Cyclone warning issued for coastal regions of northern Australia

December 23, 2011 – AUSTRALIA – The Bureau of Meteorology says gale force winds of up to 110 kilometers per hour are expected to develop late Saturday or early Sunday. Dr Andrew Tupper from the Bureau of Meteorology says there’s still a high expectation the tropical low hovering over the Top End may develop into a cyclone. The area from Cape Don to Milingimbi is under a Cyclone Warning, which means gale-force winds could begin within 24 hours. Communities affected include Maningrida, Goulburn Islands and Croker Island. Gales may develop later in coastal areas between Dundee Beach and Cape Don, including Darwin and the Tiwi Islands, and between Milingimbi and Nhulunbuy. “In the last little while the system has started developing reasonably strongly, that does give the system better definition and it helps us to work out the warning strategy from now on,” says Dr Tupper. “What we have now is quite a strong band of weather over the Arafura Sea, it’s the sort of feature that clearly indicates a developing system,” he says. Peter Davies, Director of NT Emergency Services says communities are well prepared for a potential cyclone. “The police have been out and about talking to all the people in the outstations so they’re all well aware of what’s going on,” he says. –ABC.net

Update @ 19:56 AEDT Sat Dec 24 2011

A Category Two cyclone strong enough to damage buildings and threaten lives is forecast to hit the Northern Territory coast on Boxing Day, but Darwin is likely to be spared a direct hit.

Bureau of Meteorology's regional director in Darwin, Dr Andrew Tupper, told journalists a low over the Arafura Sea is still likely to become a tropical cyclone on Saturday night.

From there it will slowly move north of the coast for 18 to 24 hours, hitting the Coburg Peninsula northeast of Darwin on Christmas Day as a weak cyclone before heading south.

It would probably make landfall around Point Stuart, northeast of Darwin, on Boxing Day afternoon he said.

Dr Tupper said he expected the cyclone to be a Category 2 storm but it could become stronger than that.

A category two storm has winds between 154-177km/h.

He said a lot of trees would likely be knocked down and buildings could be damaged, particularly those not up to building code.

"It would certainly be very dangerous to drive in, very disruptive, and obviously be a threat to life," Dr Tupper said.

Heavy rain is expected to cause localised flooding.

Darwin is expected to be on the edge of the system, with wind gusts of 90km/h to 100km/h.

More here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8394635

December 25, 2011 – AUSTRALIA – Storms pelted Victorians with hailstones as big as billiard balls during a wild Christmas Day barrage. The damage bill could run into tens of millions of dollars after hundreds of cars were bombarded, windows in homes and businesses were smashed and roofing was torn away. The State Emergency Service was called to more than 2500 jobs when a series of storm cells intensified dramatically in Melbourne in the afternoon. The worst was a tornado that hit Fiskville, near Bacchus Marsh, west of Melbourne. Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for many parts of Victoria throughout the afternoon and evening, but the weather was expected to improve ahead of today’s Boxing Day Test at the MCG. Early this morning, a severe weather warning remained current for parts of southern New South Wales, including Wagga Wagga, Albury, Deniliquin, Cobar, Broken Hill and Wentworth. Around Melbourne yesterday, most calls to the SES were from Keilor Park, Keilor Downs and Taylors Lakes. Parts of Eltham and Greensborough were hit more than once and planes were grounded at Melbourne Airport. Lightning hit the 3AW transmission tower, knocking out its analogue signal and putting it off air to most listeners. About 77 passengers on a flight out of Darwin spent almost four hours at Sale airport after Qantas decided it was unsafe to fly into Melbourne. Metro warned commuters to expect major train delays, with most lines disrupted, and advised passengers to defer non-essential travel. The storm blacked out more than 5000 homes in Port Melbourne, Ballarat, Armadale, Toorak and South Melbourne as families sat down to Christmas dinner. A family in Apollo Rd, Taylors Lakes, had nine cars damaged and roof tiles and outdoor lights broken when the storm hit about 3.30pm. Robyn Sullivan said the hailstones had been almost as big as tennis balls. “It was like a roar as it came through,” she said. “I’ve never heard anything like it.” -News

Whoa...

My question though is...

How common are Tornadoes near Melbourne and for that matter how common are They in Australia...

I'd come to understand that it was a primarily North American phenomena and while there were abberations in other places of the Planet on occasion - They were exacly that ;

Aberrations...