affected (with several ANZAC marches cancelled). They showed Taree's dawn service on the local news tonight with a storm menancingly sitting just outside of town flickering with lightning (not completely sure if video is viewable internationally): http://www.nbnnews.com.au/index.php/2014/04/25/hundreds-gather-for-tarees-dawn-service/ A particularly nasty storm moved through the small town of Bulahdelah in the far south of the local region around 3:30am this morning bringing hailstones up to the size of cricket balls (it's not a typo, 3:30am is correct!). Check out these hailstones: https://www.facebook.com/HigginsStormChasing/posts/611752885587169?stream_ref=10 At Nabiac, about halfway between Bulahdelah and Taree, they received 76mm in an hour from a storm this morning. We had a good, noisy storm here about lunchtime, with moderate to heavy rain and some wind, but no hail. Tracker displaying lightning strikes over a 60 minute period on the radar shortly after this afternoon's storm here (white = newest, blue = oldest):

Thanks Styx for your well wishes. //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png Guessing tipping habits are probably tied to income levels of regions (http://mumble.com.au/fedelect13/wall/censustables/MEDINC.HTM)? Not that my parents have money issues themselves, but the federal electorate that I/we live in (Cowper) is the poorest in the country (out of 150 federal electorates). The neighbouring electorate to the south ( Lyne) is the third poorest, and the electorate to our north (Page) is the fourth poorest. I have just started to look 'virtually' via videos, pictures, articles and Google Streetview, about they places they might be interested in visiting at their stops/visits in Alaska, Vancouver and Victoria (B.C.). Mum's mentioned the Butchart Gardens in Victoria and the Capilano Bridge in Vancouver (I actually wonder if my Dad will walk on the bridge as he's afraid of heights, lol //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.png ). Within a week or two of them getting back I should hopefully be able to share some images of their trip. //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/good.gif

Thanks Paul. I had assumed that would be the case, but I thought I'd just make sure. //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/blush.png Following your recommendation, I did discover a few minutes ago that I hadn't updated my email address, but it's up-to-date now. //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png

My parents will be flying over to Vancouver (direct from Sydney) to board the Norwegian Sun cruise ship for an Alaskan Cruise (including stops at the towns/cities of Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Anchorage, plus a stop at a tourist destination called 'Icy Strait Point', and also scenic cruising about several glaciers) during late July / early August this year. The cruise will go up the British Columbian / Alaskan coast, then back down it again (stopping at most places twice). Then once back in Vancouver and off the ship, they will spend a full day about the city there, and a full day in Victoria (B.C.) the next day. Flying back to Sydney direct from Vancouver the day after. Looking at their climate stats on Wiki, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Anchorage's July/August average max/min temps (around 17-19ºC maxs and 10-11ºC mins) are pretty much equal to being down here in July (there's a chance that some days/nights could be warmer here than where they will be, lol). Victoria and Vancouver July/Aug averages are more like the max/min temps you'd experience here in September / early October. From what I can gather late July / early August seems to be the height of summer along the Alaskan / British Columbian coast (is there a collective term that refers to that stretch of coast, e.g. North Pacific Coast?). They've been reading about tipping today in the US/Canada, as it is a strange concept for Australians! (my parents' previous international travel experience includes Indonesia, N.Z. and the Pacific Islands.). I must say, I didn't quite realise until today that Canada was a nation that does tipping. Australians are apparently renown for being lousy tippers, as I guess it's hard to get past that mentality of "why should I give extra money on top of what I've already paid for" and "you're already getting paid for the job you do". I've never tipped, unless you include several times in a taxi where I've told the driver to "keep the coin" when receiving change (and that's only for my benefit, so I don't have to carry around annoying coins). My parents have never tipped at cafes/restaurants etc. and I've never seen my friends tip (excluding the occasional "keep the coin" in the taxi). Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen anybody tip!

If I logged onto the forum with no problems (IE11 user), I'm assuming that I do not have to take any further action? (and that resetting passwords only applies to those that encounter problems when they attempt to log in?) //d321955.r.worldssl.net/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png

Should say 'wet start to autumn', rather than 'wet start to spring'.

