Tag Archives: Trees

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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Hi Paul,

I totally missed that area of damage before. Just above "approx" in the image you posted there is another tree which appears to have fallen to the NW. Certainly very interesting but I suppose it is possible that someone could have come along with a chainsaw and chopped down badly damaged trees. Also, as you say, looking closely there does appear to be further damage east into the heavily forested area. I can remember seeing damage further east of where the photos were taken on Kangaroo road but I cannot recall exactly where this was. In any case, this damage was not as extensive.

Jimmy,

I would like to head down there but unfortunately I do not have access to a car at the moment. I might see if I can work something out. Also, good points about how to ask questions. I imagine it is quite possible to inadvertently feed someone the information you want to hear.

A friend will also send me photos of the Kiama supercell and hail soon (I hope, he should have them saved somewhere). If I remember correctly, he did actually have some photos of the storm before it hit. Not sure if it will reveal anything in regards to structure. I might post them here if he gives me the okay.

Regards,
Michael

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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Quote from: Michael Thomas on 10 July 2011, 12:58:34 PM
access to higher resolution than available on the standard google maps?

I haven't found any better resolution online imagery for this area.

However NSW Lands Dep do have air photo coverage around the right date:- 16th April 2006 for the area and at 1:25000 hard copy airphotos or even better enlargements of the specific damage area should give better resolution (esp viewed in 3D) than Google and may give a clearer idea on damage details.

http://www.lands.nsw.gov.au/airview/

Map name- KIAMA, Map No.- 9028
Photography Date- 16 Aprill 2006
Film No- 4959, Scale- 1:25000
Run- 1 Photo- 7 centers on damage area Photos- 5,6,7,8,9 full (3D) coverage

As for the trees which again "may" be damage related to the event they lie bettween the orange dashed lines on the earlier image
and are roughly centered in the of the damage path, there may be further evidence of damage just to the east of this as the terrain drops away but without earlier imagery to check against I didn't highlight this as it is not well defined.

Here's what it looks like to me, note they are all "possibles" in relation to direction and cause.(brighter colour arrows appear to be a little more defined?) Better imagery ie air photo enlargements may shed more light on this so long as they weren't cleaned up in the interim.

Cheers
Paul

PS:- WA has a pretty good selection of imagery online

https://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/bmvf/app/mapviewer/
example:- Australind
Mar 2006

Nov 2007

Nov 2010

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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As far as I am aware, there is no report of a tornado at this location on the BoM database. Given that the evidence is looking fairly convincing, I was thinking of contacting the BoM. Any advise with this? I guess one interesting point to make is that there appears to be no sightings of a funnel/tornado. You would think that a tornado with a ~3.7 km track would be seen in that area. One possible explanation may be that the tornado was wrapped/hidden by rain. This seems to make sense since there was a storm to the N/NW which was putting rain into the updraft region.

Finally, Paul, if you read this – "In the area on the east side of Irvines Rd there appears to be a number of trees that have fallen in different directions E SE Nth NW etc." Where are the trees that have fallen to the N or NW in relation to the damage path (ie north or south)?

Michael

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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In this article, the damage is reported to be the result of a tornado-

http://www.lazyfish.com.au/KVVoice/feb05.pdf

From the article-

"As our photographs show one of the worst hit areas was the beautiful “Fairy Glen”, while nearby a stone building at Rockfield Park was lifted from its foundations. According to first hand reports some trees were thrown by the force of the wind up to 50 metres from where they had been rooted, but no loss of stock or serious injuries resulted. The road between Berry and Kangaroo Valley was closed for several hours while emergency service and KVRFS crews cleared fallen trees and power lines."

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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Great news! Thanks Paul. So these images were taken approx. 1 year afterwards. Personally, I feel this supports that this was a tornado. Most of the damage I observed indicated strong westerly to southwesterly winds. This may be explained since I was observing damage on the northern edge of the damage path. A cyclonicly rotating tornado would have westerly winds on its northern side. The section I did see on the southern edge of the damage path on Kangaroo Rd was disturbed by work that was done to re-open the road.

Two things would be needed for 100% confidence. 1) I would need to confirm that I have correctly assigned the location where the photos were taken and 2) survey the damaged sections of forest. I would expect that on the southern edge of the damage path that trees/large branches would indicate easterly winds if it were a tornado.

I am very interested in other peoples opinions. How strong is the evidence in your opinion? Feel free to question any thing I have said.

Michael

Storm Strong winds rip roofing from homes

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Strong winds rip roofing from homes

Emergency crews have spent the day clearing trees and debris from roads and homes after high winds swept across Victoria.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/05/3261843.htm

Re: 20th January 2005 – Storm outbreak

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Hi Michael,

I cannot tell either way. The storm on radar seems to deviate into an easterly direction and slowly intensifies. Based on the conditions of the day with strong inflow winds, I cannot rule out tornadic winds causing the damage. The sheared off nature of the trees indicates sudden wind blasting the area. Was it from inflow jets and RFD winds or downbursts or both. Inclonclusive either way.

However, picking out some of the tornado damage in Australia is not always a clear-cut decision.

Thanks for posting!

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara