VICTORIANS got a taste of the tropics over the weekend, with torrential downfalls dumping up to 200mm over parts of the state, but some key areas missed out.
Alpine areas in the north-east recorded more than 200mm, while in agricultural parts, the lower north-east, the Goulburn Valley and the Central Highlands all received 150mm-plus in parts.
Smeaton, in the Central Highlands, received over 160mm, as did nearby Blampied, while in the Goulburn Valley, there was over 150mm at Waaia, north of Shepparton.
In the north-east, there was around 150mm at Benalla, while all along the King Valley there were falls of 150-200mm.
The two major fronts of storm activity were through Melbourne, on the Saturday, in a storm which went through from the Pentlands, to the west of Melbourne, through to West Gippsland, and around Shepparton on the Sunday. Huge hail stones were recorded in both storms.
The far west of the state, right along the border from Murrayville in the north down through Portland in the south did not receive anywhere near as much rain, with falls of under 10mm recorded, but from a line from Ouyen to Warrnambool and east falls picked up.
East Gippsland was another area to miss out somewhat.
Generally falls from Thursday night to Monday were between 40-60mm, tapering off to the west and far east.
Duty forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Peter Newham said the unseasonal deluge resulted primarily from the very high moisture that has caused the devastating floods in south-western Queensland gradually being blown south.
“Initially, the moisture was associated with a tropical low off the Queensland coast, and it blew over south-west Queensland, delivering the rain there, then it came south over Victoria Thursday night,” Mr Newham said.
He said it was then combined with a trough of low pressure moving slowly eastwards, which was the reason the system took several days to blow over.
“We had that moisture and instability, combined with the wind shear, which led to the conditions that caused the storms.
“The wind can lead thunder storms becoming super cells, and that’s when you can get all sorts of unpredictable behaviour – they don’t follow the winds like a normal storm.”
He said there were many reports of torrential rain in a small period of time.
“We heard of 40-50mm in half an hour,” Mr Newham said.
The system would be more often associated with a summer rainband, rather than autumn, however he said the moisture over the north of the country, slightly later than some times, allowed the Victorian rainband to develop.
The next week will represent a return to the more traditional calm pattern of autumn.
“There’s nothing much happening between now and the end of next week, at the earliest,” Mr Newham said.
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