Microburst

[biggles]

Had a microburst at about 1830 tonight . Horizontal rain with rapid direction changes ,spinning large moored boats around like they were possessed . Lasted 10 minutes and delivered 12 mm in guage . Quite a relief after around 37 * today. Expecting a record overnight temp. with another very hot day tomorrow .... Bob

 

 

 

[alf jessup]

As long as it wasn't spinning the Jabby around with you in it is all that matters Bob

 

 

[spacesailor]

Sydney had one too, but much bigger.

 

Had the desalination plant spinning,

 

spacesailor

 

 

[biggles]

As long as it wasn't spinning the Jabby around with you in it is all that matters Bob

Now that would be a sight for sore eyes Alf . The airport recorded 27 knots but we had rain to the top of the windows, which are set back about 3 metres from eaves . Never seen anything like it before, the climate change deniers won't agree ,but obviously due to greenhouse/fossil fuel issues. .

 

Soon we'll probably have Franks crocodiles in the front yard . Good to hear from you mate ..... Bob

 

 

[spacesailor]

obviously due to greenhouse issues

Plant more tree's. They're the missing link!, The big forest of Europe are long gone for the industrial revolution. The Amazon forest is going fast, Same all around the world!.

NZ & Australia are making Oxygen, But the atmosphere is shrinking and letting the radiation from the Sun cook us.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[farri]

[ATTACH=full]40195[/ATTACH] Had a microburst at about 1830 tonight . Horizontal rain with rapid direction changes ,spinning large moored boats around like they were possessed . Lasted 10 minutes and delivered 12 mm in guage .... Bob

Bob, We copped a bad front from the south here, mid morning today! Had it caught me in the air, in the Drifter, I reckon I`d have been the next funeral! No chance of getting back on the ground safely! It went from no wind to gale force, with 13 mm of rain to go with it! Lasted about 20 minutes.

 

A guy in his early eighties, from Babinda, who I know, was down your way, around this time last year. He didn`t take the weather forecast seriously enough and decide to hire a small boat and take his wife fishing...The way he described what happened to them was very similar to what you`ve described. They got horizontal rain, almost no visibility, thrown around badly and hit the bottom trying to get back to shore! He thought they weren`t going to make it! Apparently she didn`t want to go, but he insisted, til she gave in....Women!!!!Always right!

 

Frank.

 

 

[biggles]

Oh , so that's what it's all about SS . Anyway , as long as I get another 10 years or so , that'll probably do me . I think the Jab will need a new engine by then ( 2000 hrs TBO isn't it ?) ...... Bob

 

 

[biggles]

That's a coincidence Frank , this one was similar and very localised , but please ... no more fatals . I guess with the monsoon season sneaking in, there may be more of them too so be careful . Right now it's dead calm outside and 26* with a predicted 40 tomorrow . I bet your mates wife from Babinda never lets him forget . Women are like that you know Frank .... Bob

 

 

[farri]

That's a coincidence Frank , this one was similar and very localised , but please ... no more fatals Bob

Wasn`t flying Bob, I was working on the garden....

 

Frank.

 

 

[Oscar]

Saw the end result of a severe microburst some years ago near a mates place a bit north of Taralga.

 

It had cleared a patch of bush about 50 metres wide by 200-plus metres long almost as if drag-chained. Towards the middle of it, it had twisted a eucalypt with a trunk of about 400-500mm completely off about a metre above the ground - if you imagine a pencil that had gotten jammed in a pencil-sharpened and twisted around a dozen or so times with the end held stationary, you get the idea - and tossed the rest of the tree out to the edge of the swathe. The eucalypts in that area are a bit brittle, but bloody heck, I reckon that you'd be in mortal danger if in that in much less than a Cat D9.

 

 

[biggles]

Wasn`t flying Bob, I was working on the garden....Frank.

Sorry if I gave that impression Frank, but I did realise you weren't flying . Looking back ,we had ideal conditions for such a phenomena , being surrounded by thunderstorms , being on the water probably fuelled the situation . I have no doubt that any aircraft , not secured by rings , or similar concreted into the ground , would have sustained major damage . There are many reports of aircraft caught in microbursts when landing ,seemingly attributed to pilots not managing the conditions . Anyway it's now 36* at 0930, on its way to 41 .... Bob

 

 

[Birdseye]

Are some confusing microbursts with tornados? Anything showing a rotational damage field will almost certainly be a tornado.

 

 

[facthunter]

Yes I watched that form. I saw it when it covered Bairnsdale to Lakes Entrance, showing the highest precipitation rate in Australia at that time. General air mass dry and not a lot of humidity but perhaps the length of the lake system and the sea combined to kick in a high energy area. The energy comes from the latent heat of vaporisation of water and Coriolis? effect will impart spin to it. Similar things are common along the Murray with twisters tearing trees and things around in the Rutherglen area. ( NE VIC.) SE Qld looks to be another hotspot for these microbursts if that's the right name for them. I would regard them as mini tornadoes myself. Keep well away from any rapidly rising cumuliform clouds ( Boiling Cauliflower looking things) in your planes. Nev

 

 

[RDavies]

Saw the end result of a severe microburst some years ago near a mates place a bit north of Taralga.It had cleared a patch of bush about 50 metres wide by 200-plus metres long almost as if drag-chained. Towards the middle of it, it had twisted a eucalypt with a trunk of about 400-500mm completely off about a metre above the ground - if you imagine a pencil that had gotten jammed in a pencil-sharpened and twisted around a dozen or so times with the end held stationary, you get the idea - and tossed the rest of the tree out to the edge of the swathe. The eucalypts in that area are a bit brittle, but bloody heck, I reckon that you'd be in mortal danger if in that in much less than a Cat D9.

I know what you mean about microbursts. I have been in a category 5 hurricane in Guam, a category 5 cyclone Yasi in North QLD, but the worst destruction I have seen to large strong trees was less than a month ago in Manilla in Central NSW.

There was no damage at all to trees in most of the area, but in a few large separate areas up in the hills it looked like a bunch of D11 dozers had chain cleared the area worse than what I saw after a category 5 cyclone.