A severe thunderstorm that lashed the town of Kaimkillenbun in Southern Queensland on Thursday sparked speculation about a tornado touchdown. However, meteorologists have confirmed that a funnel cloud, not a tornado, was sighted during the storm. The Bureau of Meteorology explained that while both funnel clouds and tornadoes originate from intense thunderstorms, the key difference lies in their contact with the ground. Tornadoes possess greater strength, extending from the cloud base to the ground, whereas funnel clouds remain suspended in the air.
Meteorologists have dismissed speculation that a tornado touched down on Queensland 's Western Downs during a severe thunderstorm on Thursday. Lee Mansfield was among the Kaimkillenbun locals who were preparing for the predicted damaging winds, heavy rain and giant hailstones before reports of a tornado surfaced on social media. 'I've been through a few storms here, but I haven't really seen anything like it before,' he said.
'We sort of watched it all brew up — it got windy like a normal storm and then just started throwing things around.' A wild storm impacted the tiny rural town of Kaimkillenbun on Thursday. Mr Mansfield said he saw a cloud take the shape of a funnel from the hill on his property, but never saw the tip connect with the ground. 'We saw footage of a funnel cloud … a sort of triangular cloud formation which can form underneath particularly strong supercell thunderstorms,' senior meteorologist Rosa Hoff said. 'We are going to continue to review our radar footage and observations through the region, but it was still a very interesting cloud formation to have seen.' Emeritus Professor Roger Stone from the University of Southern Queensland said it was a matter of degrees of strength. 'Both come out of fairly intense thunderstorms, particularly thunderstorms that have a bit of rotation in them,' he said. 'So depending on the strength of the storm, how unstable they are and so on, a funnel cloud will almost reach the ground but not have the strength to do so. 'Whereas a tornado will have the strength, will have the extra energy coming out of the cloud and will touch the ground.' Professor Stone said the atmospheric conditions this storm season have been favourable for funnel clouds and tornadoes. He added that the geography of the Western Downs, with its higher ground and abundance of warm air, created ideal conditions for both phenomena. 'Over the last couple of months we have had a lot of tropical air over eastern Australia coming down from the Coral Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria' Professor Stone said. 'But in the upper atmosphere we have had colder air coming from southern latitudes, and it's that contrast that does the damage.
Funnel Cloud Tornado Queensland Storm Meteorology Severe Weather Kaimkillenbun Western Downs
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