Month ends with more rain in Sydney, still dry in Jyväskylä

Once again a large storm hit Sydney yesterday evening. The worst affected areas of the city were from Bankstown extending north between Parramatta and Penrith and up to Hornsby. There were two particularly dangerous storm cells. One was situated in the Blue Mountains and moved north through Katoomba, while the other moved north just west of Parramatta.

The warning below was issued by the Bureau as the storm developed.

"The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 8:15pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Parramatta, Katoomba and Richmond. These thunderstorms are moving towards the north. They are forecast to affect Hornsby, Blackheath and Glenorie by 8:45pm and Bilpin, Berowra and Wisemans Ferry by 9:15pm.
Large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely.
32mm of rain was reported in 30 minutes to 7:35pm at North Richmond. 20mm was reported in 10 minutes to 8:10pm at Erskine Park. Golf ball sized hail reported from St Clair."

The radar image below shows the severity and size of the storm. The two main cells are clearly visible.

Terry Hills 128km rain radar image at 8:06pm AEST on March 30 2014
Source: Bureau of Meteorology (screenshot unedited from original image)

Sydney Airport and the city didn't receive a large amount of rain from the storm; 2.6mm and 3.6mm were recorded at the Airport and Observatory Hill respectively. Badgerys Creek in the west though had a recording of 39.8mm. Another 0.2mm fell this morning at the Airport, making it the 11th consecutive day of rain being recorded.

Jyväskylä continued its dry run with a pleasant weekend. Saturday got to 12.1C, the month's highest temperature. Highlighting that this is quite unusual is the fact that the highest temperature recorded in April last year was only just above that mark at 12.6C. Yesterday was much cooler though topping only 4.6C and today barely climbed above 2C. The dry spell endured its 8th consecutive day today, something not too common in Finland.

The next few days look to be a little cool like today, but the dry weather will continue before warming back up to 8C by Saturday.

Similar weather continues in both cities

It might seem like Jyväskylä has stolen the sun from Sydney this week. Warm and sunny weather has continued throughout most of Finland while wet weather has continued on Australia's east coast.

Today was another sunny spring day in Central Finland. Temperatures climbed above 10C for the first time in almost 5 months. Today has also seen the biggest temperature difference since May 16 last year. It was -8.5C this morning, making it a minimum to maximum difference of almost 19C.

In the previous 5 editions of March, the highest temperature was 7.2C in 2011. Including today, there have been 7 days this month above that mark. Compared to March last year, this year currently has an average maximum almost 7C higher.

Clouds have almost been non-existent since the start of the week. Only this morning has seen any cloud in the last 72 hours. Even then the highest coverage across a 4 hour period was 5 oktas. Similar weather will continue tomorrow and on Saturday but a change on Sunday will bring cooler temperatures heading into next week.

Sunset on Tuomiojärvi, Jyväskylä on March 25 

Tuomiojärvi in the evening of March 25

Sydney's run of wet weather pushed into its 7th consecutive day today. A total of 17 out of the 27 days so far this month have seen rain recorded. After some smaller falls in the late morning yesterday, a large band of rain swept south through the city in the late evening and continued for most of the night. The radar image below was taken at 7:30am this morning. Rain continued for most of the day also.

Terry Hills 256km rain radar image at 7:30am AEST on March 27 2014
Source: Bureau of Meteorology (screenshot unedited from original image)

Despite the prolonged period of rain, measurements at Sydney Airport in the past couple of days haven't been greater than Monday's 39.8mm. Yesterday saw 17.2mm recorded and today added another 9.8mm to the monthly total, which now stands at 147.2mm.

Temperatures since the start of the week have also been lower than the previous few weeks. The past 4 days have an average maximum of 24.2C, compared to the overall monthly figure of 27.0C. Yesterday's 25.6C has been the highest this week.

Rain is forecast to continue tomorrow, although it shouldn't be as heavy as the previous couple of days.

Another big storm in Sydney, dry and sunny week ahead for Jyväskylä

Storms continued today in Sydney. Widespread heavy rain and lightning hit the city from just after midday. All weather stations throughout the Sydney region recorded rain with locations south of the city experiencing the biggest falls.

