Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:20:46 +0000 (GMT)
From: John McBride <jmb@BoM.GOV.AU>
To: synoptic_discussion@BoM.GOV.AU
Subject: [synoptic_discussion] Canberra Fires

     1.   I hope all in the Canberra Office are safe and that thir families and
     homes are safe.

     2.   Events like this really bring home the importance of what we as a
     Weather Bureau do.  They also serve as an important reminder that the
     guys on the bench do work that saves lives.

     3.   I hesitate to say this as I know these are times of stress and work
     over-load... still.... if anyone in the Canberra or Sydney offices
     can summarise the meteorology of the situation, now, while it is a
     fresh experience, he/she would be making a very important
     contribution.

Regards
John McB

Blair Trewin
I come from Canberra myself and have been following the situation with
intense interest; my family's area was unscathed in the end (although it was
a close-run thing for a couple of hours), but several friends have lost
houses and there are others who live in the area from whom I haven't heard.

One interesting aspect is the apparent extreme local wind behaviour in the
immediate vicinity of the fire. Many of you will have seen pictures like the
one of all the power poles bent at 45-degree angles, or large trees
levelled; I've also heard of one street in Chapman where no houses were
burnt but most were unroofed. (The strongest gust at Canberra Airport was, I
believe, 78 km/h). I don't know if there will be any instrumental obs of
this; our Holt site (which I presume has been destroyed, although I don't
know this for sure) doesn't appear to take wind speed obs. It's possible
that people like Mount Stromlo Observatory or the Ionospheric Prediction
Service installation (also on Stromlo) might have their own obs, although
again I doubt if any instruments would have survived.

Dewpoints were well below 0 for several hours; at 1800 on Saturday afternoon
the DB/dewpoint was 34.9/-13.0.

Blair