Some pretty decent storms around northern NSW last Sunday. The highest gust recorded was 115km/h at Evans Head. It wouldn't surprise me though if there were isolated locations away from BOM's automatic weather stations that had gusts stronger than that, perhaps approaching 130km/h. We were hit by a solid though brief storm here with quite a bit of lightning during the evening. Pictures in a few newspapers from some of the areas affected by the storms: Port Stephens / Nelson Bay area [Newcastle Herald, 38 photos]: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2154108/trees-down-roofs-up-as-storm-hits-port-stephens-photos-video/?cs=2593#slide=1 (and a couple in this one not in the first link but are mostly repeats though: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2153102/storm-in-port-stephens-like-a-mini-cyclone-photos-video/?cs=2593#slide=1 ) Taree / Manning Valley [Manning River Times, 26 photos]: http://www.manningrivertimes.com.au/story/2154944/manning-valley-storm-photos/?cs=1467#slide=1 Tamworth region [Northern Daily Leader, 27 photos]: http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/2153973/gallery-fierce-storms-leave-trail-of-destruction-on-lazy-sunday/?cs=159#slide=1 Port Macquarie / Hastings [Port Macquarie News, 53 photos]: http://www.portnews.com.au/story/2153411/a-sunday-storm-march-16/?cs=257#slide=1 A stormy wedding backdrop at Forster [Great Lakes Advocate, 1 photo]: http://www.greatlakesadvocate.com.au/story/2160259/wild-backdrop-for-wedding-day/?cs=447

Apparently we're getting wetter here in this region.

A dry summer here with 268.2mm recorded at the house, well below the long-term summer average of 435.9mm. We were saved a bit by some storm activity and decent-enough rain during mid and late February along this section of the coast. However, you only have to go about 60-70kms further north to find places where record low summer rainfall was recorded. Yamba, about 160kms north of here, on the Far North Coast had its driest summer in 137 years of records. A handful of other 100+ year records too at other locations on the Far North Coast. The recent rain has greened things up locally. Making things look more like they should at this time of year (images taken between here and Kempsey): Areas further north of here desperately need some rain though, as they largely missed out on the rain in mid/late February. We still need some more rain too, but not as urgently. The recent rain has increased the river flow too from 20-year lows of around 30ML/d (megalitres per day) back in early February (ignore the data error between Feb 26/27th):

We had a rowdy thunderstorm last night. The storm brought heavy rain and very frequent lightning. Most of the time during the storm there was lightning every couple of seconds, and there was even some brief occasions during the storm when there was lightning flashing every second (barely any gaps of darkness). Here's the lightning overlay on the radar as the tail end of the storm was clearing town and starting to pass out to sea showing cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud lightning (it doesn't show in-cloud/intracloud lightning). South West Rocks is sitting under that 'sea of lightning': Level 3 Water Restrictions started on Feb 11th here in the Macleay Valley. The Macleay River is at its lowest level in 20 years (which was back in the 1994 drought). The last time we had water restrictions was in 2004. Typically, the Macleay River at this time of year has a flow of 200 megalitres per day but this has fallen to as low as 37 megalitres per day just the other week. (http://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/2077667/council-imposes-water-restrictions-across-macleay/) (http://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/2088766/rain-relief-tipped-for-macleays-dry-farms/) (http://www.macleayargus.com.au/story/2073104/restrictions-on-hold-as-macleay-river-flows-at-20-year-lows/) We've had some half-decent rain in the past few days, but we need more. A solid East Coast Low would be helpful and we're about to move into that time of year when the chance of an East Coast Low increases.

Not much happening here lately. It's been a very dry summer so far (by our standards). A glimmer of hope there may be some good rain before the month ends, but nothing set in concrete yet. January 2014 and December 2013 Rainfall Decile Map for NSW:

The yearly rainfall chart here last year. The year could be basically divided right in half. The first six months (Jan-Jun) were predominately wet, and the last six months (Jul-Dec) were generally dry. Despite a dry second-half of the year, it was still a wet year overall though. Raindays (0.2mm or more) were below average, with 122 raindays compared to the yearly average of 137.7 raindays. However, the number of 'wet' days (25mm or more) was above normal, and a factor in recording above average rain for the year: Rainfall over the past 15 years (versus long-term average/median): Overdue for a dry year here. I wonder if 2014 could see a return of drier weather? Given there's been six years in a row of (more-or-less) average or better rainfall, you'd expect that a dry year could happen.

