Cool front set to bring wild rain and thunderstorms
Thunderstorms, heatwaves and raging bushfires dominated January’s weather. Here’s a look at the record we broke and mixed bag that the past month was.
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Dust storms, hail the size of golf balls, searing heat and flash flooding. And not to forget devastating bushfires.
January’s weather produced almost every extreme before finishing a wild few weeks with tropical rain and humidity.
Bushfire - Emergency Warning for Cape Conran. For more info: https://t.co/22KBbbx4E8 #vicfires
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) February 1, 2020
Heat records were smashed and bushfires burned through more than a million hectares.
All the while, Melbourne’s city recorded an incredible 115mm of rainfall — the highest monthly total since 1996.
Weather bureau forecaster Chris Arvier told the Sunday Herald Sun: “It certainly has been a wet January.
“Rainfall has been above average for a lot of southern Victoria and close to average in the west and the north,’’ he said.
“However, not so much in the far east, which is unfortunate because that’s where the fires are — so it has been a mixed bag.”
Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been updated, with the risk of damaging winds and heavy rainfall continuing. A gust of 128km/h was recorded at Mangalore. Keep an eye on the radar here: https://t.co/yFL9rXssIV #VicWeather pic.twitter.com/JAoLemZRcc
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) February 1, 2020
January started with Victoria’s east enduring the brunt of the bushfires.
Temperatures soared above 40C in Wodonga and Corryong on January 4.
Two days later, Melbourne’s temperature was just 16C.
Things only got worse as winds pushed smoke from bushfire-ravaged Victoria across the city for three days.
On January 14, Melbourne’s air quality was assessed as being the worst of any major city in the world.
A day later, storms lashed the state and Melbourne’s temperature dropped 14 degrees in just over an hour.
Late on January 20, Melbourne recorded an incredible 44mm of rain, causing delays on the opening day of the Australian Open.
Victorians later woke to a blanket of red from a huge dust storm that turned the Yarra River an even dirtier shade than usual and turned the city’s swimming pools ochre.
The wild weather continued in the last week of the month.
Temperatures soared above 40C on January 31 and torrential rain smashed the state, causing Elton John’s concert at A Day on the Green to be cancelled mid-set.
Despite a steamy start yesterday, February may prove more predictable.
Melbourne should be partly cloudy today with a comfortable top of 24C.
SIR ELTON JOHN CANCELLED
Meanwhile, in the Yarra Valley, Sir Elton John had to abandon his show at A Day on the Green after torrential rain flooded the stage, damaging musical instruments and monitors.
Sir Elton performed for 95 minutes before he was forced off stage and organisers told fans to “hang on to your tickets to await further information”.
Things also went awry at the Australian Open.
A light that went out at Rod Laver Arena paused play for about 10 minutes in Friday night’s semi-final between Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem.
Up to 40mm of rain could soak the city in storms predicted to hit on Saturday.
The forecast has forced the cancellation of the Inflatable Regatta event on the Yarra after organisers consulted with the Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria.
1500 people were expected to attend the event.
It will instead by held on the Maribyrnong River on February 29.
SUNDAY TO BRING RELIEF
The city isn’t likely to see a night lower than 20C before the cool change late on Sunday.
The highest recorded temperatures in Victoria on Friday were 46.2C in Kyabram in the Goulburn Valley and 46C in Yarrawonga, on the New South Wales border.
In Victoria, more than 10,000 homes and businesses endured Friday’s extreme heat without electricity, and power companies have warned of the potential for more blackouts.
Crews were working to fix transmission lines that tripped on Friday, severing links between South Australia’s power grid and Victoria.
Back-up energy reserves were called on by Australia’s energy market operator on Friday as it faced its highest electricity demand since 2014.
The operator issued a plea to Victorians to cut their energy consumption between 1pm and 8pm yesterday.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the tripped transmission lines meant Victoria was unable to share power with SA.
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HIGH DEMAND FORCES BLACKOUTS
The state’s energy grid on Friday struggled to cope with the high demand caused by high temperatures and damage to several transmission towers in western Victoria.
Thousands of Victorians experienced blackouts.
The Australian Energy Market Operator on Friday night announced that “rotational load shedding”, which involves cutting power to homes, may occur in Victoria and New South Wales if there are further transmission or generation issues.