Jane ONeill
Andrew & I headed off for the east of the state at
6.25(ish) after trying to work out where the humongous ('scuse technical jargon) cells
just to the east of Mt Dandenong would go. Finally decided to drive south down Stud Road,
get petrol and then decide if we should go south then east or just directly east. Just
before we stopped to get petrol Clyve Herbert rang to report the funnel that he
photographed, & while filling our tank a couple of minutes later, Andrew and I just
stood and stared as we saw 3 (okay, maybe funnels is a bit of an exaggeration) funnel
shaped protruberances all from the SW of this cell.
Photo - looking to Mt Dandenong from
Gardenvale
Photo - Clyve Herbert (ASWA archive)
Interesting co-incidence here - the last time we had a funnel sighted (and videoed in Melbourne) the cell was showing signs of mesocyclonic rotation - same today - spotted the system starting to swing around the cell to the north (again). By the way, the BoM reported that this storm went severe just before the funnels were reported . It was also moving to the SW with all other cells in the area moving to the SE.
Photos from corner of Stud Road
& Wellington Road, Rowville
Photos - Andrew McDonald
So after all this excitement and some photos we drove a further 190km (just to have a Big Mac in Warragul I think) and then turned around and rocked back home (10.15pm) to the extra loud 'bust chase music' supplied by The Offspring (Americana).
Our thanks to Anthony Cornelius and Michael Bath for keeping us up to date with info during our travels, to GMH for supplying a damn good chase car, Macdonalds for supplying dinner, Mobil for the cheap petrol (61.9c in Melb compared to 69.1c 60 km down the road) and Clyve Herbert for chase reports and insanity in regular doses.
Updated 16th May 1999 - J ONeill