Author Topic: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007  (Read 169457 times)

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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #45 on: 27 October 2007, 04:11:56 PM »
Hi all,

To say that I am generally tired is an understatement! To say that I have adrenalin - you are correct. It was meant to be a leisurely chase with Michael Bath in the Northern Rivers and we met up near Casino. The storm that was heading towards Casino showed supercell characteristics. It was a nice structure and continued to maintain this structure for quite a while. I was impressed with the low level inflow and shear dynamics but the cold outflow won out.

We got hailed on about 10 km ESE of Casino and then somehow lost each other though Michael had to go back and do some more work. The storm produced hailstones to about golf ball sized but not measured but I trust our judgement and the noise from hits on the roof. The hail at one stage was falling profusely.

I hung around Lismore and waited for the storm to come through. Then I noticed, and it was confirmed by Michael another updraft region (Michael tells me at this point there was a blackout and he could not do work at the time).

I continued along to this region chasing virtually blind because I knew little of the road network and the scale of the map did not show this region at all. Then I saw a sign to Nimbin which was more like the general direction I wanted to be in. Basically I was on a head on collision with the northern part of the new cell. It did not notice anything peculiar and I thought if anything hail would most likely have been less intense if anything. I turned this corner at Dunoon and this feature resembling a funnel caught my eye. Even on the video, I comment about the funnel. Then I saw the intense and strong debris cloud and condensation rapidly changing form. This was a tornado and I got out of the vehicle. But then I thought the tornado is coming my way. Suddenly the concept of chasing in Australia turned quickly to tactical chasing of a tornado - US style!

Changing position to the intersection turned out to be a wise move as the tornado was clearly visible for quite some time. From outside the vehicle this strong tornado became larger and debris filled. One piece of this debris landed in the electricity substation and to my astonishment it exploded! I could not believe what I had witnessed. This tornado eventually shows multi-vortex behaviour although I was so taken away by the event I had not noticed. I wanted to contact the Bureau or Michael but simply could not pick the phone without interfering with footage. Then during my repositioning I was able to finally get a call through.

The tornado was over a built up region of the village and the road ahead was blocked. The large tornado had done damage on the southern outskirts of Dunoon. The tornado was still very dynamic but thankfully had moved out of town into a field to the northeast or east. All this time, I was basically in the hook of the circulation with intermittent bursts of rain - no hail.

Repositioning again was the last chance to observe from a different perspective given the road was blocked. I caught the final seconds of the tornado through from the south but when I settled into a better location, I could no longer see it. The tornado's fury was over. The tornado in all must have lasted about 15 minutes.

I made a move to get into better mobile coverage and head back to Lismore but I turned around to survey the damage. It seems the tornado damage may have reached EF-1 in my estimation. The local church eastern and southern walls (later we noticed the northern wall) were caved into the church so luckily nobody was inside. A few other buildings sustained minor damage such as a roof completely removed and also the power lines were downed. Some of the residents were in shock.

At this point I headed back to Lismore where contact was made to TV stations. Even as I type, it is still sinking in how one afternoon can change dramatically. The what-ifs have been flowing through. The rest is history.

Check this spectacular clip out (13mb):

Dunoon Tornado Substation Explosion












Regards,

Jimmy Deguara
« Last Edit: 12 April 2009, 07:04:52 AM by Jimmy Deguara »
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Offline Mike

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RE: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #46 on: 27 October 2007, 04:24:11 PM »
Real-time footage!  Glad you weren't in any 'immediate' danger, Jimmy.  Saw the two vortice funnels on the video footage briefly also.  Did BoM give you any comments on what you reported when you were able?  I'm sure the footage will be in hot demand considering the debris damaging the substation.

Mike
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Paul Graham

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RE: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #47 on: 27 October 2007, 04:24:22 PM »
Amazing footage and report, Jimmy!  I don't know how you do it!  I'm looking forward to reading more about this event and the dynamics of this storm.
-Paul

Offline James

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RE: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #48 on: 27 October 2007, 04:47:55 PM »
Brilliant Stuff JD!!! The video footage you have is simply amazing. How strong was the inflow with that storm? I bet you would have never thought you were going to see what you did today!

Offline Brad Hannon

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #49 on: 27 October 2007, 05:50:31 PM »
Simply awesome footage :)  Multiple-vortex, debris, howling winds, just fantastic.  Great to see all your hard work pay off Jimmy, and it's not even November yet!  Nothing meteorological to report down here in Melbourne as usual :(
hmmm June 2nd......

