Topic: Extreme weather in Northern Australia including an EF2

[pvwxaustralia]

Hi all,
We've had an unbelievable week of weather here in Northern Australia, particularly in the last 24 hours.

I posted a few days ago that we were expecting rainfall of between 300mm (12 in) and 500mm (20in).

So far here my station has recorded 798mm (31.41 inches) for this rain storm event.

With 314mm (12.36 inches) of that all falling today. From Midnight this morning to 10:30pm (current time) we've had 314mm of rain here from a fiercely active monsoon trough combining with a tropical depression inland and a firm ridge along the coastal areas caused by a high pressure system to the south.

This rain has been falling anywhere from Cairns (about 1000km/620 miles) north of me, right down to about St Lawrence (about 150km/95 miles) south of me.

And this morning the most extreme thing of this whole event occurred in the city of Townsville, which is about 400km (250 miles) to my north.

Yesterday afternoon the Bureau of Meterology issued a warning for the Townsville area and areas inland for the potential for damaging wind gusts up to 90 km/hr due to the proximity of the tropical depression. Little did the people of Townsville know what was coming.

At 4:42am this morning the pressure was reading 1002.0hPa and winds were gusting to 43 km/hr at the Townsville Airport.
At 5:00am the pressure had fallen dramatically to 999.9hPa with winds gusting to 46 km/hr.
At 5:02am the pressure had fallen further to 998.6hPa, wind gusts to 54 km/hr.
At 5:05am the pressure starting rising to 999.6hPa, with winds gusting to 59 km/hr. Then, one minute later.
At 5:06am the pressure increased to 1000.2hPa, winds started gusting to 91km/hr.
And at 5:07am the winds started gusting to 111km/hr with the sustained 10 minute average of 76km/hr. That's 69mph gusts, 47mph 10 minute average.

As no doppler radars are installed in the area the Bureau of Meterology just shrugged it off as enhanced winds from a rain storm cell.

It has been discovered since then that a tornado started spinning up right over the top of the Townsville Airport and started moving directly south towards suburban areas of the city.

Within minutes it had ripped the roofs off 40 houses and caused widespread severe damage through the suburb of Vincent at its peak, it then seems it kept heading south as it quite deteriorated and disappeared.

The media quickly jumped on saying that it was a "Mini-cyclone" that went through the area quoting winds of 111km/hr as ripping through the area, though some other parts of town were completely untouched. The media over here tend to try not to frighten people by saying what actually occurred instead saying "Mini-cyclone" every time a tornado occurs here.

Since the event this morning looking through aerial pictures and photos of the area it is obvious that this damage was caused by a tornado.
Local storm chasers from the area who had just returned from Western Australia after chasing Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua examined the area that the tornado occurred in and found debris blown in different directions on the each side of the road and confirmed they are confident it was a tornado.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi also caused damage through the area last year and had recorded gusts to 165km/hr in the city (102 mph). Though the damage in the photos is much, much worse than anything from Cyclone Yasi last year, the residents from the area also report the conditions as being far worse. I was speculating that the winds in the area were likely about 200km/hr (125 mph) and the local storm chasers from the area believe that the effects from the tornado match that of an EF2. And I believe looking at the damage it was definitely either a strong EF2 or a weak EF3 that struck the area.

Typically, the Australian Bureau of Meterology have said nothing other than that a Severe thunderstorm went through the area overnight, they won't confirm or deny the reports of a tornado although it is obvious.

Meanwhile in my area today, we've had 314mm of rain and every single road is closed due to flooding around my small town, we can't get out in any direction. There is absolutely insane amounts of water everywhere.

There is a water height gauge on our local creek and it is currently reporting just under 12 metres (39.4 feet). I've never previously seen it go beyond much more than 10 metres (32.8 feet) and the local roads are usually flooded whenever it is above 8.5 metres (27.9 feet).

We are expecting further heavy rain and the potential for some damaging winds overnight tonight and into tomorrow as that tropical depression comes within the local vicinity (albeit a fair way west).

Although the local BOM won't confirm or deny the tornado in Townsville, they seem pretty worried about cells near the local area, as the main part of the system has been moving down here from the Townsville area.

Earlier tonight there was a small "round"ish cell on the radar and satellite moving towards the local city and they issued a "Very dangerous thunderstorm warning for the potential for destructive winds", the cell disappeared before it got here though thankfully, but it shows they are worried about it.

