Topic: Storms (incl night waterspouts) and Rain NSW / QLD : 7-8 Sep 2009

[Antonio (stormboy)]

Oh my goodness my mouth just dropped when I saw that picture that is beyond awesome! Wow this is so good which location is it? Once again wow.

stormboy

[Darinka]

Thought I would share these images taken on Tuesday 8th September 2009 at 9pm off Warilla Beach.

A line of storm cells off the coast of Wollongong NSW (Sth of Sydney) about 80ks offshore. Nice lightning show although my attention seemed to steer to one
particular cell that looked promising and had some structure. It then produced some excellent forked CG's although distant, checked my preview on the camera
and to my surprise there were multiple water spouts....Amazing !!!!   

The Spouts could only be seen by the camera when the CG's dropped which were random, by the time that particular cell got quite active the spouts had fallen apart and with each frame I noticed that new spouts were forming and others falling apart, so it makes me wonder how many there really were on that particular storm.  Always thought a water spout would be great to see, but holy geez!!.. never thought in all the times I've photographed offshore storms the possibility of water spouts especially at night and associated with lightning.  I know it's probably a regular occurrence under the right conditions and also being at the right place at the right time and pointed at the right cell lol!!!! 

PS. Quite a contrast to Monday 7th September storms that came over the escarpment from Moss Vale at 4pm and hit Wollongong with pea sized hail, heavy
rain and a few CG's to which it was all done by 4.20pm.

Enjoy
Regards, Darinka

[Michael Bath]

What a great catch - glad you decided to get out and take some photos Darinka!

The profile for Sydney a few hours earlier:

Sydney 05z

[enak_12]

Wow fantastic Darinka! Those are solid waterpouts too  

http://shear-atmos-fear.deviantart.com/

[Steven]

Darinka, that is incredible. Absolutely brilliant. Well done!

What a great catch - glad you decided to get out and take some photos Darinka!

The profile for Sydney a few hours earlier:

Sydney 05z

Michael,

While I find it hard to decipher a map with squiggly lines going across it. I can tell, given the conditions on the night of this event that there might have been sufficient wind shear in the mid levels to create motion at those levels. If I'm correct.

[Colin Maitland]

Darinka, that is the sort of photo I would love to have enlarged and hanging in my office. It sort has a sci fiction, eerie, awesome,amazing ( I'll need to get the thesaurus out ) feel to it. An absolute winner.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Col

[Michael Bath]

Steven, the sounding shows a good profile for thunderstorms: relatively moist in the lowest few ks and dry above; and a steep lapse rate (the rate of decreasing temp with height). Once a bit more moisture is added to the equation in the lower levels - which happens in these situations just offshore, you can get some decent thunderstorms.

The windshear in the lower levels gives few clues regarding potential funnels/waterspouts as it is quite light. Over the smooth ocean surface boundaries / converging winds can establish circulations and if these coincide with rapidly rising air (ie. storm/large cumulus updraft) you can get a waterspout.

More about soundings is here

[Michael Bath]

Here's a few more pics of the storm and waterspouts off Wollonging on 8th Sep









Thanks for those Darinka !!