RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

We've received quite a lot of Spring rains the past couple of days in Melbourne. Although it was much needed, we also had some unfortunate flooding in some suburbs, high winds with trees uprooted and interruption to the electricity supply in some neighbourhoods. In the western suburbs there was even a mini tornado that went through and caused some havoc.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme

SUNDAY BEST #391 - SUNSHINE

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Enjoying a fine Winter's day sunshine in suburban Melbourne.

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Last week, Selep Imaging shared some lovely images of white peacocks from Italy. Please visit her blog for more great photos.

SUNDAY BEST #382 - RAINY EVENING

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Last week, Csuhpat1 in the USA posted a great series of shots on the NASCAR Xfinity series in Portland. Check out his blog for more photos.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

SUNDAY BEST #296 - FLOODING

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Thousands of people across Australia's southeast were asked to evacuate their homes on Friday, including many country towns close to overflowing rivers and dams, after two days of incessant rains triggered flash flooding and fast-moving waters burst river banks. Large parts of Victoria state, southern New South Wales and the northern regions of the island state of Tasmania were pounded by an intense weather system with some taking more than a month's worth of rain since late Wednesday. The town of Rochester in central Victoria was inundated as you can see in the photo above.

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Last week, Betty in New Zealand shared this lovely photo of a fern frond opening up. Please visit her blog for more great shots!

SUNDAY BEST #208 - WALK

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity! Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Last week, Taken for Granted from the US posted some beautiful photos, and this I picked as my fave of last week. Please visit his blog for more!

A DAY'S SKYWATCHING

Four moments taken in a day, with each one documenting the sky at the time. Cold and fine in the morning, with clouds massing in the afternoon, while rain came in the evening and into the night.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

HEATWAVE SKY

Thick haze descended on Melbourne today, with a north-easterly wind carrying smoke from the fatal NSW bushfires into our city, a distance of hundreds of kilometres. The temperature soared to a maximum of 45˚C making for apocalyptic scenery and a terrible day to have to be outdoors...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

UMBRELLAS

Our weather continues to be extremely variable, vacillating between cold-wetness and hot-dryness. As an example, yesterday we had a maximum of 16˚C and periods of rain and wind, while today we enjoyed a lovely Spring day with a maximum of 27˚C. Umbrellas are an essential item in our city, so bring a few when you visit!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

NEW ORLEANS, USA

New Orleans (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. Before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranked third, trailing neighbouring Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.

The city of New Orleans is geographically coextensive with Orleans Parish. The city is known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz) and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the “most unique” in the United States.

New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, and occupies both sides of the Mississippi River. The heart of the city and its French Quarter is on the river’s north side. The city and Orleans Parish (French: Paroisse d’Orléans) are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which lies within the city limits, lies to the north and Lake Borgne lies to the east.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

WEATHER CHANGE

A change coming from the West, typical of Melbourne Spring weather.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

WINTRY WEATHER

We are in June, the first Winter month in the Southern Hemisphere, and the weather is being suitably cold and wet. Compared to some other places, Winter in Melbourne is fairly mild, with no snow and tolerably low temperatures.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

AUSTRALIAN IBIS

The Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) is a wading bird of the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is widespread across much of Australia. It has a predominantly white plumage with a bare, black head, long downcurved bill and black legs. Its sister species is the sacred ibis.

Historically rare in urban areas, the Australian white ibis has migrated to urban areas of the east coast in increasing numbers since the late 1970s; it is now commonly seen in Wollongong, Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Townsville. In recent years the bird has also become increasingly common in Perth, Western Australia, and surrounding towns in south-western Australia. Populations have disappeared from natural breeding areas such as the Macquarie Marshes in north-western New South Wales.

Management plans have been introduced to control problematic urban populations in Sydney. From its habit of rummaging in garbage, the species has acquired a variety of colloquial names such as "tip turkey" and "bin chicken." It is known as mardungurra among the Yindjibarndi people of the central and western Pilbara.

The pond is looking a little dry as we have had little rainfall this Autumn. Some rain predicted for this week, so we may see the pond getting topped up!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme,

and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

INDIAN SUMMER

We've had a few days of Indian Summer over the past few days,  It's lovely walking weather!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme

LIGHTNING

Lightning | ˈlʌɪtnɪŋ | noun [mass noun]
The occurrence of a natural electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically also thunder: A tremendous flash of lightning lit up the night and illuminated the empty street.
• [count noun] Literary - a flash or discharge of lightning: The sky was a mass of black cloud out of which lightnings flashed.
ORIGIN

Middle English: Special use of lightening (verbal noun from lighten2).

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

SUMMER STORM

Last Wednesday we had a very hot Summer's day with the temperature reaching 38˚C. In the afternoon a change rolled through and the temperature dropped dramatically as a Summer storm brewed and rain pelted down on and off for a few hours. Overnight the temperature dropped further to 18˚C...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

HOT

We are enjoying some sunny, hot days in Melbourne as Summer leaves us and Autumn is coming in. The last chance to enjoy the delights of the beach and the sea...

This post is part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SUMMER RAIN

The last couple of weeks we have had some unstable weather in Melbourne, with temperatures climbing up to 42˚C and then plunging down to 18˚C. Add to that a couple of Summer storms and rain, which at some stage really pelted down. Now this week we expect maxima in the mid-30˚C range. Still, to see rain is good and the gardens appreciate it after the hot days...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

WILD MELBOURNE WEATHER

Over the past couple of days we have had a cold front sweeping through Victoria and bringing with it some wild weather: Cold, rain, winds, hail and thunderstorms with lightning. More than 40 millimetres of rain have fallen over the past two days, with Melbourne on track to record its wettest April since 2001.

Wednesday was the coldest day in Melbourne so far this year with a maximum of about 14˚C, and averaging 11˚C for most of the day. Hail hit Melbourne's south-east suburbs on Wednesday afternoon, particularly Toorak. There were also reports of hail in Brighton, Alphington, Fairfield (where the photos below were taken), and Pakenham throughout the day.

The Darebin Creek in the Parklands at Fairfield/Alphington flooded with a great deal of water coming through at a great speed. We are expecting more of these weather conditions over the next couple of days.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,

and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

RAIN...

It's been raining again for the most of the day today and the greens were all freshly washed, like this tree banksia in the neighbours' yard.

This post is part of the Friday Greens meme.

HAIL

Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Hailstones consist mostly of water ice and measure between 5 millimetres and 15 centimetres in diameter.

Hail is possible within most thunderstorms as it is produced by cumulonimbi, and within about 4 km of the parent storm. Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air with the parent thunderstorm (similar to tornadoes) and lowered heights of the freezing level. In the mid-latitudes, hail forms near the interiors of continents, while in the tropics, it tends to be confined to high elevations.

There are methods available to detect hail-producing thunderstorms using weather satellites and weather radar imagery. Hailstones generally fall at higher speeds as they grow in size, though complicating factors such as melting, friction with air, wind, and interaction with rain and other hailstones can slow their descent through Earth's atmosphere. Severe weather warnings are issued for hail when the stones reach a damaging size, as it can cause serious damage to human-made structures and, most commonly, farmers' crops.

This is a Spring hailstorm in Melbourne, Australia.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.