Thank you for that info Colmait. I did some searching yesterday and found this site called Oscilmet where you can access the last two weeks of Australian Weather Radar. It is a free registration so I signed up and was able to look at the radar from Thursday afternoon for the Rothwell area.

This is a link to the site: http://www.oscilmet.com.au/?page=l.p


These are screenshots of the 128km Mt Stapylton radar images from 31.10.24 4.59pm and 5.04pm that I got from the Oscilmet site.






I don't know if we are not reading the radar properly but the images didn't make us think there would be hail just some rain. As I mentioned previously the hail was only small.



By coincidence I read an interesting article yesterday by Meteorologist Anthony Cornelius that had a section called "Why Did it Hail When The Radar Showed No Precipitation?"

This is what he said in the article:

"The storm briefly weakened as the cooler outflow from the Rear Flank Downdraft (RFD) pushed ahead of it, temporarily cutting off the warm inflow. However, the storm’s inflow quickly fought back (thanks to the deep, gusty, easterly winds in the lower atmosphere), “bringing the storm back to life” and intensifying it across central to eastern Brisbane, where it delivered extensive large to golf-ball-sized hail.

For many, the hail came as a surprise, falling even before rain appeared on radar. This phenomenon, known as “clear-air hail,” can occur in strong storms when hail wraps around or falls ahead of the updraft due to intense winds. Because this hail occurs in the storm’s overhang, it can sometimes be missed by radar, especially if hailstones are sporadic."

He added: "In some cases, the updraft ahead of the storm can stop rain from falling to the ground as the rain is too light to fall through the updraft. This is known as a "Weak Echo Region." However, as hail is heavier than rain, the hail can fall down through the updraft and reach the ground. So even when there is no precipitation showing on the ground, sporadic hailstorms can occur giving the impression that it's "hailing out of thin air." Source: MetCentre"

Link to article: https://www.weatherwatch...bringing-widespread-hail