2020-12-27 10:26:19
Started the day near Penrith and headed leisurely to Oberon. First storms of the day - one took shape and intensified. After getting hailed on (up to golf balls) made my way to Lithgow. This was treacherous - slippery roads, hydro-planing, and hail early on in Oberon. Rain was heavy but I got through to a beautiful storm structure SW of Lithgow as it took on supercell characteristics. After taking a few shots here of structure and base, got hailed on in Lthgow including birds cowering under low shrubs due to the hail!
Made my way to intercept the Sydney supercell but was unimpressed with the weakening cell so went to measure hail in the Putty Road. There was two kilometres of hail drifts up to 10 to 15cm in depth. Hail sizes up to 7.2cm in length.
After getting some reception near Putty, I noticed the new supercell developing and made a dash for it. The core was once again treacherous - hail fog, hail large to giant hail falling, hail drifts, shredded leaves, very heavy rain flash flooding, tree branches and even large rocks on the road. Caught up with the core at dusk SW of Singleton. However, the conditions were so dangerous I simply had to stop with blinding rain dumping and barely being able to see the road and flash flooding. I had to head into Singleton to fuel up - not enough to head back through the Putty and make it home.
Measured and photographed hail to 6.5cm about 1.5 hours after the storm! Arrived home mid-night.
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Best way to spend boxing day!
Amazing shots.
Awesome thanks for sharing!
Mammoth effort Jimmy and rewarded, great series of photos.
Awesome pics and chase
Those storms looked great on radar too. Glad someone got them, family commitments for me.
Very impressive.
Fantastic shots Jimmy , a great experience
Straight out of a movie cous , stay safe amazing pics 😊
Feck off – your a tezz
Great info and pics Jimmy. Some weird shaped hail there. Was keeping an eye on radar from afar.
Hospital damaged too at Oberon
Great work JD!! Certainly a few very strong storms and likely 3 or 4 supercells (at minimum) from the far south coast up to the hunter so to get 2 in the basin/upper hunter is very lucky indeed!
Spotted the radar as these storms developed…the one north of Putty developed what appeared to be a couplet and gate to gate…there was a weak difluent jet aloft at 300hpa and most likely the difluence intensified above 300hpa enhancing outflow…well done that’s a difficult chase corridor…
Meaty looking storm!
Really nice, Jimmy!
Nice pics and description looks very difficult
Fitting for Boxing Day! 😜 thanks for the write up and pics!! 👍 Those cells looked nice on radar/Sat
Nice work.
Awesome. My wife and I are on the Victorian state border at Albury. What a state of contrasts this is. Here it is bone dry and yesterday barely a cloud in the sky although a few small cumulus clouds developed to the east (Topped 31C here) and today 36C yet a few hundred km to the east and north east, heavy showers and storms occurred. Its incredible how variable the weather can be just a few hundred km apart. Well done Jimmy and great photos.
Reminds me of a boxing day chase a few years ago mate!
Nice 👍
Great photos Jimmy 👍😊 Certainly a very impressive series of Supercells.
Woah
They are awesome photos!
Thanks all much appreciated comments!
What’s you car like with 65mm hail