Something moderately unusual occurred last night in Melbourne. No, it wasn’t the fact that water and wind combined to lash portions of the city – in fact, it would be pretty unusual if that didn’t happen. It was the shape of those cloud formations which had eager radar-watchers convinced the city was being attacked by Pac-Man.
The Bureau Of Meteorology’s radar imagery showed the clusters of storm clouds moving across the western part of Victoria towards the capital, which was all well and good…
Radar shows rain moving in from the west, with 17mm recorded at Portland. May see some lighter falls in the #Melbourne area later this afternoon, but rain will be more widespread tonight. https://t.co/xwQpBKTYPI pic.twitter.com/zPXioVMEyi
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) May 3, 2018
… Until that cloud cover morphed into a more definitive shape. A shape which many, many people noticed.
Melbourne is about to be eaten by a Pac-Man storm #melbweather pic.twitter.com/0ptjzA4H4H
— Chris (@chrisjamesyoung) May 3, 2018
Melbourne currently under attack by Pacman rainstorm… #Melbweather pic.twitter.com/gR8w5GEoft
— Andrew Farrell (@eDilettante) May 3, 2018
Seriously @BOM_Vic, what the hell is going on?! #melbweather pic.twitter.com/HjYQPgAMPE
— not Tim (@kimnottim) May 3, 2018
RIP Melbourne. Eated by Pac-Man. pic.twitter.com/23ZrgBZctz
— Andrew McDonald (@andrewmcdonald) May 3, 2018
So looking at the radar, there’s some weird big C weather shield going on around Melbourne at the moment. pic.twitter.com/3G2DxXrFbR
— Non Sensible Kate (@nonsensiblekate) May 3, 2018
I’m not sure why the Melbourne rain radar is a donut with a bite taken out of it, but I’m glad I’m still dry pic.twitter.com/7tg1OdYkcE
— Matt (@michalowski) May 3, 2018
The proliferation of that imagery raised a few questions. The first, and most pressing: why were so many people watching the weather radar on a Thursday night? We’re awaiting answers on that one, but The Age reached out to BOM’s senior forecaster Chris Godfred for an explanation on the unique shape.
According to him, it’s the result of a “common phenomenon” where air rushing downward creates a “rain shadow”, which keeps precipitation at bay.
Of course, it was only temporary, and the metropolitan area was subjected to quite a bit of rain as the evening progressed. But for a brief moment, the fine city of Melbourne was one hundred percent about the be absorbed by a colossal video game legend.