Weather News

Ferocious storms swept through inland South Australia

Rob Sharpe, Saturday November 1, 2014 - 12:53 AEDT

Wind gusts above 130km/h caused substantial damage to inland towns in South Australia.

A front and trough moved across South Australia yesterday, causing severe thunderstorms with wild winds.

Wind gusts on the front edge of thunderstorms reached 135km/h in Coober Pedy, ripping part of the roof off the Opal Inn. In Woomera gusts peaked at 124km/h and caused damage to some properties. Thunderstorms were fairly widespread across the Pastorals and parts of the Flinders, with the powerful winds sweeping up copious amounts of dust and dirt, reducing visibility markedly.

The thunderstorms themselves were able to settle the dust fairly quickly with widespread rainfall totals of 2-7mm. Lightning was also prevalent, with over 50 000 strikes recorded within 500km on Roxby Downs. Across Central Australia thunderstorms unleashed closer to 300 000 strikes.

Thunderstorms with winds this strong are very rare in northern parts of South Australia. In the past 12 years the strongest wind gusts recorded at Coober Pedy were 120km/h in December 2003. In Woomera, stronger wind gusts in the past decade were only recorded once in 2010 at 135km/h.

- Weatherzone

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