"Super Cell" storms

[Outdated]

If you live on the east coast of Australia now is a good time to buy a new car. There'll be lots of new cars with dents in them from hail which lowers the price considerably.

Super Cell storms are a regular occurrence in Australia. They move very fast and they hit hard, high winds and huge hail stones. At least this time around the hail stones didn't have spikes on them, my brother got hit by one of them when we were kids and it split his head open.

'We're still reeling': Power still out for 2,500 Qld residents after wild hail storms

 

[Kayla55]

Hey dude,
Hear you, we've had quite a few storms as well, makes me bit nervous as live by the coast.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

@Outdated Did your brother survive?

 

[Outdated]

Yes, we're a pretty thick skulled bunch. The storm hit just as everyone was leaving school - we all used to walk to school back in those days. I made it home before the storm hit but my brother was busy playing with other kids. He was only 7 years old at the time.

He was used to being hit in the head all the time though, both of us fought a lot and both of us fractured each other's skulls a few times. He brought the hail stone that hit him home to show Mum what happened, it looked a lot like this one:

 

[Mary Terry]

The US gets those super cell storms, too, usually in the Midwest. They are extremely dangerous to every living thing, structures and vehicles. I used to pick up the hail and put it in the freezer in case I had to prove to the insurance company why our roof needed replacement or repair.

 

[Outdated]

The US gets those super cell storms, too, usually in the Midwest.

Here they're generally associated with the subtropics, so northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, but other parts of Australia get them as well, although not as often.

Because of this I expected someone to say that you also get them in Florida rather than the Mid West.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Florida can get super cells, but we get more hurricanes, tornados and thunderstorms to keep us occupied.

Apparently Florida hail doesn’t usually get large because the warm temps melt them before they get to the ground.

 

[Outdated]

Apparently Florida hail doesn’t usually get large because the warm temps melt them before they get to the ground.

It hailed once in Darwin back in the 70s, when I moved there in the 90s they were still talking about it.

 

[Outdated]

I just found a compilation video from a few different hail storms:

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Quite the collection of videos. I’ve never seen hail larger than a marble.

Watching the windshield being destroyed with one star-shaped burst after another. Wow.

I heard a lot of people invoking the deity. I didn’t realize Australians were so religious.

 

[RemyZee]

If you live on the east coast of Australia now is a good time to buy a new car. There'll be lots of new cars with dents in them from hail which lowers the price considerably.

Super Cell storms are a regular occurrence in Australia. They move very fast and they hit hard, high winds and huge hail stones. At least this time around the hail stones didn't have spikes on them, my brother got hit by one of them when we were kids and it split his head open.

'We're still reeling': Power still out for 2,500 Qld residents after wild hail storms

YIKES

 

[Outdated]

Another picture from the latest storm:

 

[Mary Terry]

According to Wikipedia, supercells are most common in the Great Plains (central USA) and even into southern Canada. That area is referred to as "Tornado Alley". They can contain significant amounts of precipitation or be relatively dry. They are characterized by intense updrafts and the presence of a mesocyclone which is a deep, persistently rotating updraft, and they frequently spawn tornados. They can form anywhere in the world under the right conditions but are most common in Tornado Alley, USA. They even occur in Europe.

Think about Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz!