Weather – SE Queensland – Where has all the rain gone?

By Timothy Allsworth

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Tags: Weather. Queensland. Brisbane. Bribie Island. Mackay Flooding.

Its been a while since Bribie has seen any decent worthwhile rain.  Some places in SE Queensland haven’t seen a drop of rain in almost 2 months.  Ipswich has only received 5.6 mm of rain since Christmas day and most of Bribie hasn’t been much better!

Featured Image(above): Australian map indicating severe below average rain.

While there have been on and off showers over the past week coming in off the ocean, these haven’t really been anything worth writing home about.  Most suburbs of Bribie Island haven’t received more than a few millimetres in the last 7 weeks.  Leading a lot of people to start thinking are we going into a drought period again like we saw a few years ago?

While Bribie has been turning into a dustbowl, far north of Queensland, Townsville has seen unprecedented flooding.  Smashing all-time records since they began.  Some places have received over 2 metres(2000mm) of rain.

Its the worst flooding event in Australian recorded history.

Fortunately, because the Townsville area has built-in anti-flood measures, such as dams and so forth, the relative damage to life has been nil, there has been significant property damage.

weather brisbane queensland

Two soldiers help rescue an individual in the Townsville floods.

This was caused by a tropical low and monsoon trough which sat stationary over the region for a week.  Dumping phenomenal amounts of rain on the area.  Some total included over 300 mm in a few hours.  Not even the crocodiles could handle it!

weather brisbane queensland

A crocodile scrambles to safety, catching his breath

The reason we haven’t seen much rain over Southern Queensland in the last month or so has been because a general pattern of High-pressure systems redeveloping in the Tasman Sea over and over again.  High-pressure systems generally bring fine weather and they block the normal flow of low-pressure systems and troughs that bring our storm days and rainy periods as low-pressure systems and high-pressure system reflect each other much like magnets when you face both positives at each other.

As you can see in the image below, there are constant high-pressure systems developing south of Australia and they extend a constant ridge up against the Queensland coast as far north as Rockhampton.

Although we may see on and off showers for the next week, we may see an increase in shower and thunderstorm activity from about Sunday onwards.  There is also the possibility of a cyclone forming in the coral sea, which may or may not impact SE Queensland or the Queensland coast. There will be further updates as this occurs.

We will start to see a more normal weather pattern with rain, showers and thunderstorms return to the South Queensland coast by about mid-February.  So then our grass will be a little greener on the other side of next week 🙂

Check out Higgins Storm Chasing on Facebook for real-time updates on the weather and the latest weather news.

Further reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-pressure_area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-pressure_area

https://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/series2/challenges/weather/page8.html


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A highly successful sales and leadership career working in a number of different and very competitive industries. Engaging with decision makers at all levels in business and government. Three decades employed by corporations, SME businesses in senior roles and almost twelve years operating as a freelance contractor has equipped me well for all aspects of business. Whether leading and mentoring sales teams, or in a direct sales role I enjoy the challenge to meet and exceed expectations. Making a real and tangible difference in either a team environment or as an individual is an important personal goal I have consistently achieved throughout my career. In all of my business and personal dealings over the years there is one issue that stands out above all others - communication. Excellent communication skills creates trust, helps with mutually beneficial outcomes and above all cements long lasting positive relationships. I strive everyday to communicate effectively with the people I encounter.