24th October 2004: Supercell brings large hail to Denman and Muswellbrook
A few days ahead the models were predicting good storm conditions the 23 and 24th. On the morning of the 24th I woke to find Sydney overcast and not looking too promising. Discussion on the Weatherzone was focusing on the Hunter and Central Tablelands. The Hunter it was - I know the roads better.
The sky cleared by the time I reach Putty and I made good time to Singleton where I headed to the lookout to decide my next move. Storms appeared to building on the Central Tablelands towards Mudgee as well as on the Mid North Coast which a could see in the distance. I decided to head towards Denman which took me closer to the storms in the direction Mudgee. After about 20 minutes I stopped again to survey the scene and it was pretty clear that I was surrounded, storms were firing to my North, East and West. The storms on the Mid North Coast were looking extremely impressive.
Once at Denman it was starting to look more promising, the storms towards Mudgee were now clearly heading my way. I drove west of the Denman township to a small East-West running valley bounded by low hills to the North and South and ending in wooded hills to the west where the road turned to gravel and ascended a steep pass. Stopping at the start of the gravel the storm was now getting very active with lightning flashing deep inside the storm, but with no clear air CG's to speak of. I drove back about a kilometre towards Denman along the valley to get out of the trees and could make out the edge of a large Meso-Cyclone to the North-West which was well structured but had poor contrast as it was lit from behind from the sun. As the storm approached over the hills scud began being pulled towards the storm down the valley. A boiling ragged shelf cloud then moved over the low hills to the West accompanied by many CG's. Looking down the road a bright white hail shaft appeared to the South-West which wrapped around to the back of the storm where the clouds where now a distinct green. To the North-West a poorly organised lowing appeared. I took a few photos but the wind was now making this difficult and it was starting to rain. Concerned about the possibility of large hail I turned the car around and started heading for Denman.
In Denman the street lights were on as the looming storm clouds were now extremely low to the ground and it was very dark. It soon starting rain heavily and as I reached the main street the hail began to fall accompanied by frequent flashes of lightning. The hail began small but quickly progressed to a much larger size which banged uncomfortably loudly on the car. I quickly searched around for a service station with an awning, but there was none to be found and instead came across an empty carport next to a house. Safely in the carport the hail then intensified, the roar of which was deafening on the corrugated iron roof. Lightning was now flashing frequently at close quarter and the gutters along the road were overflowing with the volume of rain.
After about 15 minutes the hail and rain eased. I decided to head out towards Muswellbrook to survey for damage, along the road trees where shredded and the hail on the roadside appeared much larger than that which had fallen in Denman. I took a few more photos and then decided to head for home as it was getting dark and I had to work the next day.
All in all it was a pleasing chase, I later found that the storm had dropped 10-12 cm hail in Muswellbrook which had damaged lots of cars including some of other chasers - I was sort of pleased I'd stayed in Denman.
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