Storm Season

Spring is storm season.
We are regularly under a severe weather warning here during this time.
The storms come from the west gathering intensity as they head east.
We have had some pretty severe thunderstorms with huge down pours over the last weeks.
Lightning struck the ground just behind us with one. A blinding flash and a clap of simultaneous thunder shook the place. 

Thankfully in this case there was no power outage issues or ‘blown’ appliances. 

We make sure we are never outside as the storms approach (internet weather radar is a blessing). Lightning strikes seem to occur a the edge of storm cells rather than within.
But we did get a nice rainbow after one of them.

Around the Sydney area huge hail was reported.

Up north, another tornado ripped through a large rural town causing lots of damage.
That’s four over the last few weeks.
What is going on?

These do not seem normal for us.

However the weather bureau says tornadoes in Australia are not as rare as people might think, with about 60 occurring in Australia each year, although many are in rural areas so may go unwitnessed.
This pales in comparison to the approximately 1200 tornadoes that can sweep through the USA in a year.
We had a short storm with a heavy downpour last weekend.
After it was over the afternoon light was very pretty.
But suddenly there was a rice sized hail storm while the sun was still shining.

We needed the rain, just not the wind gusts that accompany them causing power outages plus trees and branches down over fences.

But now the tanks and dams are full and the water table is up. 

With the warmer weather the grass in the paddocks will be jumping out of the ground.

No more hay needed for the cattle.