Hailing surprise storm
Far North shock at hail ‘size of golf balls’
FORECASTERS say more storms could hit the region today, but the worst is over after a stunning hail shower at the weekend.
The hail hitting Cardwell on Saturday morning had experts checking records to work out the last time such weather had reached Far Northern coastal regions.
Weather bureau forecaster Andrew Bufalino had to go back to 1982 in Ingham to find a similar record on the north tropical coast.
“Getting that kind of hail hitting up north is pretty damn rare,” he said.
“It was surprising, but it was not out of the question given the system that was in place across Queensland at that time.”
The hail falling in Cardwell at 3cm in diameter was the largest reported hail in 36 years. Cardwell resident Laura Smith, a long-time resident of the region said she had never seen anything like it.
“Some of it was the size of golf balls,” she said. “I could see it bouncing around outside, but I didn’t really believe it until I picked a piece up.
“I’m a Cairns girl, and I’ve never seen anything like this before. It lasted for about 25 minutes.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting it and I don’t think I’ll ever see something like that again in Cairns.”
On Sunday morning the BOM issued an outlook stating severe thunderstorms were possible from Rockhampton to Babinda.
“(However) overall it has been quite suppressed,” Mr Bufalino said.
Mr Bufalino indicated the danger has passed but more thunderstorms are possible today but more will be focused on the Tablelands.
“They are potentially reaching Innisfail and Cardwell but those severe conditions are not very likely now. It will be more a classic garden variety summer storms.”
On Saturday morning the BOM’s radar feed went down.
The error message on the website cited “technical or equipment problems”.
A bureau spokesman said it appeared the equipment had suffered a malfunction, but was not sure what had caused it.
It was expected the feed would be back up at 5pm but last night it had not been corrected.