In addition to the heavy falls, temperatures were also down. Sydney Airport's maximum of 22.6C at 1:30pm is the lowest of the month so far, and coldest since February 28. Within 20 minutes of that recording the storm had struck and the temperature dropped to 16.8C.

A storm had been threatening the city since the morning. Forecasts had also predicted heavy falls up to 45mm. In the end Sydney Airport received 39.8mm, eclipsing the March 13 total of 32.0mm. The graph below shows the cumulative rainfall during the afternoon. The first hour, especially, dumped a large amount of rain. This led to flash flooding in suburbs surrounding the Airport.

Rain accumulation at Sydney Airport on March 24 2014

The highest rainfall recording in the Sydney region today was at Lucas Heights, south west of the city. 72.0mm fell there between 1:30pm and 8:15pm. The city avoided the worst of the rain; Observatory Hill recorded a comparatively low total of 6.8mm.

Sadly, one man lost his life at Lucas Heights after he was sucked into a drain while trying to clear it of debris. Two men were also struck by lightning in separate incidents in Cronulla and Mascot. More information plus photos of flooding can be found here.

Winds were also initially quite strong at the Airport. A gust of 72km/h was recorded at 2pm. This was the strongest gust since February 10. Showers and storm activity are likely to continue throughout much of New South Wales tomorrow.

The weekend in Jyväskylä saw mixed weather. Saturday was warm and dry. It reached 7.4C in the afternoon. Yesterday saw a few hours of rain though with 3.8mm falling at Jyväskylä Airport. Temperatures were also much lower; it only got to 2.4C.

Like Saturday, today was a dry and warm spring day. The mercury topped 8.7C and the skies were clear for almost the whole day. The rest of the week should see similar conditions with hardly a cloud in sight and maximums around 6C. Night time temperatures though could dip below -5C.

Colder in Jyväskylä, not too much change in Sydney

Jyväskylä has seen a few cooler days this week compared to the previous month and a half. The past 5 days have all had daily maximums below 0C, the first 5 day period below 0C since January 29 to February 2.

After Monday's -17C, Tuesday morning was also quite cold, dropping just below -15C. It has been warming up during the days in comparison though. Yesterday was the coldest of the month so far with a maximum of -3.2C.

A decent amount of snow fell in Central Finland on Tuesday. A depth of 9cm was the recording yesterday morning. More snow is falling right now and it should continue until the early hours of tomorrow, but warmer temperatures up to 7C in the coming days mean the snow is unlikely to stick around for long. With 6C predicted and fresh overnight snow, it sounds like it'll be quite wet and sloshy in the city tomorrow.

Sydney Airport saw its warmest day of the month on Tuesday. It reached 30.8C making it the warmest day in 3 weeks. Yesterday was slightly cooler, down to 24.3C, but today was warmer again with 27.3C.

There has been some rain and storm activity around inland New South Wales and off the coast in the past few days but no falls have been recorded at the Airport or Observatory Hill. Some suburbs in Sydney's south west received falls yesterday. Locations in the Southern Highlands just south west of Wollongong received over 100mm.

The debate over whether to have the brolly handy or not looks like it will rage over the coming days if the current forecast is anything to go by. There is the potential for storms and rain throughout the Sydney region all the way into next week.

Chilly start to the day

Sydney and Jyväskylä had their coldest mornings for quite some time today.

Sydney Airport saw its lowest temperature in over 3 months. You have to go back to December 7 to find a colder day. It dropped to 15.3C at the Airport around 6am. This consistent run of warm days continued though as it hit 28.0C just after 3pm. Only 1 of the last 11 days hasn't had a maximum between 28.0C and 29.5C.

I wasn't able to check the temperature outside before I rode my bike to work this morning, but it certainly felt a lot colder than the past month or so. When I finally managed to look on the FMI website I was quite surprised to see that not too long beforehand it had dropped below -17C at Jyväskylä Airport. It was slightly warmer in the centre of Jyväskylä though, somewhere around -12C.