Yer, northward of around Newcastle/Hexham you notice the change to the subtropical climate, particularly north of about Bulahdelah. From Newcastle and southwards along the coast, you're more prone to cold snaps, very hot days, humidity not quite as persistent as the north coast either (especially south of Wollongong). Also, south of about Newcastle, the rain tends to be more uniform with a no distinct dry season (particularly on the south coast). There's less reliance on tropical systems/influences for rainfall down there too. Rainfall a difference too, on average during the year, largely 1300-1800mm on the north coast, generally dropping to 800-1300mm on the central coast, then 600-900mm on the south coast. ~~~~~ Very hot temps across the northern inland, northern slopes/plains, and northern ranges of NSW today (Most of these sites listed below broke their all-time record, however there are varying lengths of records from site to site, with some records more significant than others. For the couple that didn't break a record, it was still quite significant heat). The 'rounded off' (R/O) temps are figures reported from the manual BOM stations for the 6hrs to 3pm at those sites (the final figure for the 24hr period isn't released until the next day). Walgett (133m ASL) - 49.1ºCLightning Ridge (154m ASL) - 49ºC (R/O)Mungindi (160m ASL) - 48ºC (R/O)Narrabri (229m ASL) - 47.8ºCCoonamble (181m ASL) - 47.6ºCMoree (213m ASL) - 47.3ºCBourke (107m ASL) - 47.3ºCBrewarrina (115m ASL) - 47ºC (R/O)Gunnedah Airport (263m ASL) - 46.9ºCTamworth Airport (395m ASL) - 45.1ºCCoonabarabran Airport (645m ASL) - 44.0ºCCoonabarabran (505m ASL) - 44ºC (R/O)Barraba (500m ASL) - 43ºC (R/O)Inverell RS (664m ASL) - 41.1ºCArmidale Airport (1079m ASL) - 37.0ºCGlen Innes Airport (1044m ASL) - 37.0ºCWoolbrook (910m ASL) - 37ºC (R/O)Guyra (1329m ASL) - 34ºC (R/O) ~~~~~ Around the local region today, it was a warm day with high humidity. The humidity was pretty disgusting today, probably one of the most uncomfortable sub-30ºC days I've experienced here (here and elsewhere in the region, the dewpoints largely stayed between 21-25ºC). The Kempsey (Wide Street) site gets 1st prize in the region for yuckiness with a temp/dewpoint combination of 31.8/25.9 at 3pm! Trough with milder air behind it is expected to move through by about breakfast here. Very hot temps expected for the southeast coast of Queensland tomorrow (well 'today' I suppose, as it's past midnight here) ahead of that trough, including 41 for Brisbane City, 43 for Ipswich and 44 for Beaudesert.

Got to 25.5ºC at the house today, thanks to the cloud thinning for a short period around morning tea, but for the most part stayed in-between 22.5-24ºC under overcast skies. Mild, overcast with near calm to light winds would sum up today. No rain locally yet, but a little light rain may fall overnight. Most of today's rain has been centred over central parts of the state, with Dubbo picking up 39mm so far. Evidently stayed overcast all day with no cloud thinning in nearby Coffs Harbour, maxing out at 23.8ºC. The 'coldest' Christmas Day there in 18 years. Today's Christmas Day timelapse at Bonny Hills near Port Macquarie between 6:30am and 8:30pm AEDT (note the times shown on the images are in AEST [standard time] and not AEDT [Daylight saving time]): http://webcams.bsch.au.com/timelapse.html?date=12252013&s1h=6&s1m=30&s1p=am&s2h=8&s2m=30&s2p=pm&cam=bonny_hills_ne Merry Christmas everybody, I hope Santa has been generous and your stomach is filled with Christmas goodness.

I noticed Christmas Day in Hobart has been upgraded to 27ºC, looking at your recent Christmas temp list for Hobart Styx, seems like a warm one was overdue down there. The Bureau now have 24ºC for Christmas Day at nearby Coffs. Potentially the coldest Xmas day here in 18 years (Xmas 1995) at Coffs and here, the max will need to stay under 24.4ºC at Coffs and under 24.1ºC at Smoky. Similar story away from the coastal fringe at nearby Kempsey too. A forecast top of 25ºC for Xmas. Will be the coldest in 18 years if the max temp stays under 25.7ºC.

