Severe thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall, strong wind gusts and abundant hail to portions of South Australia on Thursday, and for some locations just outside of the state's capital of Adelaide, so much hail fell that it began to look more like a winter wonderland than spring.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Adelaide region as storms began to get feisty late Wednesday into early Thursday.
Adelaide avoided some of the worst impacts from these strong storms. However, its northern suburbs were not as fortunate.
Fairview, a northeastern Adelaide suburb, received 0.87 of an inch (22.2 mm) of rain in a rather short amount of time. Considering the region typically receives less than 2 inches (50 mm) of rainfall on average for the month of October, about half a month's rainfall in just a few hours led to some serious issues.
As of Friday afternoon, local time, South Australia's State Emergency Service had already been called out to around 1300 incidents across the state. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
A complicating factor for some of these roadways were storm drains that became blocked by an overabundance of small hail.
Elsewhere, so much small hail fell that grassy and paved areas alike were completely covered.
Strong winds also howled across the state on Thursday. Winds averaged more than 37 mph (60 km/h) with gusts higher than 56 mph (90 km/h) at times on Thursday.
In addition to the risks more typically presented with severe thunderstorms, Thursday's storms also created a lesser-known hazard called "thunderstorm asthma."
In the state of Victoria, located just east of South Australia, the Victorian Department of Health issued the first high risk alert of the season for epidemic thunderstorm asthma on Thursday. According to the agency, thunderstorm asthma is thought to be triggered by a unique combination of high amounts of grass pollen in the air and a certain type of thunderstorm.
This phenomenon can trigger severe asthma symptoms for people who have asthma or hay fever.
28 окт 2021