Deadly Auckland Tornado - May 3

[spwill]

I was on the NorthShore this morning so took a look at the damage through the suburb of Birkenhead, there was plenty of house/tree damage in a narrow trail, this location being about 9km from Albany.

Did any thunderstorms occur over the Auckland region on Tuesday ? certainly a few over Northland and west coast Waikato.

[Manukau heads obs]

Did any thunderstorms occur over the Auckland region on Tuesday ? certainly a few over Northland and west coast Waikato

yes, there was lightning observed with the CB over Albany

[spwill]

Some photos of Tornado damage from the NorthShore suburb of Birkenhead about 9km SW of Albany.

How long would it have taken the Tornado to travel from Albany to Birkenhead ?

[Orion]

Terrific - in its true sense - as, causing great terror, violently impressive, of tremendous intensity (quoting Oxford Dictionary). A wonder the toll wasn't worse.

[Manukau heads obs]

How long would it have taken the Tornado to travel from Albany to Birkenhead ?

distance say 10km
and I estimate it was travelling at only 50kmh
so approx 12 minutes?

just for discussion sake:
if it was say the Midwest USA they would have had warnings go out onto radio and TV for areas in the path after it was first reported by storm spotters or confirmed by radar...its a well practised and tuned machine the warning system over there, I wonder what the time turn around would be over there to get a warning out, i.e would people 12 km ahead have got warning in time?
(the problem in the midwest is though there are so many false alarms people get blasay)

[bmo]

According to something i read on i think nzherald or stuff metservice said the tornado was in Albany at about 3pm and in the Harbour at about 4pm.

[Manukau heads obs]

it probably was going slower than 50 kmh then (at times faster, other times slower)
as it took the CB until 5pm to get to Waiuku
so maybe only averaging forward speed of 25kmh ?
it was a relatively slow forward mover (as the winds were light that day otherwise)

[Manukau heads obs]

actually by studying the hi res rain radar images, it struck around 2:50pm
and moved around 15km in 30 minutes, so that does make it aorund 25km forward speed

[Brassnz]

I drove north over the Harbour Bridge at around 3.50pm on the day of the tornado and it was all over by then.

[NZstorm]

if it was say the Midwest USA they would have had warnings go out onto radio and TV for areas in the path after it was first reported by storm spotters or confirmed by radar...its a well practised and tuned machine the warning system over there, I wonder what the time turn around would be over there to get a warning out, i.e would people 12 km ahead have got warning in time?

Most of the tornadoes are initially picked up by a radar signature and the warning is almost instantaneous. The NOAA weather radio is possibly the quickest way to get warnings over there.

[Nev]

actually by studying the hi res rain radar images, it struck around 2:50pm
and moved around 15km in 30 minutes, so that does make it aorund 25km forward speed

Shouldn't that be 30 km/h?

The NZ Herald suggests that it covered the 15 km from Albany to Pt Chevalier in about 55 minutes (2:45pm to 3:40pm), which, assuming it travelled in a straight line, would give it an average forward speed of only about 14 km/h. However, given that its path appears to have been more snake-like, its route may have covered something more like 20 km, which would equate to an average forward speed of about 18 km/h over 55 minutes.

[Nev]

there is a photo on weatherwatch.co.nz that I saw that captured a yellow car in the air

Might be the 2nd pic here in TVNZ's, 'Photogallery: Tornado in Albany'.
Below is a close-up of the car - it apparently ended up being dropped through the PlaceMakers roof according to one eyewitness account.

[03Stormchaser]

Check out the wheelie bin, CCTV footage of the tornado.
http://youtu.be/8cOBUhNBNZ4

[03Stormchaser]

there is a photo on weatherwatch.co.nz that I saw that captured a yellow car in the air

Might be the 2nd pic here in TVNZ's, 'Photogallery: Tornado in Albany'.
Below is a close-up of the car - it apparently ended up being dropped through the PlaceMakers roof according to one eyewitness account.

There is alot of evidence of cars being picked up then dropped.

pic0015.jpg

Also found this image, showed the force of flying debris although its impossible to say how far its entered the car.

300c.jpg

[Manukau heads obs]

sorry to dig this up again
just caught up with some locals at a 50th birthday party
there is a eye witness report that the first line of CB's that came through here before the Albany line of CB's produced a large water spout just out to sea off the manukau heads
it occured just south of a gap in the hills, i,e the NE wind accelerates out the gaps in the hills here (the valleys) and so that might have been enough to form it
as I did notice there was some freshening of the low level NE wind as the CB was moving through....it was a classic sewtup too at the time, with a sharp clearence to the NW....

[03Stormchaser]

sorry to dig this up again
just caught up with some locals at a 50th birthday party
there is a eye witness report that the first line of CB's that came through here before the Albany line of CB's produced a large water spout just out to sea off the manukau heads
it occured just south of a gap in the hills, i,e the NE wind accelerates out the gaps in the hills here (the valleys) and so that might have been enough to form it
as I did notice there was some freshening of the low level NE wind as the CB was moving through....it was a classic sewtup too at the time, with a sharp clearence to the NW....

I cant verify this but It was said to be taken on the 3rd before the Albany tornado, found it on twitter on the 3rd May but because it didn't seem to look like any other tornado photo from that day I dismissed it. But now that you have posted that Brian it may well be a waterspout from earlier in the day.

aUCKTOR.jpg

Cellphone photo of possible waterspout 03/05/2011

[Manukau heads obs]

did it say where that was sighted?

[Vertigo]

heres a few shots of the damage from the tornado at kaipatiki rd and glenfield college.. obviously has been taken to by a chainsaw, but the fence sections were twisted and bent.

IMG00899.jpg

IMG00898.jpg

IMG00901.jpg

and a bit of insulation that was transported to my house, probably from the placemakers building! albany to beachaven!

IMG00896.jpg

[Nev]

Came across this amateur google-map of the tornado's path, which looks to be far more comprehensive and accurate than the TVNZ map I posted earlier.

[NZstorm]

Interesting reports. There was also the report from Auckland airport of litter falling on the runway.

[spwill]

A guy who lives in the suburb of Bayview told me a large flat piece of iron weighing about 80kg dropped into his backyard, it was too heavy for one person to move.

There was quite a lot of property damage along Roseberry Avenue, Birkenhead, 9km SW of Albany. I think this was the worst affected residential street.
Here are some more photos from Roseberry Ave taken a couple of days after the storm. The photos I posted at the top of the page are also Roseberry Ave.