Northern Beaches residents hit by wild weather, rain, wind and hail
A night of wild weather brought hail, heavy rain, and gusts of wind that snapped trees and brought down the canopy at a popular boat club over the weekend. And forecasters warn it might not be the last of it.
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A night of wild weather brought hail, heavy rain, and gusts of wind that snapped trees and brought down the canopy at a popular boat club over the weekend.
Localised storms on Saturday night ripped through the northern beaches, but spared parts of Cairns further to the south.
With the highest wind gust recorded in Cairns City on Saturday only 28 km/h, forecasters described the event as abnormal due to the storms affecting only a small pockets of areas.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Steven Hadley said the storm was “pretty isolated” and may not have been detected by the main weather station instruments.
“We can see Cairns only saw 5mm of rain at the airport, while Miranda copped 22mm, and Myola in Kuranda just got 1mm,” he said.
“The heaviest rainfall of about 28mm were reported near Tinaroo.”
While weather stations didn’t capture much on the northern beaches, residents confirmed hail at Trinity and Kewarra beaches.
Some took to social media sharing their shock at the storm’s intensity, with images of small hailstones, damaged trees and the heavy rainfall.
In response Mr Hadley said hail was pretty uncommon in the tropics, although it can happen with strong and organised thunderstorms.
“The issue with hail in the tropics is you have to get above four or five kilometres up before you even get to the freezing level. So the storm clouds have to be very tall and last a while,” he said.
While small hail can happen in strong storms, Mr Hadley said, big hail, like the record 16-centimeter stones in Yarrabah back in 2021, was very unusual.
“This kind of wild weather is a sign of the seasonal shift between the dry and wet seasons, which typically brings more regular thunderstorms,” he said.
Residents in Yorkeys Knob also reported very strong wind and rain hitting the area on Saturday night, which caused a canopy at the boat club to collapse.
The incident, which occurred around 9-10pm, on Saturday night led to the immediate closure of the club and evacuation of patrons.
A spokesman for Yorkeys Knob Boating Club said the canopy, which resembled a circus tent, was severely damaged, but no other significant damage was identified.
“Fortunately, no one was injured, though there were customers under the structure at the time,” he said.
Despite the collapse, the club is operating as usual, though a section of the deck is closed off.
“The club is waiting for insurance assessors to assess the damage, but business continues with a cruise ship visiting, bringing nearly 3000 passengers,” the spokesman said.
Looking ahead, forecasters said there’s still a chance of more storms this week, especially from midweek onward.
“The region is also under a heat warning, but the rain expected later in the week should help cool things down a bit,” he said.
It comes after more than 7000 lightning strikes hit Cairns in the early hours of Thursday morning, December 12, with some suburbs receiving 100mm of rain in just one hour.
More than 3000 homes within the Trinity Park and Holloways Beach areas were without power early Thursday morning.
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Originally published as Northern Beaches residents hit by wild weather, rain, wind and hail
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