Sea-breezes in the Latrobe Valley

Examination of surface wind data in the Latrobe Valley region of Victoria reveals the existence of sea-breezes penetrating as far as 100 km Inland from the southeastern coast of Australia. The sea-breeze enters the valley near this coast by one of two routes. It either flows over the hills running parallel to the coast on the southeast side of the valley or is diverted around them and enters from a northeasterly direction. The former path is preferred about three times more than the latter, the actual route chosen depending on the synoptic wind. On a number of days the sea-breeze was tracked by a vehicle equipped with wind, temperature and humidity measuring Instruments. The above conclusions were confirmed and on one occasion a further sea breeze was detected. This came over a saddle in the Strzelecki Range to the south and moved northeast down the valley, meeting the usual sea-breeze from the opposite direction near Mont ell (about 80 km up the valley). A surprising phenomenon encountered on this day was the advection of drier air into the valley by the sea-breezes. Interesting small-scale features associated with sea-breeze fronts were also recorded during these excursions.