Steel Tiger
Senior Master
I'd like to introduce you to a great Australian pastime, talking about the weather. All Australians can do it and do frequently as it is vitally important to us. Recently it has become just about the only topic on the news.
A couple of weeks ago it started to seriously rain on the east coast of Australia for the first time in maybe three or four years. Last week we had positively cyclonic conditions which resulted in fifteen metre waves crashing onto the shore from Port Macquarie to Woolongong (about 500km). There have been winds in excess of 12km/h right along the coast. It may be the demise of El Nino and the return of La Nina (hope so).
It was so bad that a massive coal ship has become stranded on Nobby's Beach in Newcastle (this beach is quite famous in surfing circles) by a 17m swell. It's still there days later, and has 700 tonnes of fuel aboard, a potential environmental disaster.
In the last two weeks Sydney has received 470mm (about 19") of rain, the third wettest winter on record, and we're not even half way yet. The rain is wonderful to see, but it isn't falling in the catchment, just in the urban areas where it basically just runs off into the sea.
Where I live, in Canberra, it has been raining for two days now. Fortunately it is falling in our catchment so our dams are filling again.
Its nice to see the rain again. Thought you might be interested
A couple of weeks ago it started to seriously rain on the east coast of Australia for the first time in maybe three or four years. Last week we had positively cyclonic conditions which resulted in fifteen metre waves crashing onto the shore from Port Macquarie to Woolongong (about 500km). There have been winds in excess of 12km/h right along the coast. It may be the demise of El Nino and the return of La Nina (hope so).
It was so bad that a massive coal ship has become stranded on Nobby's Beach in Newcastle (this beach is quite famous in surfing circles) by a 17m swell. It's still there days later, and has 700 tonnes of fuel aboard, a potential environmental disaster.
In the last two weeks Sydney has received 470mm (about 19") of rain, the third wettest winter on record, and we're not even half way yet. The rain is wonderful to see, but it isn't falling in the catchment, just in the urban areas where it basically just runs off into the sea.
Where I live, in Canberra, it has been raining for two days now. Fortunately it is falling in our catchment so our dams are filling again.
Its nice to see the rain again. Thought you might be interested