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

[leo76]

Hi all, newbie here.

For some strange reason I took my camera with me on the school run when I took a couple of shots leaving Goonellabah, but for a first attempt I am pretty happy.

Ed:  adjusted your comment re your photos - all photos are valued on this forum and you've done well!

[Gambit]

Hi All,

I am really glad to see that someone got some footage of the tornado out at Dunoon. and from what I have read no one is more deserving. Congratulations Jimmy.

Kudos also goes out to all the others who have posted some great still of the approaching storm, I was unfortunately at work 

Great work and keep it all coming!

Cheers

Mat

[Mike]

Hi Leo, that top photo shows some great structure - anvil and all - is that a lightning strike you captured by chance in the bottom righthand corner or is that an antenna from the roof of the house - if it's lightning i think you've taken it at the right time!! 

Mike

[leo76]

Hi Mike

Unfortunately, no it is not a lightning strike, its the toilet vent pipe from the house. Im sure they get some thunder out of it though.....

Literally after I took that shot, there was a CG from the cloud above the anvils. I was mortified I missed it.

[Mike]

LOL!  Oh dear, my eyes really are failing me.  Excellent reply and I duly stand educated!  If you have any comments to make on the storm and what you saw it would be of interest to post.

Mike

[Michael Bath]

Jimmy and I spent a couple of hours sussing out the damage at Dunoon this morning. The village was very hectic with repair crews from the SES, fire brigades and Country Energy - along with many people having a look at the mess the tornado caused.

The two maps give you an overview of where Dunoon is in relation to Lismore, while the other is our assessment of the actual tornado track, and roughly its damage width.

















I've uploaded a gallery of tornado damage photos:

http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2007/mb20071027.html

Michael

[Geoff Thurtell]

My goodness! When you said the church walls had been damaged I imagined a little weatherboard church. This one has substantial double brick walls! It appears that the windows may not have been able to withstand the "suck" and took large sections of the walls with them.

A couple of other observations (from here in my living room, of course!):
1. Some of the trees near the weatherboard house on The Channon Road show twisted tops.
2. The tornado appears to have taken a sharp left turn as it strengthened. I wonder if this is reflected in the storm motion as a whole?
3.  It appears that the church may have been in the path of the tornado just after the multiple-vortices re-combined into one funnel. Is it possible that when a tornado goes through a multiple vortex stage, it may be an indication of intensification of the tornado?

An interesting severe weather event and I am sure much can be learnt from it because Jimmy was there on the spot!

Regards,

Geoff

[Michael Bath]

Some weather data for the Dunoon Tornado event 26th October 2007

Jimmy first start filming the tornado at 3.45pm. The substation explosion occurred at 3.50pm, multivortex was 3.51pm. The last video of the tornado was 4pm. Elapsed time 15 minutes, and this was only the track once it was heading almost north - none of the ENE heading part of the path.


Interactive radar loop: Grafton 128km


Brisbane 00z





Links to GFS Analysis: Friday 26/10/2007 06z

Instability: CAPE / Lifted Index

Relative Humidity: 0300 / 0500 / 0600 / 0700 / 0850 / 1000

Temperature: 0300 / 0500 / 0700 /  0850 / 1000

Winds (knots): 0200 / 0300 / 0500 / 0600 / 0700 / 0850 / 0925 / 1000

MB

[larnie]

Thank you for sharing that wonderful footage with us. It gave me the shivers watching it. I have been coming and going from this site for some time but most of the time only had a dial up connection which was frustrating to say the least. The photography and contributors now is wonderful. I love storms - always have but from a safe distance. To those - Jimmy, Michael and others I admire your nerve and letting us not-so-brave see it up close from the safety of our homes.

[Steven]

I watched that video over 20 times last night, it was in one word "awesome" and what caught me by surprise was how a piece of roofing iron was able to explode a power substation!! My best guess was that this was an F1 tornado judging by the intensity, however even F1's do quite a bit of damage. Well done Jimmy! See people, we do get twisters here!!! *shudders*

[Jeff Brislane]

That radar is interesting. How many times have we seen intense echoes with pendant shape present but no tornadoes reported and yet this time there is a pendant present with a weakish outflow echo but it produces an F1 tornado from a meso!

Jeff.

[Michael Bath]

Here is the clip taken by a resident of Modanville to the south of Dunoon

Article  /  Dunoon Tornado video footage / Another video clip link

That is awesome !

MB

[Harley Pearman]

Hello

Congratulations to Jimmy in getting and filming the tornado. I saw the  footage on the news and the debris hitting the electricity sub station is awesome.

The media called it a "mini tornado" which is incorrect. It also proves that we do get tornadoes here although much less frequent and intensity than those in the USA.

Harley Pearman

[Mike]

Ya have to love the mother on the video - 'I know it's a hurricane, i'm filming it!'  Top footage!

[enak_12]

Absolutely fantastic stuff guys! I knew it one day and Australian chaser would have to score a tornado so close like this and no surprises it was Jimmy. Well here are some pics of the Coffs storm. At the peak of the storm I had to do a driving test for my license and in my excitement of watching the storm and then rushing off for the test I forgot my damn license ah! I had to cancel my test. Please excuse all the frustrating trees and hills in these pics this is why I need my license. Sawtell headland would have had a great view of this storm but I couldn't head down there, wish it could of happened one day later but oh well. These are my pics from the day: