All in all, we made the best situation out of a day which I thought was ultimately disappointing. It hurt more to note we missed an F2 tornado in the region near Niangala. I suppose a small consolation prize was that I had the opportunity later on to observe the damage path twice and assess the damage as maximum F2 rating. Observation and report below.

The tornado report from Graeme Brazel

At 3pm, cloud build-up giving the impression that a storm was brewing after such a warm day.

About 6pm, frequent lightning observed and a little wind - in fact it looked like hail weather. So Graeme decided a short time after to make sure the sheds etc were secured. (He had no idea what was going to happen; well he didn't think anything out of the ordinary that he could recall).

At 6:15pm, he heard a little noise - westerly winds were blowing. Whilst generally completed closing the sheds, he was walking back to the house and he was bombarded by dust and small debri from the field as the wind got stronger. Before he knew it, he was either airborne or somehow transferred 20 to 30 yards from where he had been. There was some debri in the air and falling around and away from him. It all lasted about 20 to 30 seconds. He quickly went into the house to make sure everyone in there was ok and making sure the broken windows and glass were attended to. It was 6:25pm when the first phone calls were made. At this time the storm was heading further upwind and probably affecting other properties.

Graeme does recall that NE of there, hail was reported. Further up the road, a double brick home was destroyed with furniture displaced up to 1km away. This house was about 8km distant from his residence. Then the Sugarloaf hill region, (about 10km from his residence) showed a widening of the path to about 200 yards wide. At this point, an observer David Muller?? observed two funnel like clouds almost like they were dancing around each other.

Graeme found that his shed and a few windows of the house sustained the main damage. It seems that it was where the tornado started in his view.

It seems from these observations and the atmospheric conditions on the day that this tornado was spawned by a classic supercell and it was fairly dry around the tornado itself. This meant it was able to sustain itself for a reasonable time. In other words, I doubt from the observations that it was rainwrapped and I do believe that there was little or no condensation at ground level. Yes this is the worst type scenario making it hard to pick up and particularly dangerous.

Having done the study myself, it seems the tornadic damage was consistent with an F2. What I would have looked for was more carnage if it were an F3. A fair few trees were uprooted with a few snapped. The forest region was also not full thick forest but moderate (lots of daylight shining through). As to the house, the walls of the house and the internal damage was not consistent with F3 but again it depends on the strength of the house. What I mean internal damage allowed for walls to remain intact whereas I would have anticipated western section of the house to be crushed and the eastern side to remain less damaged for F3 status. I would not say the house was that strong considering the roof was lifted right off. The walls broke at the weakest point and based on wind flow dynamics would have aided in those brick walls to be collpased. Had the corner on the western side caved in then I would have definitely suggested an F3 rating. I also believe through the footage I viewed that the path width was more consistently 100 metres wide. One important observation that I almost overlooked was the fence: it remained almost unaffected though leaning over slightly despite being in the path of the tornado on the highest part of the hill where the forest damage begins adjacent to open paddocks. Of course, this is only my assessment of the damage and I would welcome feedback.

The following are some video stills of the damage to the medium density forest (note the stills of the fence line within the damage path at the entry into the forest - just slightly leaning over).

The following are video stills of the house particularly badly damaged by the tornado (I did not venture into the property).

Check the excellent online article of the Northern Daily Leader - Tamworth

If you (or someone you know) have any photographs or video of this firestorm or any other type of severe storm such as damage, the storm structure itself or hail, please feel free to contact Jimmy Deguara. Your contributions are very welcome. Please any photographs or video footage are important so don't discount anything.

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Document: 200210-01.htm Updated: 10th January, 2003

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