Cyclone off Western Australia Coast

John Khan · Post by **John Khan** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:23 am

Hi For anyone who is interested there is a tropical Cyclone forming off the Western Australian Coast. If you want to have a look on the weather radar go to:- www.bom.gov.au/weather Click on Radar Images - Western Australia - Port Hedland and you'll see it. Hope we don't get one during the GAAR 2007. Regards John

PAC1544 · Post by **PAC1544** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:13 am

"OK, I am not sure, but I thought a cyclone was an ocean-borne tornado. Is that what it is, cuz the images look like a tropical storm, so I am not sure our translation of english is accurate. Also, are there people living in that area? Is that a highly populated zone? GAAR=? Great Australian Air Race? Sorry I am not sure."

Post by **nwadc10** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:30 pm

"

"PAC1544" wrote:OK, I am not sure, but I thought a cyclone was an ocean-borne tornado. Is that what it is, cuz the images look like a tropical storm, so I am not sure our translation of english is accurate. Also, are there people living in that area? Is that a highly populated zone? GAAR=? Great Australian Air Race? Sorry I am not sure.

You would be thinking of a water spout. Technically, a "cyclone" , in the northern hemisphere, is a counter-clockwise rotating body of air. These cyclones come in different scales, i.e. micro-, meso-. A low pressure system is also a cyclone on the macro scale. An example of a micro scale cyclone would be a tornadoe. Hope that helps

Justin"

PAC1544 · Post by **PAC1544** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:16 pm

"

"nwadc10" wrote:
"PAC1544" wrote:OK, I am not sure, but I thought a cyclone was an ocean-borne tornado. Is that what it is, cuz the images look like a tropical storm, so I am not sure our translation of english is accurate. Also, are there people living in that area? Is that a highly populated zone? GAAR=? Great Australian Air Race? Sorry I am not sure.
You would be thinking of a water spout. Technically, a "cyclone" , in the northern hemisphere, is a counter-clockwise rotating body of air. These cyclones come in different scales, i.e. micro-, meso-. A low pressure system is also a cyclone on the macro scale. An example of a micro scale cyclone would be a tornadoe. Hope that helps Justin

I've witnesses a lot of tornados up close and personal here in this area and they always turn clockwise as far as I can recall, so you are saying a cyclone is just a counter-clockwise tornado? And a F5 Tornado is a micro event, right? uh boy...now I am confused...where is Wikipedia (runs out to search the net for wx terms)

"

Post by **nwadc10** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:33 pm

"

"PAC1544" wrote: I've witnesses a lot of tornados up close and personal here in this area and they always turn clockwise as far as I can recall, so you are saying a cyclone is just a counter-clockwise tornado? And a F5 Tornado is a micro event, right? uh boy...now I am confused...where is Wikipedia (runs out to search the net for wx terms)

Tornados should be rotating counter-clockwise. Clockwise rotating, or anti-cyclone, tornados do occur but are quite rare. This is northern hemisphere remember, south of the equator everything is reversed. Micro, macro, meso...remember the BIG picture

To you, an F5 is huge, compared to a hurricane or general low pressure, it's tiny

Justin"

Post by **esurfman** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:55 pm

"Clockwise, counter-clock-wise???? What do you do if you have a digital watch???

"

Post by **nwadc10** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:17 am

"

"esurfman" wrote:Clockwise, counter-clock-wise???? What do you do if you have a digital watch???

Then you go back to 1st grade where they taught you how to read a clock

"

PAC1544 · Post by **PAC1544** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:44 am

"I feel like an idiot, I pulled out the video of an F4 I had about 2 miles from here and it is counter- sorry"

John Khan · Post by **John Khan** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:07 am

"Sorry everyone I should have explained... A Cyclone is our name for a Hurricane, in the Southern Hemisphere the winds around a low pressure go the opposite way to yours, ie clockwise, and anti-clockwise around a high pressure down here. We have categories of Cyclones (Hurricanes) from 1 to 5. The worst is a category 5 with winds over 250kph (nearly 200mph) and a centre pressure of less than 960 mbs (I think). They can be very large in area and do untold damage. We would call what hit New Orleans a while ago a Category 5 Cyclone. We do not get Tornadoes here although there are supposed to have been a few small ones in places, I believe a Tornado is like a very strong whirlwind which is very destructive in a relatively small area. This one did not form and blew itself away, - luckily. If you saw those small heavy rain cells on the radar, if they would have come together to form the Cyclone which then feeds on itself and gets stronger and stronger. It is also practicaly impossible to predict where they will go. A couple of places have populations of about 25000, - Port Hedland and Broome, otherwise it is fairly sparse. Anyway Cyclone = Hurricane. Cheers John"

yoni63 · Post by **yoni63** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:45 am

"Well, I live in Tornado alley as they call it in the weather world.. The biggest I have seen was over a mile wide, struck here back in the late 80s and killed quite a few people. We have been fortunate lately, seems like some seasons are mild while others are one right after the other. Biggest problem with them is that they can just pop up and surprise you especially when it's dark or raining and you can't see them form. When I was in the Phillipines, I experienced typhoons, I really don't know which I would rather do without? I think both!

"

PAC1544 · Post by **PAC1544** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:41 am

"My wife's from Tulsa, we have family in Oklahoma City and we live near Joplin. When the Pierce City tornado hit, I watched it go by. I was about half a mile away and the weather was fine in my front yard, just a bit windy. The F4 tornado sat on Pierce City for quite a while. The whole town was literally destroyed. There was nothing left but piles of bricks. We don't have hurricanes or earthquakes or tsunamis but the randomness of tornados pretty much makes up for it

"

yoni63 · Post by **yoni63** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:26 pm

"Wow Brian, your practically a next-door neighbor! I had no idea anyone lived that close from Globe family. We definitely do share the same weather!"

PAC1544 · Post by **PAC1544** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:00 pm

"Yup, we spend lots of time in Tulsa...father-in-law was the administrator at St. Francis Hospital, wife grew up there, friends who used to live there, so we go down there all the time."

yoni63 · Post by **yoni63** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:58 pm

"St. Francis huh? Know it well, have a friend that is a surgeon and works out of there. Good to hear, I thought I was the only one down in these parts with Globe.

"

John Khan · Post by **John Khan** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:18 pm

"Brian GAAR 2007 is the Great Aussie Air Rally which is held every year. I posted the oigional story on another VA and forgot to take that off. If anyone is interested all detail are available at:- //bluegrassairlines.com/ (no www) Go to - Great Aussie Air Rally 2007 -. It is great fun, and all the rules and regulations are there. - Not that there are too many. If enough from Global are interested you can send the Global logo there and they'll put it up on the site. A bit of publicity. Regards John Incidentaly, that Cyclone (Isabella) blew through the coast and spread rain all the way down to Esperance in the south of WA. It joined up with a low pressure system coming in from the south-west and they had 9 inches of rain in 16 hours"