Bumpkin

Hello everyone

I am a newbie to this forum - husband and I have recently been thinking about moving to Australia, having not even decided on which area would be best for us, my first question has to be - Do you get really bad thunder storms?? Summer and winter storms??? and if so which areas are deemed to have a higher frequency of these??

Sorry I know this probably sounds really silly but I am absolutely terrified of storms and I have been in quite a few very bad ones in Europe. Where we are in the UK we seem to be lucky and not had a bad storm for years.

Thanks in advance - and I know it does sound a bit weird but I would like to know.

Bumpkin x

Burbage

Hardly any storms in South East Queensland. You'll be pretty safe there.

The Bloke

I see you live in cyclone central......

Burbage

Disinformation is the purpose of the internet. Surprising how few people realise that.

homewardbound

Ummm at the pools today it started to rain, within seconds a HUGE clap of lightening came from nowhere immediately followed by the thunder, the alarm telling the kdis to get out of the pool and the HAIL omg the hail... To be fair we kinda saw it coming but didnt realise it would come so soon... it all added to the excitement of the dday.

You DO get used to it I promise... just like you get used to the spiders, cockroaches and other crawlies - I promise you.

Burbage

It's the natives I can't get used to.

Pollyana

http://www.qldstorms.com/

http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cy...20081116.shtml

Approx 220 storm warnings were issued in Qld in Nov/Dec 2008. At an educated guess (having worked on most of them!) 85% probably covered Brisbane/SE Qld.

Burbage

Shhhhh!

Pollyana

I think we should send all the newbies north - all you ever get there is a spot of wind

moneypenny20

What are you accusing Bix of

Pollyana

Eating too many beans maybe?

Look out for Cyclone Heinz....?!!

Bumpkin

Thanks for your replys so far - keep em coming....

I am very serious about this, I would end up a jibbering wreck if we went to an area that gets really bad storms, so I thought I would research this very early on into our possible move to Oz.

I am guessing some of you want the newbies to go elsewhere and not near to you.

Many thanks
Bumpkin x

Pollyana

I'm just telling it as it is. I work in emergency management in Queensland, and for 4-5 months of the year our focus is on major thunderstorms, cyclones and floods.

Thunderstorms here build very quickly, and can bring winds over 100kms an hour with no warning, hail the size of golfballs is common (and we have had reports recently of hail the size of melons, in Qld), and flash flooding occurs often as a result of the amazingly heavy rain that can fall - 100s of mm in only a few hours.

If you go back and search through this forum and the Barbie you will find plenty of threads about thunderstorm warnings, pictures of the storms, and reports of the damage. For Queenslanders at least, storms are not to be taken lightly, and although I only have experience of storms here the reports that we see from other States indicate te same - a thunderstorm here is a mroe serious matter than in the UK.

www.bom.gov.au is the Bureau of Meteorology site, and it has many facts and figures about Aussie weather.
Also have a look at www.disaster.qld.gov.au and that will give you an idea of the seriousness with which storms are viewed here in Queensland.

Bumpkin

Pollyana thank you for telling me like it is - thats exactly what I need to know, and like you say other States indicate the same. I will now have a good look through the other threads on the Barbie.

Many thanks again
Bumpkin

moneypenny20

That bit was a joke, following on from Burbage and The Bloke.

Anywhere tropical or sub tropical will have storms - nature of the beast so if it is a problem for you then avoid Queensland completely. No idea about the other states but would assume, like the UK that storms happen. Hope you find what you're looking for.