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23rd December 2002 - Severe Storm Tamworth, NSW

This day had storms written all over it. By mid morning it was quite humid (for Tamworth) and with the passage of the trough it appeared like conditions were right for some great storms to take off. At about 1.30pm a large cell appeared on radar about 150km west of Tamworth and I strongly toyed with the idea of driving out to the Gunnedah area as this appeared to be where this cell was going to head - in the end I decided against it. This was the cell Jimmy Degaura and David Croan chased - their report can be found here.

As the afternoon progressed numerous cells started to develop to the North of Tamworth on the Northern Tablelands and a massive anvil shield from the cell West of Tamworth started moving across the Peel Valley. Eventually the Anvil shield covered the entire sky and I was kicking myself for not heading out to Gunnedah.

At about 5.30pm I observed storms forming under the Anvil shield. One to the West of Tamworth developed quite quickly, although given the overcast conditions it was difficult to make out exactly was going on. This storm moved towards the East and as it passed over Oxley Vale (North of Tamworth) producing one of the most memorable lightning shows I have ever observed. Several CG's dropped within a few hundred metres of my location and lightning was observed for almost 1.5 hours. Video of one particularly good strike is here (Windows Media: 391 KB download). Heavy rain fell for about 45 minutes bringing 25mm to Oxley Vale.

1 - North of Tamworth in the early afternoon before the anvil shield
2 - Storms developing under the anvil shield North of Tamworth
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IR Image 6:35 23 December 2002

IR Image 9:35 23 December 2002