East Coast Low (2003-06-26)

At 1600 UTC on 24 June a LOW was centred about 150 nm east-northeast of Townsville.

The system moved generally southeastward fairly quickly and by 0600 UTC on the 26th had reached a position approximately 325 nm east-southeast of Brisbane and sustained winds to 53 knots (the lowest MSL pressure there was 991.5hPa) were recorded at Lord Howe Island as the storm passed just to the west of that station on the 26th.

Another interesting feature of this storm system was a small trough system which circulated around the parent LOW. This small cyclonic eddy moved inland into northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland where it caused localized severe wind damage and brought torrential rain.

The heaviest 24h rainfall to 2300UTC 25 June was Ballina Airport, NSW 190 mm. The heaviest 24h rainfall to 2300UTC 26 June wasByron Bay, NS 176 mm. Six fishermen from the 25-metre, 80-ton vessel "Tan Sula" were rescued 32 nm east of Cape Byron on the northern NSW coast on 27 June by being winched onto two helicopters from Brisbane and Lismore.

Seas on the Gold Coast of Queensland were large with significant wave heights to 4.3 m at the Brisbane wave rider buoy on 26 June. In NSW significant heights reached 5.5 m on the 27th at Coffs Harbour. Surfers were injured by the large waves and there were six major rescues off the NSW coast by lifeguards.

Rivers overflowed in northern NSW causing flooding around Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby and Byron Bay. Police rescued a 14-year old boy at Stokers Siding, 50 km from Byron Bay, who tried to save a calf from rising waters and became trapped in a tree.

A fire brigade helped to evacuate children from two schools in the Brunswick region because buses were unable to cross the flooded roads. The large waves made river entrances in northern NSW and southern Queensland virtually impassable.

The small trough system circulating around the larger LOW caused localized severe wind damage on the southern Gold Coast. Trees were brought down and a dozen homes were damaged by fallen trees, which also caused power outages. The Coolangatta AWS recorded 10-min avg winds to 34 kts for a brief period of less than 30 minutes.

This event is classified as an East Coast Low.

More about East Coast Lows
Harden Up
Bureau of Meteorology website
The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research report