Morning Glory Clouds of the Gulf of Carpentaria

Morning Glory Data

Morning Glory Soaring Flight Information
Date, Location, Strength and comments

1989
13/10/89 Burketown AD	4000ft, 70km + long, evaporated about half-way to Gregory. (Moon 13 days old)
1990
10/10/90	Good Wave to Pt Parker (Moon 22 days old)
12/10/90	Good wave, tops @5000 but soared to 9,600
14/10/90	Weak wave, not really soarable
15/10/90	Good wave, soared 300km
16/10/90 .	Very weak wave, not soarable
1991
1/10/91	Moderate wave, soared 100km 1.5 hours
2/10/91	Good Morning Glory, soared 200km, 3.5 hours (moon 23 days old)
3/10/91	Good wave, soared 200km, max height 9,400ft, 3.5 hours.
5/10/91	Weak late system well out to sea 11:00 am.
6/10/91	Good Morning Glory, averaged @110 knots for 80km, soared back to Burketown.
7/10/91	Good Glory, soared 2 hours with Doug Christie.
17/10/91	Weak wave
1992
29/9/92	Well formed but weak wave, soared 3 hours.
3/10/92	Weak but soarable wave, from NNE, soared @150km.
4/10/92	Quite strong Morning Glory, 5 or 6 clouds, soared @ 150km. (Moon 8 days old)
7/10/92	Strong wave, soared 330km in 1 hour 54mins to @ 55km E of Boraloolla. (Moon 11 days old)
8/10/92	Very weak wave, not soarable. Wave arrived BKT 6:15am.
1993
@20/9/93	Moderate wave, soared to Sweers Island
@25/9/93	Rudi Gausmaier soared clear-air MG 300km in LS4a Top
7/10/93	Weak soarable MG over BKT
8/10/93	Weak soarable MG over BKT @ 40 mins
9/10/93	Good wave system, soared 2.5 hours
10/10/93	Reasonable system well out to sea, lift rarely over 3 knots.
14/10/93	Large weak system, 4 waves, 3 hours
15/10/93	Large weak system, 5 waves, soared 3.75 hours.
1994
18/10/94	Soared 2 hours
19/10/94	Soared 2.5 hours
<20/10/94 Wave arrived over BKT AD first light	Soared to Groote Eylandt - @ 6 hours (Full Moon, 15 days old). Report
1995
29/9/95	Strong MG went inland to Adel's Grove, soared by HG pilots Al Giles & Cmac. Tops 5000+' (details)
30/9/95	Strong MG went inland to Gregory Downs Grove, soared by HG pilots Billo, Al & PK. Tops 3500'.
1/10/95	V weak system, not soarable.
11/10/95	V weak MG.
12/10/95	Good wave, soared 3 hours (Moon 18 days old)
13/10/95	Good wave, soared 3 hours
15/10/95	Large but broken wave system, soared to Sweers, 3 hours
1996
no data as yet
1997
August 1997	Two strong waves were photographed at Massacre Inlet on successive days. Frank of BKT AirSea Rescue possibly has more info.
Mid Sept 97	Geoff Pratt of Cairns soared the Monerai on one or more strong systems.
27/9/97	Very strong MG over BKT at 5:15am, 4 or 5 well formed waves moving very fast. 1st wave well before 1st light. (Moon 25 days old)
11/10/97	Moderate MG, 3 hours soaring
12/10/97	Weak MG, 2 hours soaring.
16/10/97 Rare Easterly MG	Quite good MG, possibly the following two days also. Geoff Pratt in the Monerai. (Full moon 16/10, 15 days old) Cloud aligned N/S, 6,500 tops.
1998
18/9/98	Soared 1 hour on a small weak cloud and landed at Sweers. 1 hour soaring.
19/9/98	Soared 1.5 hours on a small but strong cloud out to Mornington.
28/9/98	Soared about 2.5 hours
29/9	Soared about 1.5 hours
4/10/98 Richard Holle's predictions 100% correct	Soared about 2 hours
5/10/98	Soared about 1.5 hours
6/10/98	Soared about 1 hour.
1999
4/9/99	N/E MG, tops 3.5 to 5k', quite strong cloud extended past Sweers. Anthony Robinson of Savair, Baron.
21/9/99 Richard Holle's predictions 90% correct	Soared 1.7 hours - good wave
22/9/99	V strong wave - soared 2.3 hours. Tops 6,000', lift exceeding 15knots. Did not appear soarable past Mornington.
24/9/99	Series of 4 dry Glories at 1st light.
7/10/99	Wave at 5:10am over BKT, ref Amanda W.
12/10/99	Strong wave about 100 - 150 km long, tops 7000', rain from upper system.
2000
August 2000	Several reports, no detailed information
20/9/00	Strong wave (GP*)
21/9/00	Strong wave (GP)
22-24/9/00	no wave (GP)
25/9 to 1/10/00	Good clouds every day - 7 days in a row! (GP)
2/10 - 3/10	no wave (GP)
4/10/00 Wednesday	Medium cloud over BKT just before dawn, Geoff caught up with this & soared 1 hour. Followed by 7 octas cloud over BKT by 8:30am. (GP)
5/10 - 7/10/00	no wave
8/10/00	Good cloud (GP)
9/10/00	Good cloud (GP)
10/10/00	Dry Glory - flown by Geoff Sim in the ASH (GP)
11/10 - 12/10	no wave (GP)

	* GP - Geoff Pratt

2005
Partial Records courtesy Simon Plint, Billo, Phil Behnke, Mark Warrender & R. White.
26/9/2005	moderate
28/9/05	quite good
29/9/05	quite good
30/9/05	quite good
2006
	none any good for HG soaring (Billo)
	nothing between 27/9 and 7/10 (Russell)
2007
25/9/2007	quite good
1/10/2007	quite good
5/10/2007	very good
7/10/2007	weak
2008
19th Sept 2008	quite large over Burketown
Nov 2008	Reports of several waves early November
2009
13/9	arrived before first light, dry glory. Not soared.
14/9	Quite good soarable glory, much of it over the land.
20/9	Excellent MG, 3hr 40min soaring
21/9	Great Glory, 3hr 40 again
23/9	Southerly MG 3hr 10min
26/9	Small MG hidden in fog and mist 2hr 30 (from Middle Point to Bentinck Is)
1/10	Fairly good over land, but poor visibility
2/10	Same as previous morning.
11/10	Quite good glory
12/10	Very strong, arrived over airfield 10 mins after first light. 15 knots of lift on primary.
13/10	Quite good glory. 20th Anniversary of first glory flight.
14/10	Weak Morning Glory soared by Nigel & Fuzzy Bob

Lunar Declinational Tides

Email me please with further info. I particularly need logbook entries for any relevant dates. Short (or not so short) descriptions of flights, annecdotes etc gratefully accepted.

2010
Very bad year for Morning Glory, almost no waves.
12/10/2010	Reasonable glory, soared by Diane Davey and Erich Wittstock in Falke. Appeared much stronger out to sea.

Huge Morning Glory Cloud at Point Parker, 1994

Morning Glory Cloud approaching Kangaroo Point, 1993

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