Possible storms - 9/9/2010

[Hamlan]

Thanks for posting those clips. I love seeing different views of the same storms. Its the next best thing to being able to be in two places at once.....

[Jake Smethurst]

Today I saw in our local paper the word 'mini-tornado', which I utterly disgust!! But it made me interested into where this story was based. Turns out that it was northwest of Warrnambool at a place called Macarthur. Paper interviewed the local people who said there is a lot of trees up-rooted and there was a period of heavy winds. It all occurred at about 4pm when the severe thunderstorms moved over. I will check out the radar scans shortly and see if I can see anything noticable, though might not have time tonight but will do it sometime tomorrow. Anyone else feel free if you wish!

[Hamlan]

Hey Jake, I have had a look at the Melb 256km radar scan and at 3.42pm the reflectivity shows a very interesting signature. So I looked up Macarthur on googlemap and guess what, it's located in the same area as the storm at 3.42pm! I am going to hold off on calling it a hook as it's not my forte but it looks like what I would expect a hook to look like on low resolution radar, so maybe I am calling it a hook then! haha. It wouldnt surprise me in the least if John Allen or another expert on radar interpretation makes the call. We were watching those cells at the time while planning our chase up north and I recall John saying that there were several impressive supercell returns down there and it's certainly an impressive radar return. If anyone wants to see old radar runs, try here:

http://radar.strikeone.net.au/?fuseacti ... playitem=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brad

[Hamlan]

Ok, here are some of my pics (some taken by John for me!) of the St Arnaud supercell of Thurs 9th Sept 2010. Note the anvil streaming overhead, the strong inflow features and low wallcloud on approach, then the storm core looming prior to us core punching, then the first view we got after emerging from the intense rain and hail core is of the rotating wall cloud above us. The rotation was very impressive and the best (and closest and the lowest and the most persistent) i've witnessed in Australia. I now note there are damaged and downed trees in some of my early pics of the wall cloud but I cannot confirm that this occured with this storm or not. I didnt notice them at the time amidst the adrenalin! There were some crazy inflow and funnel features under this wall cloud and it looked very likely to produce a tornado. Then we got hit by RFD and moved position where we the structure further east was just phenomenal. Enjoy!

[brayden]

I thought that Macarthur cell was intense! thanks for the pics Brad

[Jake Smethurst]

Great Pics mate!!

I have had a look today at the radar scans, both Melbourne 256 km and Mt. Gambier 128 km, and as you say Brad, some interesting signatures lined up for Macarthur! I would also probably say it's a hook, but I am still learning in regards to reading radar returns for thunderstorms, but definitley fits the witnesses of a tornado in the region. It was a very intense storm! I should also note that we saw an amazing wall cloud as it approached us east of Warrnambool near Camperdown, it was amazing and had very strong lowerings with rotation as well. Anyway, looking forward to John's comments on this one when he has time. I would say it's a hook.

Also on a side note, our local paper, The Standard, got this photo of Warrnambool during the morning on Thursday ahead of early thunderstorms (ones before the afternoon). See here .... http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/n ... 37510.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Hamlan]

Here are some panoramic shots of the St Arnaud supercell for perspective of its structure including the wall cloud, inflow tail in background beyond the wall cloud (feeding into the storm cyclonically), tail cloud into the wall and more! Even the last pano when we thought it may be going to a shelf cloud form, the storm was actually pulling the cloud into the circulation (below the towering updraft) from right to left, hence the laminar look. I love this storm!