Storm Season 08/09: Storm 8, A Commentary

Well if you live in Brisbane and have a body capable of feeling temperature and humidity then you will realize that today was flaming humid and hot as a 34 degree day. Those of you with air conditioning are not capable of judging temperature and humidity so for the sake of this are classed as disabled. Nothing personal, I just hate air conditioning with a passion. However if there was a time for gratuitous use of air conditioning, today was it- at least until about 6:20pm. Knowing the forecast and feeling the dreadful local climate, the gathered assembly of my chosen outing for the day kept a close eye on BoM and watched as the storms came further east at a painfully slow rate. Finally the blurred light edge met us at 6:20pm and a light spread of liquid precipitation fell from the sky, easing the temperature slightly.

It was at this time we (my family and I) left the party and set en route for home. Naturally we were in the car 6Km from home at 6:50pm when the storm hit. The sky was not yet darkened beyond expectations for an afternoon storm. The rain picked up and lightning became increasingly obvious. The sun was also setting from above the clouds so the sky rapidly darkened, though not of the storm’s doing. As we moved from the motorway and onto suburban streets the bitumen was deeply wet, indicative of a storm passed. After a brief stop in for a dinner order we set back home and the rain continued for a short while before eventually stopping at 7:30pm. The lightning somehow came closer after the rain began moving off, maybe it was in a lighter cloud that was obscured by the darkness, but it also removed itself from our presence by 7:30pm.
The strangest part of the storm was really when someone started setting off fireworks in the middle of it. Why you would set off fireworks in a storm and not wait for the storm to pass, who knows?

This storm is what I call a background storm. It serves no function by itself, its only purpose being to serve the greater good. Like a nameless worker who’s only goal in life is to build the hive and protect the queen. It is these background storms that mark a storms season, leaving the greater storms such as we experienced last month to define it. The best analogy I can think of is a game of limited overs cricket. In the second innings the batting side is dismissed in 40 full overs to win the game. That means 11 balls claimed wickets. These 11 balls are the defining deliveries, the ones the game will be remembered by and so it is appropriate as they are responsible for the result. However that means 229 other balls were bowled. These 229 balls do not define the game, we will not remember them once the game is gone, however if these 229 balls were not bowled the game would not be cricket.
It is in that way we can have the deadly storms of last month which will be remember for years to come, maybe a whole generation. However without storms like tonight’s or Thursday’s or whenever the last one was, or Wednesday’s, all the small ones, without these background storms we don’t have the storm season. One week of bad weather doesn’t make a season, they define the season, these background storms make the season.

Such is life in the rain shadow that the storm did hit the Gold and Sunshine coasts quite severely and Brisbane’s northern suburbs got their share of the hard rain too, but here I got nothing but a shower and a couple of flashes of lightning to keep me observant. There is no denying this was a storm, but a memorable one it was not. Or isn’t at this point for me anyway, the news may refuse me my opinions, but I suspect it won’t. Time for the final statistics:

Final Statistics:
Wind: no
Rain: yes
Lightning: yes
Hail: no
Blackout: no
House damage: no
Car damage: no
Human damage: no

Car-tracks: dry
Side yard: wet
Breezeway entrance: dry
Carport: dry
Inside the house: dry

Total score:
Just to clarify, the car tracks are quite obviously not dry, they are not covered, if there is a heavy dew they will become wet. However after the least undramatic storm I checked them when I got home and the very top where the car tracks and carport meet was dry so I’m going to declare it representative of the rest in a rare importance over majority decision the likes of which must be spent as far from our political system as possible. The breezeway entrance suffered in the same way, the part near the road end stairs was wet but nothing further in was so I’m declaring it dry. You could walk through all the covered access points without facing water so I’m calling it dry.
Being a background storm this storm was important to the season rather than itself. That isn’t enough to save it from a bad review though.

Brisbane storm 6th December 2008:
Total Score: 4/10

It goes without saying that if you did bear the full grunt of this storm we would like you to comment with your experience.