Readers have wondered why Ely Lazar and Adele Thomas have to go to the United States to chase storms. Can’t they do that in Australia?
“Yes, we have storms,” says Ely, “but tornadoes and supercells are not commonplace like they are in the central plains of America. We have a cyclone (hurricane) season in the summer, in the northern part of the country.”
A big hailstorm did strike parts of Subiaco, Western Australia, in March 2010. It was so unusual, however, that the local newspaper consulted Ely and Adele for their insights.
“That was a super-cell that hit Perth,” Ely told the reporter. “From her office in Subiaco, Adele could see funnel clouds, a rotation like a precursor of a tornado that doesn’t actually get to the ground.”
The reporter also asked them what motivates them to chase storms.
“Being in the right place at the right time is part of the excitement,” said Ely. “You have to use analysis, look at the radar, and try to predict what’s going to happen.
“Tornadoes have the highest wind speeds ever recorded – one in Oklahoma was recorded at 512 kmh [about 307 mph] – but they are very localised, which is why you need to be in the right place at the right time. Some days are a total bust and not much happens, but other days amazing stuff happens.
“It’s quite awe-inspiring when you see one of these products of nature developing. A couple of times we got a real adrenalin rush when we got a bit too close.
“I wasn’t watching the radar,” Adele said, “so I asked Ely what was going on.”
“Well,” said Ely, “I was watching the radar, but it had a five-minute delay and when it refreshed, I saw a little spinning disc on the screen. That’s where tornadoes can form, and we were right beside the rotation! The radar, which could ‘speak,’ told us over and over that we were approaching a twisting storm.”
“We put our hands against the windscreen to stop it smashing,” Adele said. “It worked, fortunately. But the body of the car – a rental – was badly damaged.”
“Our kids think we’re crazy,” said Ely.
| Copyright © 2018 by Dr. Ely Lazar & Dr. Adele Thomas |
We were able to enjoy the big storms we had in Costa Rica because we knew there were no tornadoes hiding in the darkness, Back here in the States, a big lighting storm will mean the is a tornado going to hit someplace. I'm surprised that Australia as big as it is has no tornadoes however.
ReplyDeleteYes, this raises interesting questions about what the essential meteorological ingredients are for various phenomena of weather. I had a little booklet about weather one time. I wonder whatever became of it.
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