Author Topic: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007  (Read 14932 times)

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Offline John Allen

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Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« on: 14 February 2007, 10:16:49 AM »
Just thought Id quickly mention that thunderstorms are moving from the west, with a couple of beautiful cells just forming. A STW is out for heavy rainfall/dam winds and I can confirm the first part. Gutters overflowed at my place within 3 minutes(and theyre spotless), with my pool becoming around 30mm deeper within 20mins.

Will post images later, but off to chase some more.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2007, 03:50:41 PM by John Allen »
Explosive events coming to a weather system near you.

Offline Michael Bath

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #1 on: 15 February 2007, 11:37:56 AM »
Good stuff John :)   Haven't you got a real rain gauge btw ???

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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #2 on: 15 February 2007, 12:12:57 PM »
Excellent John - good to see some action south of our border. Brad also contacted me to suggest he had chased yesterday, Last weekend sometime early hours of the morning and was on a chase at that time.

Pictures will be forthcoming I guess. And what's this about film John? We have moved into the digital age or have you got slide film?

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Offline Brad Hannon

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #3 on: 15 February 2007, 05:08:37 PM »
13th Feb: Not a great chase, but fun nonetheless and ended with a lightning show in the cloud tops of a distant storm.  I headed out to the northern outskirts of Melbourne at 6pm just as a severe warning was issued for a storm moving N from the West.  I could see the main updraft and the anvil as I drove through the suburbs.  Unfortunately as I got in position to intercept the main base (which was nothing special unfortunately) it weakened significantly, let out a few bolts and died.  I followed the cell NE in the hope that it may find some moisture but all it provided was a rainbow and a great sunset.  Then once I turned for home I noticed a strong updraft to the west (heading for Castlemaine) and decided to find a spot to watch as the sun went down.  It proceeded to put on a good show of CC lightning which illuminated the cloud tops, but it was just too far away to get any decent photos.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2007, 03:34:54 AM by Michael Bath »
hmmm June 2nd......

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #4 on: 15 February 2007, 05:53:23 PM »
I was out chasing today too, although I have a different perspective of the storm John has described.  His storm was actually my 2nd for the arvo.  Having seen a few cells appear on radar I had a look out to the north west from the 28th floor of my building in the city and saw an impressive updraft that was producing a strong anvil.  I dropped everything and left work (yeah I know!) at 2pm. After dashing home to get my camera and check the radar again I headed west towards Sunbury to intercept a larger storm which had been severe warned.  I took my first few pics as I approached the storm.  I noticed that a secondary updraft had formed under the anvil adjacent to the main updraft.  There was also mammatus along the forward flank of the anvil.  This storm was VERY slow moving so I even had time to take a call from Jimmy :)  After deciding that the storm was weakening I turned my attention to a new developing storm to the North East of Melbourne and I'm fairly certain this is the storm John was watching from Doncaster.  The updraft was strong and capped with pileus (I think) as shown in my pics.  From my perspective it looked like it was developing under the anvil of my first storm but due to the distance it was hard to tell.

I drove half an hour on the ring road and ended up in the north east outer Melbourne area of Kangaroo Ground where there is a lookout monument used by the Country Fire Authority for fire spotting.  The view was impressive as the storm moved very slowly over the Ranges NE of Melbourne.  There was a CFA volunteer with comms who was watching the progress of a lightning induced fire about 10km away in the mountains as shown in my pics.  They were waiting for a water bomber chopper to arrive.

All in all it was a good show by Melbourne standards but unfortunately the storms did not persist into the evening.




hmmm June 2nd......

Offline Brad Hannon

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #5 on: 15 February 2007, 05:56:44 PM »
Here are two more pics at the end of the chase. First one shows the fire started by a CG and the second shows the rear end of the storm looking north as the storm moves NE.
hmmm June 2nd......

Offline David C

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #6 on: 16 February 2007, 04:05:01 PM »
Nice shots indeed guys. I like that anvil near the bottom of your series Brad....quite chunky. And remember Sandon is not all that far from Melbourne -- so it can happen down there (well so legend has it!) ;D
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #7 on: 16 February 2007, 06:20:44 PM »
Hi John,

Just had a look. I wish there were larger images posted. Doesn't look like much of a storm base to me more like a cumulus cloud. Anyway, quite nice to capture something like that.

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Offline Brad Hannon

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #8 on: 17 February 2007, 06:19:25 AM »
Nice shots indeed guys. I like that anvil near the bottom of your series Brad....quite chunky. And remember Sandon is not all that far from Melbourne -- so it can happen down there (well so legend has it!) ;D

Thanks David, it certainly was a nice anvil and yes the legend of Sandon gets greater with time.....F5 wasnt it? ;D
hmmm June 2nd......

Offline David C

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #9 on: 17 February 2007, 07:07:01 AM »
Hi John,

Just had a look. I wish there were larger images posted. Doesn't look like much of a storm base to me more like a cumulus cloud. Anyway, quite nice to capture something like that.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

The photo here looks like a tornado http://www.stormchasers.au.com/Feb07/0215ch03.jpg
Yet you would not think the updraft of the cumulus like that would have enough pull to produce a tornado. Pretty amazing...perhaps the updraft got a hold of a dust devil and stretched it further.
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #10 on: 17 February 2007, 10:59:51 AM »
Harald Richter confirms a boundary in the area thence does add further evidence that would support landspout development. I just cannot see enough details that confirms the connection on my pc.

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Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Jimmy Deguara

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #11 on: 18 February 2007, 08:30:15 AM »
Apparently another reported tornado near Geelong I would think? Any other word on this? No pictures thus far.

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Jimmy Deguara
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Offline Brad Hannon

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RE: Melbourne and Southern Vic Storms 12-16th Feburary 2007
« Reply #12 on: 21 February 2007, 04:29:55 AM »
Hi all, finally got a chance to review some pics from my chase on the 15th Feb.

I watched from traffic as some intense updrafts took off at about 5pm over the northern suburbs.  Just near my home I was lucky enough to be able to view a lightning active storm pass by the NE suburbs of Melbourne at around 6pm.  Clearer skies to the West illuminated the storm which made capturing bolts a little hard in the daylight but I got a few :)  As the storm passed I decided to wait for a smaller small that was developing directly behind under the anvil and it formed a nice solid base (although high based) and some CC lightning which crossed from the smaller cell into the remnants of the preceeding larger cell.  I decided to move further to the North to view the initial storm which was out of view but unfortunately it had weakened.  Looking back to the East I could see a new updraft over the ranges which had some nice mammatus in the anvil.  This cell fell apart shortly after and was followed by an intense red sunset.  Awesome! a sunset - just what I was after :(
hmmm June 2nd......