Great video David - I enjoyed that. That was indeed very impressive rotation and timelapse. How long were you guys onto this cell? Were there any specific variables that could've been better on the day for tipping this cell over into producing a tornado?
Cheers Brad and John, I think we (I) will use video increasingly for chase reporting since writing is too time consuming. Hopefully, Brad, just an 'appetizer' for what you will see in a few months !! I'd say we were on the storm, from the Mt Victoria lookout, if that counts haha, perhaps for 20 minutes and then another 20 minutes or so until will arrived at the location west of Lithgow. Shot video there for around an hour and i'd say another 20 minutes by the time we were back in Lithgow and finished there. Then another 20 minutes or so by the the time the hail had finished - all up between 2 and 3 hours I'd guess.
Tornado - hmmm well the mid-level meso was evidently rather intense. There was decent rotation at the cloud base at times and an RFD notch visible as well at different times. The base was quite low over the terrain. I dont recall us ever being in outflow so can't speculate on the characteristics of the RFD (well temperature and dewpoint). In general, the storm was doing all the right things that as a chaser I have observed with tornadic storms. It just did not happen, well, if it did we did not see it behind 'them hills' east of Lithgow. Paul suggests that there may have been a weak tornado with all the scud west of Lithgow, although being a four eyes I cant say and have yet to check out my video on a larger screen.
Yes those photos are awesome Jeff - that meso photo reminds me of Pampa - Clarendon on May 15, 2003 Jimmy!!!
