Darwin Chase - 2011

[Willoughby]

Great shots Steven! Have yet to upload my photos and video from most of our chases. I hope you guys (esp Steven) have recovered okay from those mosquito and midge bites. They were pretty bad this time! (Okay, that's an understatement.)

Southeast steer is slowly coming back.

[Skywatcher]

Thanks. I'm still working through my photos and have pruned them down to a couple of thousand... Not sure about the video I shot but the audio recording is disappointing apart from the cicadas down at Vic River.

I was expecting MAF biosecurity to quarantine me when they saw the bites They don't look as bad now and I mostly don't notice them probably due to the much colder conditions we've had here with highs of just 13°C !!!

[tgsnoopy]

Brr, that's the temperature it was in Sydney when I got off the plane on the way home. I was freezing!

My bites flared up a bit (particularly the ones from Friday night BBQ) but are now also settling down.

I have narrowed down to about 900 photo's at this stage.

Bummer the audio recordings didn't work out, there were some great rumbles up there.

[Skywatcher]

I've now uploaded a bunch of photos from the trip to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skywatcher ... 338636613/ There are currently no descriptions which I'll add later...

I still have almost 40 panoramas to process and stitch plus some video and audio.

[jamie]

wow i love the bolt from the blue photo. Just shows how you can be struck by lightning miles away from the actual storm.

[Richard]

Lovely lovely photos Stephen,thanks

[03Stormchaser]

Video clip from ABC

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-13/s ... rs/3949856

Clip about storm chasing the top end!

[Richard]

First time of heard of the Hector storm that form over the Bathurst and Melville Islands,i suppose the lack of roads on Melville would make it hard to chase but would it still be good enough to make that island worth a visit.

[tgsnoopy]

We've mentioned Hector the Convector numerous times, including links to online documents on it. There are also many photographs posted here of it.
When there in Dec 10 I investigated the possibility of hiring a plane to fly around the Tiwi's for a look.
NASA stated "There shouldn't be weather at this height" when researching the Hector Thunderstorm.

[Richard]

We've mentioned Hector the Convector numerous times, including links to online documents on it. There are also many photographs posted here of it.

oops, must say to myself "i shall pay more attention" "i shall pay more attention""i shall pay more attention"...............

[tgsnoopy]

We've mentioned Hector the Convector numerous times, including links to online documents on it. There are also many photographs posted here of it.

oops, must say to myself "i shall pay more attention" "i shall pay more attention""i shall pay more attention"...............

LOL, I want 100 lines!

Ok, a good point to look at Hector comments is here. Sadly the link to the article I posted and it's original source don't work anymore.

[spwill]

A good clip there. I guess Hector is a good storm to study because it pops up in the same spot each afternoon but it sadly dies before sunset so you don't get a light show from it. I think US storms are much more interesting with the rotation, baseball hail and tornadoes.

[tgsnoopy]

I've recreated the Hector document here.

I will delete it in a week or two, or it may disappear sooner if required due to the unknown copyright status.

[03Stormchaser]

Have decided to move to Darwin later this year in Sept for the wet season. Will be looking at hanging around for 6 months so hopefully I get to expierence a cyclone!

[spwill]

Have decided to move to Darwin later this year in Sept for the wet season. Will be looking at hanging around for 6 months so hopefully I get to expierence a cyclone!

There is plenty to like about Darwin, good luck with the move. Most kiwis who move to Oz don't come back.

[NZstorm]

Should be a good move for storms! Thunder every day, I think I could handle that.

[03Stormchaser]

But can you handle the heat? at this stage im only thinking 6 months ahead, but I cld see myself there longer.

[tgsnoopy]

But can you handle the heat?

Funny I was thinking the same thing but wasn't game to say anything. Mind you, building up from the dry it might not be so bad.

[Willoughby]

The heat is fine with me as long as I have aircon on in my room during the wet season. (Any dewpoint below 23C and I turn it off and open the windows with fans). Really don't understand a lot of people that move here permanently and have aircon on 24/7 with duvets on beds blasting it down to 16C. Could only imagine the power bills - ouch. I mean, why would you move to one of the world's most humid and sultry cities if you're going to turn your house into the Antarctic???

Love Darwin but there is a real sense of isolation. A lot like this though!!

Good luck to Steve!

Dry season looks to be arriving PM ANZAC day with dry southeasterlies with a change. Hopefully temps will drop to 22C at night! Very, very refreshing after 25C dewpoints.

[tgsnoopy]

Does it change suddenly (aka hit you like a wall) or build up slowly as you go into the wet?

[Willoughby]

It builds up slowly and you notice a lot less dry days. October is normally the hottest month of the year with temps up to 37/38C... but you would have dewpoints in the negatives with these temperatures (not often). Early December / late November is the worst period for heat indicies of the year as you guys have encountered with temp/dewpoints getting as 'bad' as 33C/26C. Good for storms.

The dry is a nice time of year with more of a social atmosphere / buzz and it's full of tourists with comfortable temperatures and the distinct smell of burnt bush in the air.

[Tornado Tim]

I have been considering moving to Darwin, however this very much depends on good IT jobs being in Darwin.
If I do move, now would be the time as I have nothing tying me down yet....

I am really missing decent storms in NZ recently, the 90's and early 2000's was much better.

[03Stormchaser]

Plenty work in NT from what ive seen looking online. I leave NZ the start of june before ending up in darwin last week of sept.

[spwill]

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8456 ... -continues
The only thing I miss about living in Australia is the weather

[Willoughby]

I have been considering moving to Darwin, however this very much depends on good IT jobs being in Darwin.
If I do move, now would be the time as I have nothing tying me down yet....

I am really missing decent storms in NZ recently, the 90's and early 2000's was much better.

There is a totally bloated public sector up here which needs servicing. CSG is the big IT employer here with the NT Govt contract - mostly support roles I think.