Wild Storm Now! IT'S BACK AGAIN - WORSE!!

[ballaratdragons]

We are currently in the grip of a massive wind storm tearing through our little town on it's way to Melbourne and Geelong!

Trees are down all over the place, my roof is lifting and worst of all, my cubbyhouse control room has been blown completely across the yard . . . with my computer in it!!!!

The cubby weighs a ton but this wind just threw it like a piece of paper.

Look out Melbourne and Geelong, it's heading your way.

I am not going out in it to get my pooter out of the cubby. Too dangerous out there at the moment.

Here is my cubby control room!!!! Complete with pooter inside (what's left of it)

[Astroman]

I hope its going to be okay there Ken, we had a bit of wind here, raised dust but nothing to toss a cubby. This is the third system that failed for us here in Adelaide but actually redeveloped over Vic.

Good luck and hope not too much damage was done.

[ballaratdragons]

Now we have a HUGE thunderstorm starting, to add to the wind.

Scarey stuff. The wind in shaking the whole house. Kids are sleeping in the lougeroom coz things are hitting their bedroom windows!!! (branches & stuff)

Gotta get offline now in case of lightning strike. It's a biggy!

[Astroman]

Stay indoors Ken, wait till its over then go look, but be careful all the same....

Good Luck.

[danielsun]

WOW!!! Ken i can hear the rumbles in the distance here in melb and its very still but nothing else at this stage. maybe its the calm before the storm!!!

hope you get through it o.k!!!

[h0ughy]

I hope everything is alright KEN, I hope that your puter is not broken. Wow, the observatory!!!!

[G00GS]

Thinking of you mate, stay safe...

[janoskiss]

Yikes! That control room looks out of control. Still hasn't hit Melbourne.

[RB]

Will be thinking of you tonight Ken, hope all will be OK for you and the family. :prey: :prey: :prey:

[gaa_ian]

Thinking of you too Ken ... You seem to get hammered down there from time to time.
I hope all is OK once it has passed, and the damage not to great :prey: :prey: :prey:

[TidaLpHasE]

:windy: Batten down the hatches Ken, it's just hit here about 15 minutes ago, fair bit of wind, no rain or thunder though.

Best bet is to stay inside and wait it out, i wouldn't go walking around out in it.

Hope all's well after it passes.

[beren]

Hope everything will be alright ken ....stay safe mate

[Dennis]

Hi Ken

Stay safe and let us know when its over, so we know that you and yours are well.

Cheers

Dennis

[TidaLpHasE]

Waiting to see you post again Ken, let us know everythings o.k.

We got the thunder and lightning here early this morning, no where near the ferocity that you had up that way though.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks all, It was a wild night but all is OK!

Some of my roof lifted, the cubby went for a trip, tree branches all over the place but no major damage.

I went for a drive into Ballarat today to pick up my daughter & Grandson for Christmas and on the way in & back I saw trees down almost everywhere!!!

As I passed the Pine Forest I realised how strong the wind was last night. Hunderds of huge Pines are snapped clean in half and hundereds more are on a 45 degree angle.

It is still very windy here at the moment but nothing like last night. I can't get up and fix the roof at the moment as the wind is still a bit too strong for that. I can here the iron sheets flapping around up there while I am sitting here.

Hopefully the wind will stop so I can do some repairs! I haven't got the pooter out of the cubby yet to test it as it too windy for that too. I don't intend to get hit by a flying branch!!

Last night was the strongest winds I can remember since I was in a cyclone in Cairns back about 1970. The noise was incredible.

Nothing mentioned on the News about it all :shrug:

Anyway, we are OK :thumbsup:

[Dennis]

Great to hear you are OK Ken - thanks for letting us know. Have a great Xmas now that you can relax.

Cheers

Dennis

[RB]

Glad you guys are OK.

:)

[asimov]

Hi Ken. Glad everythings ok (puter come out of it ok??) We got that storm here too, had to rope the carport to the holden red motor again lol.

[h0ughy]

nice to know you and the family are OK Ken. mERRY cHRISTMAS

[davidpretorius]

we have had constant strong winds here since friday, great to see everything is safe and well

[RAJAH235]

Glad everyone's safe, Ken. Lets hope the 'pooter is O.K. too!
MERRY CHRISTMAS. :D L.
:xmas:

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Laurie.

The rotton wind picked up again today with lots of rain!

The weather tomorrow is suppose to be clearing up so I am going to bring the pooter in tomorrow and check it.

Merry Christmas to you too Laurie.

