Expat Observations: Weather

Today's thunderstorms (BOM)

Melbourne's weather is notoriously erratic. One minute it can be hot, then a change will come through with rain and cool things down, and then later on it might get hot again. This unpredictable weather inspired the Crowded House song "Four Seasons In One Day."

Today was a typical Melbourne day- raining in the morning, clearing with some sunshine, then the sky going black and a massive downpour, and finally sunshine again. It rained so hard this afternoon that there were waterfalls coming off the roof of our building at work. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe thunderstorm advisory and tornado warning, with a tornado forming in the northern suburbs! This is not normal, even for Melbourne.

You would think with such varied weather that our local newscasters would be highly qualified meteorologists with the most advanced radar and weather forecasts possible. That's what I grew up with in the Bay Area- it was weather warfare between stations using the latest technology to try and have the most accurate forecasts for all of our different micro-climates. However, here in Melbourne you are more likely to see ex-sports stars or models presenting the weather. It was funny when 7News recently hired a qualified meteorologist and actually used that in promos for their news broadcasts. You would think it should just be a given.

Diary Of A Heatwave

Sunday
With forecast temperatures in Melbourne of over 40C/100F for most of the week I knew I was in trouble.  In preparation for the weather week from hell I opened up all the windows in my place to really cool it down, knowing that even though I was wrapped in a blanket on my couch tonight it would pay off later on in the week as my apartment stayed cool for  just a little bit longer.

Monday

People had been complaining in previous weeks about the lack of a summer so far.  However, right on cue with the start of the Australian Open came the heat.  We didn't reach the forecast of 35C/95F today, so it felt like a mini victory.  When I got home from the gym my apartment was still cool.  Feeling a bit smug, but know tomorrow will be hot.

Tuesday
Today was day one of the extreme temperatures.  By the afternoon it had reached nearly 43C/109F.  I felt really sorry for the tennis players as play was never suspended during the day at the Australian Open.  As I headed home from the city around 9:00 pm the air was still so heavy and hot it was almost difficult to breathe.

Wednesday
Compared to yesterday today was slightly cooler at 41C/107F.  Despite some severe thunderstorm warnings in the afternoon nothing ever eventuated in Melbourne.  I have been increasingly thankful for the air conditioning on public transportation and at work as my only line of defense at home is one fan.  My apartment is heating up as expected and I caved a bit and left the bathroom window open during the night to get some air in.  I'm sort of like the frog in a pot of water that's being brought up to a slow boil.

Thursday
Today's forecast was for 44C/111F.  You know things are bad when both The Age and Herald Sun are charting the rise in temperature hourly with graphics at the top of their webpages.  It's like they secretly want us to get beyond the forecast top.  In an unprecedented move Metro Trains requested early in the afternoon for people to leave work and go home as soon as practicable in order to spread out the evening commute as they knew trains would be cancelled due to the heat.  We turned off the lights in the office to preserve power and thankfully the extreme heat policy was finally enacted at the Australian Open.

As I exited the gym in the evening there was very loud thunder in the city, with the rain starting as soon as I got on the tram.  Unfortunately it wasn't really a cool change and although temperatures dropped a little bit, it was now both hot and humid.  When I got home I was still sweating inside so I finally caved and opened up the windows in my apartment for the night as it was the same temperature outside as it was inside: 30C/86F.  Tomorrow's forecast is for the same temperature as today.

Friday
The last day of the heat wave!  Everyone is eagerly awaiting the cool change which is due to come through later today.  Articles in the The Age included stories of people checking into hotels to escape the heat of their houses/apartments and the horror headline Melbourne is a 'Heat-Island' Death Trap.  I went outside in the afternoon with Amrita to get a gelati from Spring Street Grocer and it was stifling hot: over 43C/110F.  It felt like walking in an oven.  After 5:00 pm though our weather nightmare was finally over as the cool change dropped temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius within a half hour.  Although outside was noticeably cooler, my apartment was still extremely hot so I opened everything up once I got home knowing it will take a few days for things to cool down.

Saturday
Slowly but surely my place is cooling and we only reached a top of 24C/75F today and had a nice breeze.  It's a welcome change to feel a little bit cold instead of sweating all the time!  Hopefully we won't have another run of heat like this for the rest of the summer, but who knows what will happen.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  I hope you have had (or are planning to have) a great day.  This year my manager Elvira took pity on me and invited me to join her family for Christmas lunch.  We had quite the traditional/Italian feast with antipasto dishes, snapper, turkey, stuffing and roast vegetables.  As we were resting from this yummy meal the hot weather became thunderstorms and we got hit with a massive hail storm- some of which were the size of golf balls.  It was pretty insane and the ground was covered in hail (a white Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere, if you will).  This kicked off a series of about four different massive thunderstorm episodes throughout the rest of the afternoon/evening with thunder, lightning, hail, torrential rain and even a tornado warning throughout Melbourne.  I've never seen anything like it before.  We watched each storm in amazement as we continued into our dessert of fruit, cheeses, pavlova and Christmas pudding.  At one point lightning struck one of the transformers on the street and the power went out with a huge explosion.  It will definitely be a day we won't soon forget.

