Topic: Storm SW of Wagga Wagga 9/01/11

[Greg Gibbs]

Hello,
Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the formation to the left of the main storm in the attached picture.  I am new to the chasing game and would value any thoughts.  Picture was taken to the west of the township of The Rock and is looking towards the WNW with the storm travelling SSW.  It appeared to be all the way down to the ground, but by the time I had pulled over and run through a line of trees to get a clear shot it was ascending up into the main cloud.  30 seconds later it was gone.  At the time I was asking myself "did I just see the end of a tornado?"  Picture was taken with a wide angle lens (didn't have time to change it to zoom into the feature) at a focal length of 16mm.

Cheers.

[Michael Bath]

Hi Greg,

Here's a radar loop at the time. It's a bit far out from the radar to show too much on the Doppler images, though if you look closely WNW of The Rock at 5.12 and 5.22pm there could be some evidence of rotation.

http://www.theweatherchaser.com/radar-loop/IDR493-yarrawonga/2011-01-09-04/2011-01-09-08

Are you able to do a 100% crop of the funnel feature ?

[Greg Gibbs]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for looking up the radar sequence.

Here is the 100% crop as requested:

Cheers

[Lightning Chaser]

An interesting shot greg. I imagine you would have been only a few km's away given you took that shot with a wide angle lens, Were you experiencing significant inflow winds at that time? I have no first hand experience but have read that inflow winds of around 40 knots generally occur in very close proximity to a 'nader - probably significantly less at your distance though. If however you were experiencing no wind or outflow that would strenghten the case for the feature you observed being either scud or just a funnel cloud.

[Jimmy Deguara]

The cropped image provides a better insight into the structure but no closer to being absolutely certain whether it is a funnel cloud. There seems to be an cut directly behind the feature which lends towards possible funnel cloud. Once again, video would assist greatly in determing what this could be.

I have no doubt based on the preciptation orientation that lower level wind shear was reasonably strong, nice clean structure although linear alignment of the base. Looks like a right mover and it also suggests that in certain profiles that moving south can significantly enhance low level relative shear and compensate for the lack of it aloft. On radar the cell seems to stall somewhat and then break down. Did the storm hit some form of outflow boundary - have not checked the doppler for this. Radar imagery is not spectacular in terms of the intensity but it is a reasonable distance from radar. I assume that the lack of photographs after this indicate that the storm went into collapse mode - how long after this image did precipitation dump / the storm weaken?

There always seems to be an element of doubt that creeps in funnel/tornado sightings in Australia (trees in the way, shallow hills etc). Even at this distance, trees and other forms of debris can be observed as well as occasionally noise from the debris colliding can be audible.

Anyway, we have to leave this at the possible or probable stage just like any others of late. Nice shot as I said in the email prior to you joining the forum. Whether it is or isn't does not take away from the beauty of the storm.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Greg Gibbs]

Thanks for all the thoughts everyone.  I'll try to answer your questions or clarify points the best that I can:

Lightning Chaser-  I would say that I was 2-3km away at the time.  The wind I was experiencing from memory was generally travelling in the same direction as the storm.
John Allen- The shot was taken with a 10mm-24mm lens @ 10mm but because my camera (Canon 60D) is not a full frame camera it has a 1.6x crop factor giving a focal length of 16mm.  The feature when I first observed it from my car appeared to be basically an extension of what is in the picture.  No widening at the base that I could see.  I have not been back to the area to look for any damage.
Jimmy Deguara-  Can't help you with a video.  Might have to treat myself to a video camera soon   

I should point out that my interests in storms at the moment is from a photographic point of view, rather than from a scientific point of view.  So instead of taking a series of shots after the initial quick snap, I was more concerned with recomposing or finding interesting foreground structures.  I'll attach another one from the same storm taken a few minutes later, but apart from that, like Jimmy says we will have to leave this at the moment due to the absence of further evidence.  Again thank you all for your feedback.  Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to properly document another event soon.