MORNING GLORY MAGIC

After a couple of lacklustre seasons, in 2009 we are seeing some spectacular Morning Glory Clouds - they started early, and have been quite consistent. This year it is 20 years since the first glider surfed a Morning Glory Cloud, that was Rob Thompson and Russell White - and they are joined in Burketown this year by a host of other gliders, trikes and hang-gliders. Russell has been here nearly every year since that first flight, here he is again on Sweers...

And here is Rob, in his newer aircraft - (Rob & Russell first flew on the MG in their jointly-owned ZAK but now Rob is flying YT which has a most interesting history! ERestored ex Indonesian military trainer...hopefully we can put this history on our Aircraft page (when Lyn gets some free time!!!) Meanwhile, here are Rob and Nigel and also Tex helping remove the film camera for the flight back to the mainland, after another wonderful surf along one of the best north-origin Glories we've seen this year...

On Sept 23rd we were treated to the rare southern glory - with 6 perfect formations rolling over Sweers, and several more sighted over Mornington Island. The clouds usually roll in from the northeast, so this was a rare treat, and although they were not the most photogenic ones we've seen, here are a couple of photos:

Facing south, you can see one roll overhead and another approaching.....the wind really picked up as they went over - 28 knots - see the flagpole bend!

Another roll approaching the island from the south...and then it rolls off to the north...

The clouds passed over around 7am, while we listened on the news about the severe dust storms down south. Around 9am, our southerly wind swung round to the north, and the clouds blew back again, this time joining up to form a sheet of Altocumulus, just a few gaps showing how they had once been rolls. Then, around lunchtime, the wind swung to the southeast and we soon saw the orange glow in the sky that within the hour had us enveloped in dust, nowhere near as bad as down south, but enough to ground an aircraft here and prevent another flying in from Burketown. A strange day for weather! And the Bureau of Meteorology was here making their annual inspection of Sweers Island Weather Observation Station!

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