Flash Flooding Fun

Australia has really been getting hit by the natural disasters lately- flooding in Queensland and other states and Far North Queensland getting hit by Cyclone Yasi earlier in the week.  Today Melbourne was once again hot and very humid throughout the day.  Chantal and I headed out to dinner and grabbed a table outside under an umbrella.  I had a feeling it would rain and boy was I right.  What started as a downpour turned into a complete deluge as it just bucketed down and everyone ran for cover.  There were huge flows of water down Bourke Street as the CBD got 17mm/0.7 inches of rain in 20 minutes from the remnants of Cyclones Anthony and Yasi.  Of course this resulted in flash flooding throughout the city.  What's scary is that this weather is scheduled to continue and could be worse tomorrow.

Thunderstorms

Once again Melbourne has been hit by severe thunderstorms this afternoon, which resulted in flash flooding and a lot of damage around town. The sky went black around 2:30 pm and it started to bucket down. The rain was so hard it was almost like a blizzard whiteout and we even got hail that was the size of quarters. The street outside my apartment flooded, as did a lot of places in the Melbourne CBD. Elizabeth Street turned into a river as you can see from this video. We received over an inch of rain in one hour (and about 0.7 inches of that was in 20 minutes), and the storm drains just couldn't cope. It has calmed down now, but more thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow.

When Thunderstorms Attack

Around 3:30 pm the thunder and lightning started and then the rain began. By 4:30 pm parts of the city were under water due to flash flooding and a couple people were even spotted swimming down Flinders Street. It was the heaviest rain I have ever seen in this town, and the lightning was very close to the CBD. Thankfully by the time I left work for the gym things had calmed down, and more importantly the temperatures have finally cooled after a hot week.

Heat Wave

It has been ridiculously hot in Melbourne since Saturday, and it's only spring! Temperatures have been above 30 degrees, with the average over the last few days being 34/93 degrees. Even at night it still doesn't cool down, so I haven't been able to open up any windows until the morning to try and get some fresh air in my apartment. I have no air conditioning, so my fan is my only savior. I long for the Bay Area and fog at times like these, because at least you knew the heat would only last a few days before the fog returned to cool things down. These temperatures are forecast to continue through Sunday, when a cool change will finally come through. I am dreading how hot summer is going to be. I may need to invest in a second fan.

Heat Wave

It's so hot in Melbourne that the train tracks are buckling. Today was 43/109 degrees, and it will be above 40 degrees until Saturday. I'm sure you can guess how thrilled I am about this.

Happy New Year

It is 2008 here in Australia and soon to be in the United States. I spent my New Year's Eve at The Espy in St. Kilda with Tash and her friend Steve listening to various bands. We caught the second half of Children Collide's set, rang in the new year with Architecture in Helsinki and caught a couple songs from Rocket Science before heading home. It was an incredibly hot night as temperatures during the day were 41/106 degrees, and it was still 30/86 degrees by the time I got home around 3:00 am. I've been lying low today as it reached 41 degrees again, but a cool change has finally come through, so I should be able to sleep tonight. I hope you all have a fantastic 2008!

Advancement- Finally!

Before I went on leave to the States I had applied for a secondment to the School Leadership Unit in our department. While I was away they tried to contact me, so I figured by the time I returned they probably had filled the position. However, I was wrong and on Friday I was offered the position. Since time has passed it has gone from 3 months to about 7 weeks, but I am still excited to have the opportunity to do something different. I will also be getting paid on the next level of the pay scale, so that's even better.

In other Melbourne news, it is bloody hot at the moment- 36/97 degrees today and it's only spring! We have one more hot day before a change comes through tomorrow afternoon, but I am really dreading summer. Oh, and the blow flies are back. I hate them so much- annoying and they won't leave you alone.

Winter in Victoria

Kangaroos in Springhill, Victoria. Yes, it's a bit cold today (no snow in Melbourne though).

Heat Wave

This past week has been my own personal hell because it has been consistently hot. On Tuesday we reached 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) and had a major power outage throughout Melbourne. I was very fortunate to be on one of the few train lines that was actually running and made it home, only to find the power out. The rest of the week the temperatures were in the 30s (upper 80s-90s Fahrenheit) with increasing humidity by the end of the week. If there is one thing I hate more than heat it is humidity. Friday was unbearable outside since the humidity levels were around 75%. It felt like the tropics! Thankfully we have had some good rain falling today and it has cooled down. I also finally bought a fan this week, so that has helped to circulate the air in my apartment.

