Ozthunder.com Australian Storm and Weather chase page updates

[Michael Thompson]

I have been a bit slack with the website over the past 18-24 months, but decided it was time to get my chase and weather reports up to date.

I now have 110 chase reports on line. You can almost track the evolution of the internet from my early pages in the days of dial up connections to now. The earliest pages have full size pics that were smaller than today's thumbnails.

Unlike the USA there are few supercells, maybe 6 -7 true supercells, and a handful of debatable ones.

Link to main chase page

http://ozthunder.com/chase/chase.html

Hers are some pics from the later updates:

29th November 2011



19Th February 2012



22nd January 2011




6th June 2012

 

[Michael Thompson]

Just realised (thanks to a fellow chaser) that one of the links from the main chase page went to the wrong page - and murphy's law dictated one of the better chase days too.

http://ozthunder.com/chase/chase106.html

Interesting video on this page of a 'green' power transformer glow after a strike.

 

[J Allen]

Looks like a good update Michael, though I wouldn't poo-poo the supercell occurrence in Australia too much - there is also the question of definition (for example there is often a common mythconception in Australia that a supercell need be long-lived to justify its classification, or fit some pre-determined conceptual form). If you look at the occurrence of significant severe hail over Australia (5cm plus, the majority of these occurrences are typically associated with supercells) it tends to show quite a few more than that but it depends on when you get a chance to chase. The other problem you unfortunately run into is that damn Dividing Range (for those not familiar with Australian topography - our little nightmare on the east coast which is associated with impassable roads, heavy forests and a storm track that tends to push everything from the divide offshore. This is compounded further when you look at the relative anaemic shear that you end up with for most of season despite high levels of moisture - the combination means that most of the time you can end with a fantastic looking SC initially that either gusts out, takes on an ugly as HP mode or congeals into a mess associated with the weaker capping inversions (or alternatively the horrid embedded hybrid). You have still managed a nice collection though, I think you are probably selling yourself short by about half. Great Job on the update...inspires me to get off my lazy backside.

Certainly some memorable chases there, I recall that 29th of November 2011 chase quite fondly - we saw that monster go up, chose to hold and nailed a fast moving SC that tracked from Nyngan all the way to Parkes producing 8 centimetre hail.