For Jyväskylä, this morning was colder than any day in February, typically the coldest winter month. January 31 was the last day below this morning's mark. It's a remarkable turnaround from last Thursday when it reached 9.4C, a difference of more than 26C.

Tomorrow will see a cold start in Jyväskylä again, but Sydney should return to minimums above 18C for the next week.

Jyväskylä turns white again, more storms for Sydney

Jyväskylä woke up to the sight of white this morning. Like the revised forecasts predicted, Jyväskylä avoided most of the snow that fell in Finland yesterday.

The south of the country received decent falls. It fell as rain and wet snow early, but turned to snow later in the day. A bit over 10cm was recorded in some places like Lahti and around Helsinki. Jyväskylä didn't receive any snow until later in the night. A depth of 4cm was the measurement at Tikkakoski Airport this morning.

Also as predicted, temperatures have been much lower than previous weeks. It dipped to -5.0C this morning, the coldest temperature since February 26, two and a half weeks ago. Yesterday got to 3.4C, but it doesn't look like it'll go above 1C for possibly the next week.

Kauppakatu, Jyväskylä on the morning of March 16

There has been plenty of storm activity around New South Wales in the past few days. A brief but intense storm hit Sydney yesterday afternoon and a smaller one hit today. Sydney Airport recorded 9.6mm in about 30 minutes from 5:20pm yesterday. At Sydney Olympic Park 16.2mm fell in a similar time frame. Lightning interrupted the AFL game there as it passed through the area.

Strong and localised wind gusts accompanied the storm also. The weather station at Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour recorded a wind gust of 91km/h just after 5:30pm.

Storm front in Sydney on March 15
Source: User VeinyPickle, Reddit

Today's rain was not as intense as yesterday. It hit earlier in the day also. After hitting a maximum of 29.3C just after 11:30am, the reading at midday at the Airport was 28.0C. By 12:45pm though, it had dropped to 20.8C. A total of 3.8mm was recorded. Sydney Olympic Park again received one of the highest totals in the Sydney region with 7.4mm. Temperatures climbed again in the late afternoon around the city; it read 27.2C at the Airport at 5:30pm.

The next few days in Sydney look to be quite good. Sunny and warm conditions are expected.

Heavy rain in Sydney this morning, forecast backflip for Jyväskylä

The early hours of this morning saw very heavy falls in Sydney's east. In only a matter of just over 4 hours, Sydney Airport received its highest daily rainfall total in almost 4 months. A total of 32.0mm fell from just before 1am until 5am; 20.6mm of that fell within the first 30 minutes or so.

Residents of Sydney may have noticed a fair amount of shower and storm activity off the coast in the past couple of weeks. A few hundred millimetres worth of rain has fallen 50-100km out to sea since the start of the month.

This morning, over 100mm fell off the coast between Sydney and Wollongong. On land, Observatory Hill recorded 27.8mm to 9am, also the highest 24 hour total since November, and Canterbury received a drenching with 48.6mm. That was the highest daily recording there since June 30 last year.

Temperatures were a bit cooler today at the Airport, breaking a 6 day streak above 28C. Observatory Hill managed to top 27.0C, but southerly winds kept the maximum down to 24.1C at the Airport. The daily minimum of 18.3C was also the lowest in more than a week.

Colder weather is still on the way for Finland, but revised forecasts today predict that Jyväskylä will miss the majority, if not all, of the snow that will arrive in the country's south on Saturday. In fact, FMI doesn't predict any snow for Jyväskylä in its current 5 day forecast.

Warm weather continued today. Temperatures this afternoon at Jyväskylä Airport managed to top yesterday's figure. It was 9.4C around 3:30pm. Today was the fifth consecutive day above 5C. The earliest time for such an achievement in the previous 5 years was the 5 day period between April 8 and 12 in 2010. 2009 didn't see such a 5 day period until April 21 to 25.

Tomorrow looks to be the last day above 5C for at least a week and a half. Winds should be a little stronger than normal as well.