Amazingly though typical of Australian TV and Radio despite that warning of Possible Destructive Winds and with a possible tornado, there was absolutely no warning given to any locals via TV or Radio, the only people who knew about the warning were those who follow the weather and those who posted it on Facebook.

The Australian media never broadcast any warnings in local areas unless it is for a Cyclone, most warnings are briefly mentioned in news bulletins if they are current at the time of the broadcast but are never mentioned again.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures of Townsville area's tornado destruction shortly.

[DanS]

Wow, being cut off from getting out of town, do you still have access to needed supplies, food, drinking water, etc.? Sounds like you got hit hard.

[pvwxaustralia]

Wow, being cut off from getting out of town, do you still have access to needed supplies, food, drinking water, etc.? Sounds like you got hit hard.

There is a general store in the area we can access (which isn't very far) so we are fine, though eventually that general store will likely run out of supplies too.

I'm just hoping we don't loose power or have a major emergency. Emergency crews or the energy companies would be unable to get anywhere to try helping/fixing things?

Here's a graph of my rainfall here for the last 24 hours. It's quite amazing!!

[pvwxaustralia]

Here's some photos from my area's flooding:

 

 

 

 

 

 
This last one was taken yesterday (before the 315mm of rain, can imagine it's a lot worse now):


This was in the nearby town of Walkerston. Tractors were being used to bring school children to the other side of the creek to there families as the school is on the other side of the creek.

[pvwxaustralia]

Here's some pictures of the Townsville area after the Tornado this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pvwxaustralia]

This was posted on an Australian Weather forum by a local TV news cameraman who lived through the tornado this morning.

i shall repost my report from today trav -

well been so busy at work i havent had a chance to tell my story.

i was out until 1230am shooting flooding all through currajong, fairfield waters, cluden and annandale. some fanatastic fast flowing water through cluden. was awesome to see.
woke at 430am to some thunder and lightning. rain was pretty heavy too. went back to bed for a while until the lightning really picked up again, it was almost constant flashes by this stage. went out onto the verandah and the wind was really picking up, flashes everywhere, even a green flash to my east. in hindsight alot of it would have been power transformers going off. the wind was getting crazy, so i went back inside, and i was getting worries. my wife and then one of my kids came out to the lounge room. and thats when i heard it coming. as they say on tv, like a train or plane overhead the wind just roared in and slammed the house, it shook the house pretty solidly. the glass louvres were all open and alot of them all clashed together it sounded like they were breaking but it was just the wind hitting them and shaking them.
our chairs on the verandah were being tossed about cross the flooring, the rain was intense, just bucketing down, made worse by the force of the wind and all the debris hitting the house.
i didnt want to risk my life going downstairs to get my work camera, so i got out the handycam and just started filming when the power went out, we were left with just a faint glow from the lounge room lights, the clock on the microwave. everything else died. so all i have on film is 15seconds of wind.
by this time i dont mind admiting i was scared, worried about the house and family. i was actually shaking.
finally of course it died down and i couldnt see much due to lack of power.
house was littered with debris, outside furniture tossed about, and the trampoline relocated 20m to be wedged onto the clothes line.
but our house was fine. and only some minor structural damage to guttering.
first light i went outside to start shooting for work. turned into Tregaskis and relised i didnt have to go far at all. it was a nightmare. 200m down the road from my place the 1st house i came across had lost its roof. the owner invited me in to get shots and he was devestated as you can imagine. his housemate spoke to me on camera aswell, he had gone stairs at the time and hung onto the conrete house pylon to save himself. the two cars in the front yard were smashed, both cars were moved off the driveway by the wind and onto the grass. the power pole out front was snapped in half 1m off the ground. the entire street was littered with iron, house debris, whirlybirds, light fittings, downed trees. etc.
after a while i worked my way onto palmerston street and couldnt believe the damage. was like a cat 4 cyclone had swept through. it was a this stage i was certain it was a tornado.
house after house was so badly damaged i was just about in tears thinking about the poor people. there were people i didnt know but had obviously passed in the street, or seen them mowing their lawns, or the like. and here they all were with lost possesions, ruined homes and belongings. and they all need a place to live and to restart.
one woman broke down in tears and cried on her knees in front of me while filming. the look of shock on the locals faces as they all ventured out as daylight struck.
finally the realisation was taking place and the emergency services were arriving on scene. the scanner was full of incidents and priorities were being given. first thing the police did was block the local roads to stop people sightseeing. live powerlines where still down.
and the rest you have all probably seen on the news footage through the day. i feel both lucky, proud, sad and devestated all at once that I went through this. more lucky that my house and family are ok. Of course as part of my job, the footage has gone across the country today spreading the word about how hard townsville was hit. i even did 3 live phone crosses in the morning, which was a personally 'great' achievement for a lowly cameraman!
sorry it was a long story. but nice to be able to write it down. i will try and post some photos soon.
cheers,
Mick

[SlowModem]

Those numbers are just incredible!   

