Tornado sends heavy table flying - Marlborough Express (Stuff)
Last updated 08:11 22/03/2012
Homeowner Rebecca Nicholls and her daughter Daisy, 2, were talking in their home on Milton Terrace when a mini-tornado formed in their backyard, destroying property and terrifying the family at 5.30pm on Tuesday...
"I could see the grass moving in circles and, within seconds, I saw a line shoot up from the ground. "The sound of it was so loud – all the dust spun around like the brushes in a carwash and then it hit into the house."
The backyard tornado picked up the 20kg glass table and a barbecue and gas bottle like toys and flung them three or four metres across the grass, she said.
"I saw the legs of the table lift up as high as the roofing and it was still the right way up. "I closed my eyes and heard a huge bang, the table had been smashed into the ground. "All the broken glass made it look like it had been snowing."
The event was over within minutes and the pair started crying as they went outside to take a closer look as the dust settled...
MetService meteorologist Daniel Corbett said though there had been no reports of full-size tornadoes in the area, it was possible that little ones, like waterspouts, could have been caused by winds of different speeds converging together over exposed terrain close to the coast.
(full Story)
Tornado reported in Picton - March 20
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Nev
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Tornado reported in Picton - March 20
Few snippets of a very localised small tornado/whirlwind reported in Picton on Tuesday evening?...
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NZstorm
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Re: Tornado reported in Picton - March 20
We can rule out tornado, must have been a devil.
Looks like there was an easterly flow over the region on Tuesday 20th.
Looks like there was an easterly flow over the region on Tuesday 20th.
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Nev
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Re: Tornado reported in Picton - March 20
Yeah, either a small devil or a terrain induced whirlwind?
Don't have any data for Picton itself and nothing much on the radar, just some drizzle/rain around Wgtn. ESE'ers were however funnelling through Cook Strait as strong SE gales, with gusts over 100 km/h at the time. Picton would be more sheltered, although Milton Tce appears to lie on the slopes of an open valley running SW to NE going by google-maps, so there's the potential for a variety of wind scenarios or local turbulence.
Don't have any data for Picton itself and nothing much on the radar, just some drizzle/rain around Wgtn. ESE'ers were however funnelling through Cook Strait as strong SE gales, with gusts over 100 km/h at the time. Picton would be more sheltered, although Milton Tce appears to lie on the slopes of an open valley running SW to NE going by google-maps, so there's the potential for a variety of wind scenarios or local turbulence.