July: Storm front sails into Sydney harbour

Terry Ross, a former current affairs cameraman, now enjoys a less stressful life as a real estate photographer. But urgency was the order of the day mid-afternoon in August 2008 when he glimpsed storm clouds rolling over Sydney harbour — “huge, like a big cigar”, he says. Terry sped to Rushcutters Bay, possibly ignoring a number of road rules. “I was thinking madly of the right lens and exposure; it’s no good to just whack it on automatic mode.” He shot a dozen frames in a minute and got soaked retreating to the car. The thunderstorm, rain and small hail that hit Sydney was due to a cold front and low pressure system that had moved across New South Wales, producing heavy rainfall in the south of the state and snow on the Central Tablelands earlier in the day.

Cold fronts are formed when a wedge of cold, dense air undercuts a mass of warmer air, forcing it aloft. The water vapour in the air rising ahead of the front condenses and forms clouds and possibly thunderstorms. Frontal systems vary in intensity and speed; the stronger systems often producing thunderstorms and heavy rain, and the slower moving systems often associated with high rainfall totals.

Note: The photograph in the printed calendar is NOT watermarked with a copyright symbol and name.

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