The description and pictures are very journalistic.  You convey the information so that it's understandable.  The media there should be using your talents!

I hope there are no injuries or fatalities there.  Stay safe!

[pvwxaustralia]

The description and pictures are very journalistic.  You convey the information so that it's understandable.  The media there should be using your talents!

I hope there are no injuries or fatalities there.  Stay safe!

Thank you.

Amazingly as the tornado occurred just after 5am most people were asleep and despite wood and fences piercing into people's homes there was no fatalities thank goodness.

Here is the news report of the Tornado.
The first 7 and a half minutes are from the Townsville local news bulletin and the last half of the video is from the National News bulletin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfHqDdOaZ0&feature=player_embedded

[DanS]

Too bad someone couldn't have caught a video clip of the tornado with their cell phone. I realize the early dark hours and all but if it could have been caught on a video or even a still pic. Submit that to the media and then listen to the met's and news reporters tone. Not so much of the 'high cyclonic winds", "bursts", "high gusts", etc. wording anymore. It's almost like folks don't believe tornadoes are all that possible there or they are afraid to use the "t" word.

[pvwxaustralia]

Too bad someone couldn't have caught a video clip of the tornado with their cell phone. I realize the early dark hours and all but if it could have been caught on a video or even a still pic. Submit that to the media and then listen to the met's and news reporters tone. Not so much of the 'high cyclonic winds", "bursts", "high gusts", etc. wording anymore. It's almost like folks don't believe tornadoes are all that possible there or they are afraid to use the "t" word.

You've got it Dan, probably about 80 to 90% of the Australian population believes that Tornadoes only occur in America, not helped by the media obviously. On the rare occasion one does occur the media, local councils, etc. always shrug it off as a "very severe thunderstorm" or what not.
It's usually only the local news' meteorologists/weather presenters who actually say it was a Tornado. Then most people hear that and think "nah, that's not possibly, tornadoes only happen in America", because that's what they've been brainwashed with by the media.

The media are also terrible when it comes to passing on official warnings.
In the past we had a Severe Thunderstorm Warning released for Damaging winds, Heavy Rainfall and Flash Flooding. The warning was issued about 7:30pm for a massive line of storms that arrived just before midnight.

The next morning, flash flooding was occurring and people had debris littered through their yards from the excessive winds, and then they start saying "we were given no warning this was coming". Despite the fact warnings were issued, the problem is the media doesn't bother to distribute the warnings, so everyone watching TV or listening to the radio doesn't hear about the warning.

There was also a massive flood through out city 4 years back, a warning was issued the afternoon before the flood occurred, but the warning was not passed on by the media to anyone apart from the people who checked the weather bureau's website. Next morning, flooding everywhere houses inundated and people start blaming the weather bureau for not issuing warnings, when the problem lies with the media not rebroadcasting them.

The damage from this tornado yesterday morning is definitely consistent with a tornado, as there is clearly a rotation in the direction that the power poles, posts, signs, etc. have been pushed towards.

[DanS]

The media's description of the damage path being " 100 meters wide and 2 Km long" along with the part where one house was not touched but the next door house ripped apart kind of points toward a tornado also. They are more 'selective' than a strong wind storm.

[Weather Display]

I see that seeminly there was no funnel sighted
but if it was raining and it was a wedge type and rain wrapped, then they are hard to see, especialy with a low cloud base

[SlowModem]

I see that seeminly there was no funnel sighted
but if it was raining and it was a wedge type and rain wrapped, then they are hard to see, especialy with a low cloud base

At 5:07 a.m. I doubt you could spot much of anything unless lightning flashed.

[Weather Display]

true, missed that point
and you would have to be awake too 

[pvwxaustralia]

I see that seeminly there was no funnel sighted

True, but as was said it was at 5:07am during complete darkness, it was also pouring down rain at the time, and the people who were awake or were woken by it went and huddled in their bathrooms rather than looking out the window to see what it was.