Summer in the south (and winter in the north)

[philinsydney]

You certainly have had an extraordinary hot, dry spell, Tyrone.

However, naturally I am jealous and want some attention, so I'd like to point out that we have had our driest February since 1978 and the driest summer since 2003.

Also, there was that record-breaking heat wave we had from 30 Jan to 6 Feb, with 8 days in a row above 35c in the outer western suburbs, 7 days in a row above 30c in the city, and 5 nights in a row above 24c in the city.

Still, soon you'll have had 26 days in a row above 30c.

[tropicbreeze]

Here the hot topic is rain:

DARWIN has recorded more rain this month than every other capital city usually records in a year.

More than 1179mm was recorded in Leanyer in February up to 5pm yesterday - more than the average annual rainfall in every other Australian capital city.

Weather bureau senior forecaster Graeme King said Darwin had recorded its wettest February and was on track to record its wettest wet season.

There had already been 2485.2mm recorded at Darwin Airport this Wet, just 14.2mm shy of the all-time record of 2499.4mm.

"If we have an average March and April we'll be pushing three metres," Mr King said.

Tropical Cyclone Carlos produced more rain in three days in Darwin than Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide got in a year. Carlos covered the Darwin suburb of Leanyer with 732.4mm in three days and pumped out an unprecedented 684.8mm at Darwin Airport - a three-day record, according to the weather bureau.

The previous record of 462mm was set by Cyclone Thelma in December 1998 and only 337.8mm were recorded on the 3-day period during Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day, 1974.

Three of Australia's capital cities do not see rainfall of that volume all year. Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide have average annual rainfalls of 648.6, 616.2 and 549.1mm respectively. Climatologist Max Gonzalez said Carlos was an unusual cyclone and that was why it produced more rain than previous Top End cyclones.

"Tracy came from the Tiwi Islands, over the bay and had more speed," he said. "But (Carlos) lingered for two or three days and that's why we had more rain."

He said cyclones usually formed over water but Carlos formed over land from a tropical low. The three-day breakdown for rainfall during Cyclone Carlos was 132.6mm on February 15, 367.6 - the highest rainfall in a 24-hour period on record - on February 16 and 184.6mm on February 17. All recordings were until 9am yesterday.

The Top End was also on track to break its record for the most rainfall for the wet season. The previous wet season record of 2499.4mm was recorded in the 1997/98 wet season - the year Thelma came to town.

The wet season total so far is 2233.4mm which ends on April 30 - or 266mm with 10 weeks to go.

ANNUAL RAIN

Adelaide 549.1mm

Hobart 616.2

Melbourne 648.6

Perth 852.6

Canberra 931.3

Sydney 1082.1

Brisbane 1149.1

Darwin 1664.2

[Tyrone]

Phillip, isn't it strange that everyone around Sydney got above average rainfall, but Sydney had a dry summer.

Here's the story for summer here.

"The Weather Bureau says it will be next weekend before Perth residents get any relief from a record number of hot days and humid nights this summer.

The bureau says high sea surface temperatures and moisture from inland floods in the Gascoyne and Goldfields are reponsible for the high humidity.

The Duty Forecaster Graham Oakley says Perth has recorded 14 nights above 20 degrees which is a record.

"We've also beaten the record number of days above 30 degrees for a summer with 58 days and we're likely to beat the record for the consecutive number of days above 30 degrees later this week, which will be 26 days," he said.

"Interestingly we haven't had any days this month above 40 degrees so while it's been consistently hot, we haven't had any extreme temperatures."

Mr Oakley says most people have noticed that it has been particularly humid as well.

"That's as a result of all the moisture that's inland from the floods in the Gascoyne and the Goldfields," he said.

He says the temperature will drop a little on the weekend.

"It's not much of a relief but by the weekend it looks like the temperatures are going to drop down to about 33 degrees by Saturday and a little bit cooler on Sunday, maybe around about 31, so next weekend looks a little bit cooler but still pretty warm," he said."

Also we had a corker of a thunderstorm go through the area. I got some rain, but 500m away got nothing. My sister 20km south got at least 20 min of very heavy rain, with small hail and flooded roads etc. Over in Ellenbrook, the storm severely damaged houses.

"A severe thunderstorm has left a trail of damage through Perth's eastern suburbs.

In the space of about one hour, the storm swept through suburbs from Ellenbrook to Mundaring and areas around Armadale, Bickley and Gosnells.

The Swanleigh Residential College's executive director Ian Ludlow, says the college experienced major devastation.

"We've lost roofs off buildings, we've had skip bins picked up and blown 100 metres and the whole public road is closed with trees across it at the moment.

Stoneville resident Bruce has told the ABC that the storm was short-lived but severe.

"I could barely see in front of me six feet, the water on the roads is like two feet deep, there's branches and trees down everywhere," he said.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority's spokesman Allen Gale says it was a destructive storm.

"We've had reports of damage, fairly widespread, from Muchea through to Kalamunda at this stage," he said.

"There are some reports of hail but certainly we've heard of fires, we've heard of trees down, power lines down, power poles down."

Mr Gale says people coming home need to be aware of flood damage.

"Move appliances away from the walls, away from where the water is, cover them with plastic bags," he said.

Western Power says around 25,000 customers are without power in the affected areas.

Spokesman Stephen Barton says crews are working to restore power.

"Crews are on standby to restore power as quickly as possible but we remind people of the dangers that can be caused by fallen power lines and just urge customers who see any fault to report any fault 13-13-51, " he said.

There is a thunderstorm warning for people in Kalbarri, Paynes Find, Corrigin, Mandurah, the Perth Metropolitan area, York, Northam and Dalwallinu. "

It's still flashing away over the hills now. 10.20pm and 28.5C at the moment with 18.5C dewpoints.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Some cloud shots of the storm that went through today.

Best regards

Tyrone