News DetailAustralian Supercell Insanity!!
Posted At: September 24, 2008 @ 10:15 AM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: Tornadoes
On September 20 and 21, conditions were perfect across Eastern Australia for supercells, with 2000+ J/kg CAPE values, -8 to -9 LIs, and sufficient wind shear. Australian storm chaser Cameron Hines documented supercells on both days, including one of the largest mesocyclones he's ever seen in 8 years of Australia storm chasing. A sea breeze front propagated westward on this day and met the supercell with enhanced wind shear -- the easterly surface flow resulted in nearly 180 degrees of turning with height! Here is video from September 20 shot by Cameron Hines:
On the following day, a monster HP storm formed near the town of Rathdowney in far Southeast Queensland. Cameron also intercepted this storm, which produced straightline winds of 100 km/hr and golf ball size hail! Given that early spring is the season down there, the storm season is just now taking off!
On the following day, a monster HP storm formed near the town of Rathdowney in far Southeast Queensland. Cameron also intercepted this storm, which produced straightline winds of 100 km/hr and golf ball size hail! Given that early spring is the season down there, the storm season is just now taking off!
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the only speed a tornado can reach is 318mph. the moore was almost an f6!
Absolutely Reed.
Those two days produced some of the best supercells in a long time. Although no tornadoes this time around, the structure, lightning and huge hail was something to experience. A lot of the eastern state's chasers had a field day during these events. A better start to that side of the country's season than last year for sure.
Nice storms indeed
Not like the good ole Plains in the springtime... but anything meso related will do. Nada since the 14th.
Nice structure on those though.
Posted some Satellite images of the Hagupit landfall. Look at the amazing size of the Typhoon at its peak
Poland tornado insanity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1FgWJTwUMg&feature=related
Normunds: Were you the one who filmed that tornado?
No, no. I just found this video. I am just big fan of storms, but I live in Latvia. We had small tornado on 5th of september here - a cow was piked up one apple tree garden complitely destroyed. It is quite interesting cause there are now such strong storms in september, as this year. I never seen a tornado myself, just pretty strong straightline winds from strong thunderstorms. It was category 2 severe weather rish in the day the videos was made. Nice cite about european convective severe weather www.estofex.org
Nice!! does anyone know the strongest tornado ever recorded in Australia? I bet MikeO knows this!!
Reed, you stated above that the supercell had almost 180 degrees of turning. Does a larger amount of turning affect strength more than the actual wind speeds?
Hope that makes sense.
Is anyone on the cells east of Oakley KS? I'll bet Dickm is probably on it. They are looking pretty reasonable on radar.. Sparse hunting meso's dot com...
Hey Strike...there are two ways to accomplish a desired low-level shear vector: changing speed or windspeed with height, and usually a combination of both. A longer shear vector means more changing speed and direction with height, but the orientation of that shear vector relative to the storm motion is also important. Even though there was a lot of turning and probably speed shear in the low-level environment of this supercell, it likely wasn't oriented correctly for a tornado to form. The reason tornadoes happen so often at night is because the speed shear dramatically increases during evening when the low-level jet develops..
The meso in the first video is beautiful...wonderful looking storm!!! Anyone else notice that the vault/precip region is located on the left side of the storm? I'm always used to seeing it on the right, or am I out to lunch tonight!!???
So the right alignment for tornadoes comes in the form of SRH? The Higher the value the greater the tornado possibility.
Reed.. thanx for the ex to strike.. BTW... Isn't the queensland coast an east facing coast? If so the coastal flow described "A sea breeze front propagated westward on this day" .. shouldn't that reversed? Just trying to figure out what you're trying to get across in the title myself.. Cheers mate
Hi JC. . . That's true.. Which is why in my area storms that develop usually follow a sw to ne shear pattern.. But more often than not supercells that occur regularly result from the onset of the sea breeze front.. When this happens. . Storms that become supercells then begin to take a direct south to north (left movers) path as a result.. Less often do they affect near coastal areas.like Brisbane city!
Thanks Cameron... Thought about that and said Hmm... Spent a bit of time out there during a film project. Can't wait to get back to Currumbin Alley.. The best foliage and surf this side of heaven. Cheers mate.
The Bucca Queensland tornado in 1992 i think is the strongest to date.
Had a path length of 51km, with peak wind-speeds estimated at over 250km/h; however American meteorologists studying the event concluded that the wind-speeds could have topped 300km/h.
We've had F4/5's here. Last year the Dunoon NSW tornado was rated EF3.
Atlantic side showing up again.. Kyle is spinning up the cyclone scales.. Looks like a hurricane possible but landfall possible is northeast US. Large surf advisory in effect for east coast attm.
Finally... a tornado report. First on in almost 2 weeks. The meso dance in North Carolina.. Cheers.