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Title: Analysis of a Destructive Wind Storm on 16 November 2008 in Brisbane, Australia

Abstract

During the late afternoon on 16 November 2008 the Brisbane (Australia) suburb of “The Gap” experienced extensive wind damage caused by an intense local thunderstorm. The CP2 research radar nearby detected near-surface radial velocities exceeding 44 m s-1 above The Gap while hail size reports did not exceed golf ball size, and no tornadoes were reported. This study shows that the storm environment was characterized by a layer of very moist (mixing ratios exceeding 12 g kg-1) near-surface air embedded in strong storm-relative low-level flow, whereas the storm-relative winds aloft were significantly weaker. And while the thermodynamic storm environment contained a range of downdraft promoting ingredients such as a ~4 km high melting level above a ~2 km deep layer with nearly dry adiabatic lapse rates mostly collocated with dry ambient air, a ~1 km deep stable layer near the ground would generally lower expectations of destructive surface winds based on the downburst mechanism. We also found that once observed reflectivities exceed 70 dBZ that downdraft cooling due to hail melting and downdraft acceleration based on hail loading are likely to become non-negligible forcing mechanisms for a strong downdraft. The study found a close proximity of the hydrostatically and dynamicallymore » driven mesohigh at the base of the downdraft to a dynamically driven mesolow associated with a radar-observed low-level circulation. This proximity is hypothesized to have been instrumental in the observed anisotropic horizontal acceleration of the near-ground outflow and the ultimate strength of the Gap storm surface winds. Finally, we speculate that the 44 weak storm-relative midlevel winds allowed the downdraft to descend close to the low45 level circulation which set up this strong horizontal perturbation pressure gradient.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, VIC (Australia). Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Environmental Science Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR), Australian Bureau of Meterology
OSTI Identifier:
1395023
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Monthly Weather Review
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 142; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-0644
Publisher:
American Meteorological Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES; buoyancy; cold pools; downbursts; hail; mesocyclones; radars/radar observations

Citation Formats

Richter, Harald, Peter, Justin, and Collis, Scott. Analysis of a Destructive Wind Storm on 16 November 2008 in Brisbane, Australia. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1175/MWR-D-13-00405.1.
Richter, Harald, Peter, Justin, & Collis, Scott. Analysis of a Destructive Wind Storm on 16 November 2008 in Brisbane, Australia. United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-13-00405.1
Richter, Harald, Peter, Justin, and Collis, Scott. Mon . "Analysis of a Destructive Wind Storm on 16 November 2008 in Brisbane, Australia". United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-13-00405.1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1395023.
@article{osti_1395023,
title = {Analysis of a Destructive Wind Storm on 16 November 2008 in Brisbane, Australia},
author = {Richter, Harald and Peter, Justin and Collis, Scott},
abstractNote = {During the late afternoon on 16 November 2008 the Brisbane (Australia) suburb of “The Gap” experienced extensive wind damage caused by an intense local thunderstorm. The CP2 research radar nearby detected near-surface radial velocities exceeding 44 m s-1 above The Gap while hail size reports did not exceed golf ball size, and no tornadoes were reported. This study shows that the storm environment was characterized by a layer of very moist (mixing ratios exceeding 12 g kg-1) near-surface air embedded in strong storm-relative low-level flow, whereas the storm-relative winds aloft were significantly weaker. And while the thermodynamic storm environment contained a range of downdraft promoting ingredients such as a ~4 km high melting level above a ~2 km deep layer with nearly dry adiabatic lapse rates mostly collocated with dry ambient air, a ~1 km deep stable layer near the ground would generally lower expectations of destructive surface winds based on the downburst mechanism. We also found that once observed reflectivities exceed 70 dBZ that downdraft cooling due to hail melting and downdraft acceleration based on hail loading are likely to become non-negligible forcing mechanisms for a strong downdraft. The study found a close proximity of the hydrostatically and dynamically driven mesohigh at the base of the downdraft to a dynamically driven mesolow associated with a radar-observed low-level circulation. This proximity is hypothesized to have been instrumental in the observed anisotropic horizontal acceleration of the near-ground outflow and the ultimate strength of the Gap storm surface winds. Finally, we speculate that the 44 weak storm-relative midlevel winds allowed the downdraft to descend close to the low45 level circulation which set up this strong horizontal perturbation pressure gradient.},
doi = {10.1175/MWR-D-13-00405.1},
journal = {Monthly Weather Review},
number = 9,
volume = 142,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Radar‐based climatology of damaging hailstorms in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia
journal, January 2020

  • Warren, Robert A.; Ramsay, Hamish A.; Siems, Steven T.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 146, Issue 726
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A Random Forest Method to Forecast Downbursts Based on Dual-Polarization Radar Signatures
journal, April 2019

  • Medina, Bruno; Carey, Lawrence; Amiot, Corey
  • Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 7
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