[h0ughy]

water + puters don't mix, I hope the shed is sealed from water in that position :prey:

[ballaratdragons]

I spent today fixing things after our storm the other night. I fixed up a few loose roof sheets on the house, gathered up the broken tree branches and brought the pooter from the cubby inside.
Good News. The pooter still works fine!!!! It only had a bent Paralel port! Fixed easy.

My cubby is totally waterproof! I made it that way. And I stood it upright in between heavy rain periods so rain wouldn't leak in through the door. But all is well and the pooter is up and running again.

I thought we had it bad here, but Ararat copped it heaps worse than us. Lots of major damage! They finally showed a report on TV on Saturday Night.

[Astroman]

Good to hear it's okay Ken, and everyone else is okay too I hope!

[ballaratdragons]

IT'S BACK AGAIN!!!!

There is a Warning out for about 3/4 of Victoria for wild overnight storms and Gale force/damaging winds tonight! (27 Dec)

This is off the Weather site:
15:40 EDT VIC Severe Weather Warning for the Western and Alpine districts. Damaging winds.
15:39 EDT VIC Gale Warning for waters east of Wilsons Promontory.
15:35 EDT VIC Gale Wind Warning for Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory.

and our local media is informing everyone to batten down. It is already starting here with the wind speed picking up and the temp has dropped about 10 degrees in about 20 minutes. The sky to the west looks very menacing!!! This is yet another storm coming over from South Australia.

Be careful Victorians, Southern NSW and Tassie! It's supposed to be bad.

[Astroman]

We brew them good you know, so be careful :) We had a few today, not that bad really, a little bit of wind, a bit of thunder, could have quite easily slept through it.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks for sending it over Andrew!!!!

The thunderstorm is rumbling now. The thunder is fairly constant (rumbling without a break) and the lightning is from North all the way to the south! That's a wide storm front!!!!

The wind is getting worse. There is nothing to slow the wind from hitting me either. No hills, trees, nothing! Just miles of grazing paddocks and a few distant houses. Yikes! The rain is starting to fall right now and it is those giant rain drops! Now the thunderstorm is here!!!

Time for me to turn the pooter off. See you all when it is safe to do so. Look out all you other Victorians!!!!!

[ballaratdragons]

WOW! It has hit us instantly!!!!! In the last 2 minutes it has intensified rapidly and it is like we are in a Tornado or cyclone!

Bye!

[rochler]

It came thru Adel. mid afternoon, but I think we only saw the northern tip of the front.... anyways, it wasn't anything wild when I saw it. We had some lightning & wind gusts, some rain, but it settled pretty quick.

Sounds like you got the nasty end of the stick haha... that'll lern ya for being VICs! :nerd: just jokin' of course....

[danielsun]

That storm seems to have just arrived here in melb cause its starting to get pretty windy here. i've had to brace the rolla-door from blowing in and now a few drops of rain have started to fall!! :prey:

[hogly52]

Ken,

You're not having a lot of luck. are you? I don't suppose you've even rescued your pooter from the cubby after the last storm went through?

If there's something I haven't missed since moving from Vic, it's the sudden variable weather. I hope you've survived this one without damage :prey: .

Cheers,

Graeme

[Astroman]

Oh just when you thought it was safe to go back outside, SA will send you another lot New Years week :)

[ballaratdragons]

Fortunately, the storm fizzled.

It was windy all night but you would only call it strong wind, nothing dangerous. A few bolts of lightning and that's all!
I have'nt been able to get any news from TV, radio or net to find out if it was worse anywhere else, but it was certainly nothing here.

One day the weather services will be able to be more accurate.
Anyway, it is good that we didn't get pummelled again. I hope no-one else did.

[Astroman]

Just to go a little off/on topic, The storms yesterday were mainly heat storms, meaning they needed the Heat from the sun to keep them going, once the sun had set they didnt have much of a chance to keep going. With the coldish air from the front coming from behind the ground cooled behind them so no more could form. We got lucky with a couple of them where the storms formed by the upward lifting air caused by the hills to our east (orographic lift) Anyway bit of usless information regarding yesterday. The ones before it were trough induced so they had a bit more kick in them. As will be the ones new years weekend. Well almost new years.

[ballaratdragons]

Interesting Andrew. We are on top of the Ranges soI don't know how that affects any orographic lift for us.

News Years Eve forecast is heavy rain here! Hope they get that wrong too.

[cometcatcher]

Send the rain here please!

[ballaratdragons]

OK Kevin. I just rang and ordered it for you. Should be there in a few days LOL! Knowing Australia Post maybe a week or Two!

[cometcatcher]

Hope it doesn't get lost in the mail!

[danielsun]

The storm fizzled out here too!!! it did get very windy then backed off till about 4.00 am with very strong winds and 10 min of heavy rain and then it was over!!