Weather News

Wind and rain walloping Tasmania with more to come

Brett Dutschke, Tuesday July 29, 2014 - 14:31 AEST

Very strong winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms have been buffeting Tasmania, causing damage and flooding, and there is much more on the way.

Wind has been blowing as strong as 140km/h and rain and thunderstorms have has dumped as much as 100 millimetres since Monday afternoon.

So far the windiest place has been Maatsuyker Island, in the south where northwesterly gusts reached 141km/h at about sunrise on Tuesday morning. Other notable recorded wind gusts have been 133km/h at Scotts Peak Dam, 120km/h at Cape Grim and 118km/h at Low Rocky Point.

This has been Low Rocky Point's windiest day in a year and it may get windier later today and also later in the week.

Elsewhere in the state it has been the windiest day for the year in Strahan, Mt Read, Swan Island and King Island, all recorded gusts in excess of 90km/h.

One front crossed the state this morning and another stronger front is due later today. The latter will generate stronger winds than this morning's front, so many locations may experience even more damage.

Regarding rainfall, the heaviest has been in the north, where widespread 20-to-50mm has fallen since Monday afternoon. One of the wettest places has been Mt Victoria, east of Launceston, which has gained 110mm in less than 30 hours, its biggest rain since last October.

Also having their biggest rain since last year is Launceston with 40mm, Wynyard (45mm), Smithton (29mm) and Eddystone Point (23mm). A few centres have had their heaviest in more than a year, including Devonport, whose 51mm in the past 28 hours is a three-year high, and Burnie, whose 41mm is a two-year high.

Just like with the wind, there is another big burst to come later today which will lead to further flooding, particularly in the north and west.

During tonight and tomorrow both wind and rain will ease and it will even dry out across much of the north and east of the state, but Wednesday night and Thursday is looking like another wild period.

Another front, like the others before it, will be connected to an intense low south of the state to bring another burst of damaging wind, rain and thunderstorms. For some areas it may be just as wet and/or windy as today.

By Friday some of the north and west will have received more than 200mm of rain and been hit by two or three bursts of 100km/h winds, making this week go down as one of the wettest, windiest and most damaging in a few years.

Residents are urged to listen and watch for severe wind and flood warnings and try to keep clear of flooded rivers and roads and large trees.

As far as cleaning up goes, Friday and Saturday are the next best days to get into it. Late on the weekend and early next week it should become a bit breezy and damp again, at least in the north and west.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2014

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