Storm Australian Severe Weather Forum

Severe Weather Discussion => Australian Severe Storms, Weather Events and Storm Chasing => Topic started by: nmoir on 10 June 2008, 01:08:54 PM

Title: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: nmoir on 10 June 2008, 01:08:54 PM

A tornado was reported this morning in Rockingham in Perth

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/tornado-rips-off-perth-roofs/2008/06/09/1212863527258.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/09/2269299.htm

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=77728
Title: RE: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Richary on 10 June 2008, 01:36:09 PM
I saw the news report on 9 tonight, and while they didn't say if it was a tornado I wondered. Haven't seen the damage track of course.

One guy interviewed said he was asleep then suddenly the roof disappeared and all his clothes flew out of the room. Which made me think tornado suction occurring.

Drat - need a reminder on how to generate the radar loops. Though would be nice if Perth had Doppler for that one.
Title: RE: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: nmoir on 10 June 2008, 01:38:17 PM
the radar looks boring , just another weak cold weather landspout hidden amongst a line of weak storms

here is a link to some funnel clouds they had a week back

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23756150-5017009,00.html
Title: RE: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Richary on 10 June 2008, 01:59:46 PM
If you are looking at the radar link off the West site, that actually links to current radar rather than of the storm itself. Look at the times in UTC/GMT. Perth is 8 hours ahead of that and 10 hours here in Sydney. So not that helpful.
Title: RE: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Kris Wetton on 10 June 2008, 04:24:17 PM
Having just visited the affected areas and witnessed the damage, I would have to say there is not a lot of doubt that it was a tornado. I was (as always) very sceptical when I drove up to Rockingham to do a damage assessment, as a large percentage of reported tornadoes see me end up looking at typical straight line wind / microburst damage. However, having spoken to a handful of witnesses and viewed the area I have no doubt that the event was quite significant. As to putting an F on it, well I suppose it was F2 given that whole roofs were destroyed, of course there is always the contentious "How well built was it", but working with what we have I would be confident in saying F2. I believe that there is some footage being kicked around at present?? Haven't seen it yet myself, having spent most of the day driving and a relatively small percentage of it actually taking pictures and interviewing people. (Officially, not rubbernecking!!)

For anyone interested I would recommend the following - "The Cool-Season Tornadoes of California and Southern Australia"  (Hanstrum et al - That being ourvery own Barry Hanstrum of the BOM) which can be found in pdf format at a couple of sites on the web.

Can't recall if I have posted a Link previously?? - Getting old See!!

Best regards

Kris

Title: RE: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 10 June 2008, 04:36:56 PM
Hi guys,

If I read correctly, the Bureau have already confirmed it as a tornado. Definitely the cool season tornado variety. Anyway, whatever links to video and photographs that can be sent, then that would be awesome.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Peter J on 11 June 2008, 05:45:59 AM
I did get one report about the Rockingham (WA) tornado that it was rated EF1 under the current enhanced scale - winds of up to 165kph. (unconfirmed).

Big Pete

Posted on: 10-06-2008, 11:44:40
Jimmy D - what is the difference between a tornado seen in US at this time of the year, and the "cool season" tornado (like the one witnessed in Rockingham WA)?

Big Pete
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 11 June 2008, 02:15:12 PM
Big Pete,

The cool season tornadoes tend to develop under realtively shallow convection with strong low pressure system given strong lapse rates and good vorticity generally speaking (read the paper linked to above for a more in depth explanation). Such conditions occur in places such as far SW of Western Australia and parts of I think southern California. These are called cool season tornadoes for this very reason. The potentially more powerful tornado variety that occur in the US and other parts of the world occasionally including Australia you often see on the media are typically the powerful supercell originated tornadoes typically occurring in the spring and early summer or autumn (but can still occur infrequently when unseasonably warm moist air interact with potent upper level systems.

I hope this gives some half decent picture.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Michael Bath on 12 June 2008, 01:24:20 AM
A picture of the Rockingham (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Rockingham,+WA&ie=UTF8&ll=-32.110496,115.914001&spn=0.852634,1.050568&z=10) tornado was published in this article:

http://www.watoday.com.au/national/cleanups-begin-after-wild-weather-in-perth-20080610-2o5m.html


Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Peter J on 12 June 2008, 05:02:39 AM
Thanks JD, it makes it easier to understand. The more violent supercellular tornadoes occur with warmer seasons, and the non-supercellular storms embeded in deep lows/fronts tend to create the colder season tornadoes (like the recent one)

Big Pete
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: nmoir on 12 June 2008, 01:55:37 PM
Hey michael , i suspect that image is a fake , there seems to be repeating patterns on the tube as if you were using a brush tool in photoshop , also the opacity of the tube seems to even , you can see the crisp edge of the cloud behind

though i could be wrong
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: TroyVR on 12 June 2008, 02:39:45 PM
The picture looks really fake, then again i could be wrong,l but i agree with nmoir that its a photoshop job
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 13 June 2008, 02:14:04 PM
Hi guys,


http://extremeweathernet.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/5/ppuser/1   Here is a website that has the photograph in exactly the same file name and also the and the tornado is in Great Britain - according to the source - the author is Rob Brown and IT consultant Steve Hughes, of Wellington, Shropshire

So not the Perth tornado as suggested by an unreliable source.


Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Peter J on 13 June 2008, 03:02:53 PM
JD - it does have all the hallmarks of a severe landspout - and it doesn't seem to have come from much of a storm either - is this rare (some similarities to the Geelong tornado of 2 years ago)

Big Pete
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Kris Wetton on 21 June 2008, 09:26:45 AM
Hi guys,

Here is a photograph of the Perth Tornado sent to me by Steve-the-Crazy guy on this forum. He suggests the author does not want to be named so I am unsure of the rightful owner but I have permission to post this image via Steve. Are there anyone who knows more about this region in southern Perth and where this photograph may have been taken?

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara


Hello Jimmy,

Have seen that image before, quite a while ago >> here - http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06/Tornado_450x337.jpg>> and on this site it claims to be in England??

Having spent years chasing throughout the South West of WA, I have to concede however that the scenery does look very similar to much of our SW region, particularly around Bunbury / Busselton / Vasse region. However, I can say quite categorically that it wouldn't be around the Rockingham area where the recent tornado struck.
Regards
Kris
Title: Re: Perth Tornado 9 June 2008
Post by: Jimmy Deguara on 21 June 2008, 10:01:09 AM
Kris,

This is now the second situation from WA where fakes have been sent if the one above that Nick Moir mentions is not a fake. If it is a fake, then we have 3 fakes from WA! This is absurd and I do not know why this needs to occur. I suspected that this may be the case and i will delete the submitter from the forum as a result.

I would be interested in the source of the image - the author and the place it was taken. That way I can associate the image to the rightful source.

http://extremeweathernet.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/5/ppuser/1   Here is a website that has the photograph in exactly the same file name and also the and the tornado is in Great Britain - according to the source - the author is Rob Brown and IT consultant Steve Hughes, of Wellington, Shropshire

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara