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Check out these great stories: Did you know? Winter is the season for violent thunderstorms in the south-west of Western Australia, while for the rest of the land down-under storm season is in spring and summer. |
Twister downunder wreaks havoc Baby in a high-chair plucked from her family's kitchen June 22, 2000 It doesn’t look like Kansas, Dorothy. And it shouldn’t. It’s Australia. Yes, tornadoes are a fact of life down-under too, but they are a rare feature compared to the mid-west plains of North America. Just like the North American mid-west spring and early summer is the season when severe thunderstorms can develop over south-eastern Australia, bringing rain, hail, flash flooding and even tornadoes. But in the dead of winter? Now that is unusual. The Fairydell tornado struck 'like a bomb going off,' recalled Bryce Merrett, whose family was oblivious to the advancing tornado until all the windows imploded. Picture © Simon Dalinger, News Ltd On June 22, two small 'super cells' developed out of a short-wave trough over dairy country in north-central Victoria. Each storm cell created a tornado bringing winds gusts of 150 to 200km/h. For 10 to 12 minutes residents of Fairydell, 180km north of Melbourne, were treated to a living hell as the twister tore through the family home of Bryce and Debbie Merrett, picking up baby Alice in her high-chair and dumping her in a paddock 20 metres away. Incredibly she wasn’t badly hurt. According to David Merrett, brother of Bryce, the family of five was at home, all in the same room of their house when the tornado struck, about 5.15pm. Eight-year old Thomas was watching television, his sister Emily was standing along with her parents when Debbie noticed a corrugated iron sheet fly past the window. Because the family was in a part of the house facing east, they did not see the storm approach from the west. Seconds later the twister struck with typical violence. ‘It sounded like a bomb going off’, was how Bryce described it. All the windows imploded, glass and furniture and doors flew everywhere and 30 seconds later the tornado moved away, leaving the Merrett family in tatters. The scene of destruction at the Merrett's home in Fairydell, Victoria. Baby Alice, just 17 months was sucked out of the house through a window still strapped in her high chair before landing face first in the mud outside. Aside from some nasty cuts to the head, she is well. Picture © Simon Dalinger, News Ltd. Baby Alice, just 17 months old, had been plucked from the kitchen while strapped in her high chair. Now she was nowhere to be found. Within a minute of the tornado moving away, the Merretts found their baby daughter 20m from the house, still strapped in her high chair, but face down in the mud of a paddock next door. The little girl had three deep cuts to her head but, remarkably, the most dangerous aspect of her flying journey was the face-down landing in soft mud. If she hadn’t been found quickly, there was a very good chance of suffocation. Her head wounds have healed well and the rest of the family is good, despite cuts and abrasions. Their house, however, faces major re-construction. On the same day another tornado of similar intensity developed out of the same super cell and blazed a trail through farming country to the north of Kyabram. This twister remained on the ground for about 5 minutes. Both tornadoes measured high 1 to low 2 on the Fujita scale, which rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5. Economic damage is still being assessed. Along with extensive damage to the Merrett house there was major damage to one milking shed and numerous hay sheds. How did it happen? The short wave trough out of which the two tornadoes were created, was one of many frontal systems moving across southern Australia in late June. It was the day after the shortest day of the year. Winter had arrived in the southern hemisphere and with this season, the band of storms moves north from the Southern Ocean to touch Australia's shores. Severe storm forecaster with the Victorian weather bureau, Tony Bannister, takes up the story: "This was in an area that in the morning we thought would develop into thunderstorms, but it wasn’t clear that there would be enough wind shear to create super cells. Out of super cells you can get tornadoes. But you need good low level wind shear. On the day, it wasn’t clear that wind shear would develop." According to Bannister, weather balloons are sent up every six hours from places like Mildura, Melbourne and Mt Gambier to assess upper level wind direction and speed. The area where the tornadoes struck are in between these weather balloon bases. This dairy country is in a bit of a blind spot when it comes to assessing upper level winds. What was happening up in the sky was to create the day’s super cell system. Low level winds were blowing north to north-west while two kilometres up winds were blowing from the west to north-west. The two different levels of wind, blowing from slightly different directions at very different velocities, created what is known as ‘horizontal wind-shear’. "Wind shear helps to organise thunderstorms," says Bannister. "It helps to rotate a thunderstorm clockwise and sometimes out of the bottom of a super cell you can get a tornado." Meteorologists know that rapidly rising air within a large thunderstorm will tilt winds rolling horizontally into a vertical position. But how these vertically rolling winds then develop into a tornado still causes the best of them to scratch their heads. Meteorologists are continuing to assess the birth of this super cell and will learn from their experience. © weather-wise.com 2000 The Sandon Tornado November 13, 1976 On this day, in the midst of the severe storm season over Victoria, scattered thunderstorm activity was reported over south-eastern Australia, some of which became very intense. Tornado reports started coming in from an area to the north of Melbourne. The tornado, which was to become known as the Sandon Tornado, caused $2-3 million damage and killed two people driving in a car. The twister literally picked the car and its occupants up and carried them 100m before crashing them to the ground. They died on impact. Analysis of wind damage suggested wind gusts within the tornado were around 170km/h. From 'The Australian Weather Book', by Keith Colls and Richard Whitaker. |