Dual-Doppler observations of a destructive windstorm in Brisbane, Australia

On 16 November 2008 a severe thunderstorm caused extensive wind damage at an inner suburb ("The Gap") of Brisbane, Australia. Deep layer shear to support supercells appears to have been marginal which promotes speculation that a microburst was responsible for 48 ms-1 (174 km/h) winds measured in the radial velocity of the nearby CP2 radar.

This study will investigate the dynamical and microphysical evolution of the wind-producing storm based on dual-Doppler observations from CP2 and a second operational Doppler radar and polarimetric observations from CP2. Given many severe storms occurred in a similar storm environment that day, the overall goal of this study is to determine why only the Gap storm produced destructive winds.