Quote:
Originally Posted by Philip Duncan  The dictionary confirms that a tornado is:
- A violent storm with winds whirling around a small area of low pressure.
- A small but violent squall or whirlwind (bingo!)
- Any violently active or destructive person or thing. |
Just to expand on this definition (I've not checked it myself) but meteorologically a tornado is defined by its rotation. I would have thought that most of the public would be aware of the term "squall", so it could be used widely to differentiate "straight line" wind damage.
The problem in NZ is that there aren't the people willing to go out and do a site survey. It doesn't have to be scientific, but only needs someone to take a few pics to be honest, and know what signs to look for ie rotational split in trees, damage pointing in different directions to name two.
Everyone seems to rely on media coverage and single snapshots or what I term "ear witness reports" from those who were in bed or inside at the time and heard "whooshing" sound. There are plenty of tornado reports, but not many of them can be confirmed either way.
I've said before and I will say again, I would like to get a team of enthusiastic volunteers who are willing to travel the small distances to do these things, so that we can form a scientific opinion of the events. I need to resurrect the severe weather report form to try and get a database of the events.
24-Jul-2008, 20:57