Offline Steven

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #50 on: 27 October 2007, 06:01:09 PM »
Well at least your safe, I saw the footage on the news, great stuff!!! I would never want to go near one of those. Congratulations Jimmy and Michael.

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #51 on: 27 October 2007, 07:01:53 PM »
Hi guys,

Definitely did not wake up and thought I would see this - what an incredible situation to find myself in.

Anyway, I will report more on things tomorrow.

Kind regards,

Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Geoff Thurtell

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #52 on: 27 October 2007, 07:11:11 PM »
Hi Jimmy,
Talk about being in the right place at the right time!! What an amazing sight! As Paul said, it will be interesting to see an analysis of the meteorological set up for this storm. When the roofing iron hit the sub-station, it appeared that you were just outside the debris cloud. The multiple-vortice stage was quite interesting. The people of Dunoon (and no doubt you, Jimmy!) will remember this event for a long time.

Regards,

Geoff

Offline nzstorm

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #53 on: 27 October 2007, 10:39:11 PM »

Great to see a multivortex tornado filmed in Australia. Well done on the video Jimmy.
Steven Williams
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Offline Jason(pato)

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #54 on: 28 October 2007, 12:33:36 AM »
Hi Jimmy,

Great footage you got there. As you have said I bet a tornado was the last thing you would have expected to see. Whilst observing the storm in my photos i did notice significant rotation, especially near the leading edge of the lowest part of the cloud in those photos. Seems as though Lismore and surrounds has become a hotspot for violent storms lately. I look forward to reading more on this and about the dynamics which contributed to this amazing event.

Cheers Jason
South Lismore, Northern Rivers NSW.....Supercells are us!!

Jeff Brislane

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #55 on: 28 October 2007, 03:10:01 AM »
Jimmy,

That's an awesome tornado! What height do you think the funnel was to the cloud base or the cloud base from the ground? And what phase re;classic,wet classic, hp, do you think the storm was in at the time, (it looks wet classic to me)? Mate I was watching this storm on the radar and it was showing nice left moving behaviour but I wasn't overly impressed by the strength of it's radar signiture at times. After Lismore it did show intensification and I have to say I was surprised to hear it had tornadoed.

Jeff.

Btw, you were very close to the tornado circulation! And I love the twin funnels that condense and join up rapidly, what a dynamic and powerfull funnel!

Offline Rodney Wallbridge

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #56 on: 28 October 2007, 03:16:10 AM »
Hi all, well what a suprise re Tornado in the area yesterday well done Jimmy!!!!!!. I managed to photograph the storm which went through Lismore while at work and later converged with another north of town according to radar.
        The storm had magnificent inflow charateristics as it was passing Lismore.Also noted a very healthy Flanking line stretching away to the Nw.here are a few pics Go  NRTH NSW!!!!
 
 
   

Offline nmoir

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #57 on: 28 October 2007, 03:17:57 AM »
well done jimmy , i cant think of another chaser who more deserved nailing an australian tornado , awesome footage.

i bags the next one.

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Offline vrondes

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #58 on: 28 October 2007, 04:16:24 AM »
It could not have been better scripted, the passion of your life and your knowledge of severe weather equals Jimmy capturing breathtaking images of a tornado in this country. Well deserved and congratulations.
In relation to yesterday's squall line across Sydney , as David mentioned, it certainly packed a punch , the new Aldi store at Wentworhtville provided a vantage point to witness a decent shelf cloud , around 2.15 pm, which  revealed a hint of greenage before the outflow engulfed the area accompanied by some intense cg's. Pea size hail lasted for a few minutes as the storm intensified over Parramatta causing localised flash flooding around Parramatta golf course which I had to get through on the way to picking up the kids  from school. Looking forward to seeing Dave's video footage as well .  Took a couple of images on the digicam  which I can try and post later. Cheers, Con.




Offline David Brodrick

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Re: NSW / S QLD Rain/Storms (incl Dunoon Tornado) 24 - 26 Oct 2007
« Reply #59 on: 28 October 2007, 04:56:10 AM »
Awesome stuff Jimmy. It's funny to see some media reports are already calling it a "mini-tornado" as per usual.

I can see the power substation on google maps and there is a house directly behind the trees in the tornado's path. It's very lucky that nobody in Dunoon was injured.