Saturday, 18 August 2012

BARRINGTON TOPS SNOW CHASE

From: Barrington Tops, Written by: Grant Burgess

http://www.raymondterrace.hunterweather.com/

Accompanied by Trevor Burgess

With a strong low pressure system in the south & solid snowfalls across the Central Tablelands to reasonably low levels overnight & this morning, I was keen to see what the Barrington Tops had on offer. I was hopeful to see snow falling today & distant cloud around the mountains reinforced my confidence in this.

The drive up the valley saw patchy stratocumulus cloud increase & as we approached the mountains this turned into a cover of broken stratocumulus cloud. Wind on the drive up the valley was strong & cool from the north west.

Arrived at the Dingo Gate (1300m ASL) at 1300 with a temperature of 4°C on the car thermometer. Further on at Polblue (1450m ASL), the car thermometer read 1°C on arrival at 1317. Temperature on my electronic sensor remained just below 3°C whilst at Polblue. Unfortunately no trace of ice or snow was to be found anywhere. Conditions were overcast with the odd light spot of drizzle, winds were light from the north west. I heard a report from some campers in the area that snow fell briefly the previous night but melted quickly.

This turned out to be my first ever chase in the BT's where I have not come across ANY ice or snow in the area. Before future chases I intend on taking more notice of the Newcastle radar for echoes in the area. Road conditions however were excellent, probably the best I have ever seen.