A White Christmas- in Australia?

I guess I didn't have to come home for a wintery Christmas after all. I'm glad some rain is finally falling in Victoria to help with the drought and the bushfires.

Is This Proof of Climate Change?

Last week it was snowing and today Melbourne hit a high of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Then there are all those icebergs floating off the coast of New Zealand. What is happening down here?

Spring in Victoria

Today was a lovely spring day here in Victoria. In Melbourne we reached a balmy 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit).

It's Bloody Hot!

It's only the start of spring, and yet today we reached a top of 36.6 degrees Celsius (that's about 98 degrees Fahrenheit). Thank God I work in an air-conditioned office.

Shopping in San Francisco

Lynne was supposed to come to Marin today, but my mother woke me up with the news that northbound Highway 101 was shut down due to a deadly 28 car pile-up north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The cause, which you can see in the photo, was snow and bad driving. The highway was shut for 11 hours while the police investigated what happened.

Since my mom was going into work anyway, I hitched a ride with her to Lynne's apartment in San Francisco. It was so great to hang out with my buddy. We headed out for brunch and while we were walking we caught a brief glimpse of Mayor Gavin Newsom as he went to get coffee. Lynne and I were good and refrained from stalking him. Once we arrived at La Cucina on Union Street we decided to sit outside in the sunshine even though it was cold out. After eating we headed back to her place, where we met up with her mom and brother.

Then we all drove to Union Square for a little shopping excursion. I had been wanting to check out the H&M store, which opened after I left for Australia. It wasn't as trendy and fashion forward as I expected it to be. Lynne had warned me that I would be underwhelmed with the place. I did manage to get a couple of tops, a pair of pants, and a jacket though. Next we went to Urban Outfitters and the Levi's Store, but didn't find anything to buy there. After a quick stop for coffees and chai at Starbucks, we headed back to Lynne's to relax until my mom came to pick me up. The temperature is dropping again, so we'll have to see if there is any snow tonight.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I knew the black skies were an ominous sign, but I didn't expect that the thunderstorms would dump enough rain to turn my street into a lake! The sidewalks on either side of the street are full of water, and I am currently very happy that my apartment sits above ground, even though I am on the first floor. I guess it's a good thing that my parking spot if/when I eventually use it is in another building on higher ground. I'm sure the water has entered the parking garage underneath me. There are at least 6 inches of standing water on the road at the moment, and rain keeps coming.

Article: "The Day Summer Went Psycho"

Snowy Mt. Tam

On Friday it was snowing at the peak of Mount Tamalpais. I guess the kids in Marin can actually have a true "ski week" without traveling up to Lake Tahoe.

Afternoon in the City

Today I met up with Adrian for lunch in Carlton. We went and had pizza at Cafe Corretto on Lygon Street. Now, one of the amusing things about eating on Lygon Street is the absolute obsession with Formula 1 racing, and Ferrari and Michael Schumacher in particular. I've walked past shops in the area that have posters for shoes or pasta that are endorsed by Michael Schumacher. It's bizarre. Our restaurant had Ferrari memorabilia all over the place, including the shell of a Ferrari Formula 1 car hanging from the ceiling. In honor of this, I chose to eat the Ferrari pizza, which was quite good. It had cheese, tomatoes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives. Adrian went with the American pizza- it had salami, and I'm not sure why that makes it "American." After eating lunch we walked down the street to get some gelati at Casa Del Gelato. I had a chocolate and lemon mixture, which was yummy. We headed back towards Melbourne Uni trying to eat the gelati faster than it was melting. I said goodbye to Adrian (he had to go back to work) and headed into the City.

I finally decided to get private health and apartment contents insurance from HBA. We do have government funded health insurance in Australia (Medicare), but it does not cover dental or optical. Having private insurance means that you get these "extras" and can avoid government surcharges and waiting lists for needed medical treatments. The Federal Government does rebate 30% of the costs as an incentive. I went with a medium level of cover hospital plan and basic level of cover for extras. It's good that you can pick a choose what you want. The only bummer is having to pay out of pocket for a higher level of health care that would be standard in the States with employer provided health insurance.

It was a hot and sticky day today. We reached at top of 37 degrees C/98 degrees F. As I headed home the sky was turning very dark. Right now it is absolutely pouring rain and cooling down a bit- yay for the thunderstorms! It's still meant to be very hot this weekend though (especially Sunday). Hopefully I'll survive.