NZ Weather Forum

Was talking to someone on the weekend who knows the family of the 1991 Albany tornado victim (20 years ago almost to the day of last May's fatal tornado) and came across a couple of detailed recent articles that may be of interest...

'Tornado pain remains' - Rodney Times (Stuff)
'History of tornadoes on Shore' - North Shore Times (Stuff)

20th January 1975 a shallow depression that originated east of Bass Strait (north of Tasmania) approached central New Zealand.

Westerly winds on the northern side of the depression brought changeable weather to the west of the North Island, with passing showers from cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. Some of the showers were heavy and accompanied by squally westerly winds, typical of conditions when tornadoes form offshore, then move across the coast and leave a narrow trail of destruction before dissipating inland. The map shows the situation on the 20th January 1975
Tornado reports were received from four North Island areas. At Taumangi (near Putaruru) a tornado passed through at midday, damaging three properties. It appeared to be about 50 metres wide and left a trail of destruction. At about 10am another struck the Mangapiko area (Te Awamutu) and flattened trees and shrubs on one farm. A small tornado at 11am in the Kihikihi area (Waipa County) blew down two buildings and damaged three houses. It passed across the state through the town itself. During the afternoon a tornado damaged houses in a small area of Wanganui.
From The New Zealand Weather Book

Thanks for that post Steve , I have been looking at my edition of the New Zealand Weather Book but couldn't find that section.
I apparently have the 2001 reprinted edition, what version do you have?

I'm picking the tornado picture does not belong with the story, looks like a US photo.

NZstorm wrote:looks like a US photo.

It does, but I somehow doubt Eric Brenstrum would put a U.S Tornado picture in a New Zealand Weather Book.

The only explanation for using a US photo would be that he doesn't have a local picture.

The tornado in the photo looks way too strong for a NZ tornado, classic looking Oaklahoma tornado

Thats what I thought!! Its credited to th The Press aswell. Go figure....

I have the 1979 edition! I also have a later one which I cant locate.

NZstorm wrote:The only explanation for using a US photo would be that he doesn't have a local picture.

Agreed. The edited article above appears in my original 1978/79 New Zealand Weather Book, researched and written by Charles Clarke-Smith, and designed and illustrated by Stephen Hill.

The above photo (minus the sepia effect ) would've been intended simply as a generic tornado pic. I also suspect that few photos of NZ tornadoes existed at the time of publication, so including any other locally recognizable pic when detailing the events above would've been problematic.

In the omitted opening and closing lines, he also makes ref to typical conditions in which NZ tornadoes occur and the fact that their average damage paths (10-30m wide, 1-5 km long) are smaller than those in the US.

There is a photo in an earlier section of a funnel / tornado from northland.

"The publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the following who have supplied photographs and given permission for the use of copyright material"

Guess there isnt any reason why The Press didnt owned the copyright to that image?

The weather story is a bit of an unusual but interesting one in that tornadoes in January are very rare. They would have occurred on that cold front where there must have been a pre frontal N flow to generate the shear/instability combo.

Jacci has presented a link in Facebook that she said "Haha! Great article. Should be shared to all the mainstream media pages on Facebook." Maybe we should consider sending it to the various media outlets. I cringe as much as the next bloke when they publish mini tornado.

Im impressed that the Mayfield Tornado hasnt been called mini!