Did you know there is a much-loved thunderstorm that hangs around the Tiwi Islands like clockwork, arriving nearly every afternoon at 3pm during the Build Up season? Nate Byrne explains weird weather.
Hector is one of only a handful of regular storms in the world to have a name, appearing every afternoon around the Tiwi Islands at the top end of Australia between September and December.
So what is it that makes Hector appear at three o'clock every single day?
Ask a Bureau meteorologist and they will tell you it is because there are perfect conditions over Bathurst and Melville Islands every afternoon due to the sea breeze and the shape of the islands.
They are roughly shaped like pyramids, where the sides converge, so the sea breeze can rush up them to form a thunderstorm at the top.
That can reach right up into the atmosphere - about 20 kilometres.
That is called the convective cell.
So aficionados and locals have a bit of a nickname for Hector, they call him 'Hector the Convector'.
Since the 1980s people have travelled from all around the world to come and study Hector, and that makes him one of the most observed storms out there.
Meteorologists especially love him.
If you are studying the cloud-type cumulonimbus, you want something that is reliable because it can be really hard to get really good data when they are looking at things like convective currents and lightning.
About Weird Weather
Weird Weather is a five part series made in collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology. From pyromaniac clouds to space weather storms, ABC weather guru Nate Byrne explains weird weather phenomena.
Image credit:
Murray Fredericks
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