Looking like a mild(ish) Christmas Day here (I usually call 'warm' above about 26ºC), with possibly a couple of showers about. The Bureau's forecast for Xmas Eve, Xmas Day and Boxing Day for Coffs Harbour (which is usually a good indication of expected temps/conditions here for most of the year): Min/Max Temps and Rain for Christmas here since 2000: 2000: 24.1/31.3 - Nil 2001: 23.0/34.4 - Nil 2002: 18.2/29.1 - 22.6mm 2003: 21.4/27.0 - Nil 2004: 16.0/26.4 - 1.2mm 2005: 21.7/29.4 - Nil 2006: 20.4/26.2 - Nil 2007: 18.5/28.0 - 4.2mm 2008: 18.7/27.6 - Nil 2009: 21.2/26.8 - Nil 2010: N.A./24.1 - 20.0mm 2011: 18.5/28.5 - 0.4mm 2012: 20.8/30.4 - 7.2mm Almost guaranteed to get good Christmas Day temps here, pretty rare to get maxs below about 22ºC on Xmas Day. Just remembered to change my theme to the Christmas setting on the forum.

The Bureau were definitely right in calling that long-lived storm on the afternoon/evening of Dec 14th 'particularly dangerous' with giant hail likely. Check out these stones from it at a property west of Grafton!!: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=607121192658343&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf Impressive stones at Dorrigo (about 70kms NNW) and Comboyne (about 90kms SSW) from severe storms on Dec 14th too: More hailstorms today although almost exclusively on the northern ranges (a murky day on the coast with isolated showers here and there). Not overly large stones in the hailstorms today, but there were some impressive accumulations under the strongest storms. Emmaville, between Glen Innes and Tenterfield, probably getting the storm of the day (81mm there since 9am, 60mm of that coming from the storm). Video from the village of Emmaville: I lol'd at how many times he said "Look at this". Decent accumulations just south of Armidale too: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202654900511529&set=o.139175562844906&type=1&ref=nf And also at Bendemeer (between Armidale and Tamworth): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202414514865753&set=o.139175562844906&type=1&ref=nf Fine conditions expected for about the next week (mild at first, becoming increasingly warm later). It may possibly turn unsettled again around Christmas.

A few severe storms about the Mid North & North Coast region and far southeast Queensland today, with reports of up to tennis ball sized hail. As expected for today's storm setup, the coastal fringe (areas within approx 10kms of the coastline) got quite limited and isolated storm activity (some places just getting a shower or two and others staying completely dry), it just wasn't quite the right setup for the coastal fringe to benefit today. One in particular was a long-lived severe storm, lasting around nine hours, which formed on the ranges southwest of here very late in the morning, moving past here during the early afternoon, and then continued northwards through the rest of the afternoon and into early evening along the remainder of the Mid North & North Coasts, crossing into far southeastern QLD by mid evening where it finally weakened inland of the Gold Coast. The storm was consistently fed by warm, humid NE'ly winds. Thankfully the storm took a path that avoided the major towns (narrowly missing the major towns of Grafton and Casino), and saw it only hit a couple of small towns and a few villages, but largely moved over sparsely populated or forested land. Limited reports from that storm due to its path, but the Bureau mentioned it in the Severe Storm Warning for a number of hours as being 'particularly dangerous' with giant hail (5cm+) likely. As the storm continued its northward movement, passing to the west of here and strengthened: Radar scan of storm on Grafton Radar (non-doppler radar) west of here at the time of the last two photos above, and the significant storm that affected areas near Ipswich bringing hail up to tennis ball sized (Brisbane Radar - doppler): Links to pictures of large hail / storm on Facebook: Storm near Macksville (probably nearer to Bowraville, imo): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=659180587460010&set=a.538517709526299.1073741829.537063843005019&type=1&relevant_count=1 Hail at Bowraville (west of Nambucca Heads) falling about 30 minutes after the final two pics of the storm I posted): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152028879138444&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf The storm near Bowraville: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202725751333821&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf North Dorrigo (near Bellingen, west of Coffs Harbour): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=718491774830739&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf Dorrigo: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202184920041935&set=o.139175562844906&type=1&ref=nf Near Grafton: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=665992440113152&set=a.482423851803346.106579.259476624098071&type=1&relevant_count=1 Near Grafton: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152806041950752&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf Near Casino: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=382292248572951&set=o.345013738895697&type=1&ref=nf Storm that affected parts of Ipswich and areas to the south of there: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=543163472446111&set=a.149759021786560.31736.139175562844906&type=1&relevant_count=1 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202821190400829&set=o.139175562844906&type=1&ref=nf https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202821163840165&set=o.139175562844906&type=1&ref=nf