After living in the US for the best part of 2001 and growing up in Australia. Let me blow some myths for the US readers.
Kangaroos generally don't roam the streets of Australia.
Sydney is not the capital
The water spins in the opposite direction in Australia as it drains from sinks and toilets.

Hi, these are categorically NOT photos from the storm in Westerm Australia recently - apart from the fact that it is inconceivable that none of our parochial little media outlets (print or electronic) have run these photographs, I'd draw your attention to the vehicles in two of the photos - they're driving on the right-hand side of the road (we drive on the left)! Sorry guys, these ain't from here! Brian

Bleeding heck, how many more times do we have to post this: The storm photos are a hoax--they are from the collection of 2004 storm photos on the Extreme Instability site. They were in Iowa, USA, not Bunbury, and can be seen in their original state here:

http://extremeinstability.com/2004photos.htm

Well, the corn is not setting, and the rapseed isn't flowering, because in Asutralia it is coming on to winter. They are a hoax, and great to look at!

The tornado was real alright, there has been untold damage, but it has only effected some parts of the town.
I do agree that the above pictures are strange as I can not recognise any scenery.

From the perspective of a storm chaser here in Texas, I would say that the several pictures I've seen of this particular "Bunbury Storm" appear to be different storms. I also believe these to be in the Midwest also. While I'm not very familiar with the geography of WESTERN AUSTRALIA, I'd say that the frontal boundary would have had to be very significant to cause the convection needed to generate a super cell like the one in these photos. Smaller storms can be tornadic too, but don't usually look like this one. The rotation is definately counter clockwise, which also suggests this was in the Northern Hemisphere, although, there was a storm a few years back in Paris TX I think, that actually rotated the oposite direction, so this can't be ruled out. The 6 or 7 photos I've seen appear to be at different times of the year (Harvest) and at different times of the day. Typically, the storm reaches maturity, does the damage and disipates rather rapidly. Although very rare, this storm appears to have a very long life especially as the meso-cyclone (wall cloud) is so close to the ground during broad daylight, and there is not much disipation between then and sunset. My vote is these are a couple of mid summer storms in the south central plains here in the US. Trust me, it's no honor to have one of these knocking on your door.

Hi everyone, i live in Mandurah WA and copped some pretty harsh effects from the storm, and looking at the supposed bunbury photos it would be rather cool to think that a storm like that passed over us, but i don't think so. It has been brought to my attention that a few cars in one of the photos are actually driving on the opposite road to what we do here in Australia. And i have spent a lot of time in Bunbury having grown up in the area, and that is not Bunbury landscape, not at all. They were cool pictures though

Hey, i also realised that after i posted my fact revealing letter, that someone has also ready mentioned the same facts as what i did. Lets just say, im sitting at home drinking Southern Comfort and having a hell of a blonde day. Cheers.

hello everyone i am from bunbury and there is only one of these photo that look remotely like "bunno"

one of these photos have a paddock and in the paddock is a nice big green crop of something. in bunbury we are not in the growing season yet and we are just about to seed which means put the seed in the ground now this crop in the photo looks like its ready to be harvested people dont believe these photos. bunbury is not like these at all

Going from orientation of the road signs this has to be taken in America or some country where they drive on the right side of the road. That should put Australia out of the running.

Really awesome shots, but if this is anywhere near Bunbury W.A., then I'm a monkey's uncle. Try mid-west USA. Here's what I think gives it away....
- Lack of Australian scenery, in particular, gum trees
- American style barn with flagpole in frame 7
- reverse cyclonic rotation in the wall clouds and tornado (i.e., northern hemisphere) frames 3,4 and 8
- approaching car appears to be on wrong side of road in frame 2
- incorrect storm type, instead of a spring/summer supercell should have been a winter frontal system (cloud in frame 6 would be plausible if not for the scenery)

I am familiar with the countryside near Bunbury and it is mostly well forested with hills in the distance, Tuart trees are a frequent large gum in the area, with plenty of Marri/Jarrah forest around. The flat coastal areas tend to peppermint and paperbark swamps. Bunbury itself is a reasonable sized city with a hill in the middle of it that you can see for miles around.

READ THE BLOODY THREAD!!! Sheeshhh and Bleeding heck, how many more times do we have to post this: The storm photos are a hoax--they are from the collection of 2004 storm photos on the Extreme Instability site. They were in Iowa, USA, not Bunbury, and can be seen in their original state here:

http://extremeinstability.com/2004photos.htm

Weighing in here after the gunfire has died down. Interesting to note that even though a single quick visit to the link posted by shel on May 21 established indisputable bona fides for the origin of these images, the debate continued for almost 3 more weeks. Maybe us humans are so easy to hoax cuz we likes it.

Just from looking at the photos, I could tell they were the midwest:
Vehicles on the right side of the road
The street sign
The corn and soy bean crops
And it's flatter than $#@!

I'm moving back to Montana!

ok i live in bunbury, for starters... the storms went through about 6am. not after getting to werk at 8.30am. outside was darker during the day than in any of these pictures. and the landscapes, the only places near bunbury that are open spaces and full of grassed areas are the collie/brunswick hills areas. all not flat as in these pics. bloody top pictures, but as far as im concered every 1s been had.

READ THE THREAD. READ THE THREAD. READ THE THREAD.

As I said back in May.......
"Bleeding heck, how many more times do we have to post this: The storm photos are a hoax--they are from the collection of 2004 storm photos on the Extreme Instability site. They were in Iowa, USA, not Bunbury, and can be seen in their original state here:

http://extremeinstability.com/2004photos.htm
Posted by shel on Wed May 25, 2005 at 08:37 AM"

_We_ haven't been had, _we_ know where they're from.

Shel.

Actually . . . I posted the link to the original non-bunbury photos in this forum on May 21. Alas and alack, still we have debate . . . .

Sorry, shel. People are dumb. And tend not to read what anyone else has posted.
*shrugs*

Hi,

Not only have these photographs been incorrectly circulated as a hoax under this name it has under other names as well unfortunately. And in one known case, it may have been submitted to one of the US channels incorrectly authored by someone in Texas. Mike Hollingshead has had to unfortunately come to terms with losing control of an absolutely awesome set of photographs.

Here they are again, this time in Canada....

Last Friday (Aug 18) a severe storm came through the Toronto area. We don't usually get storms that bad, so everyone was really impressed.

It took exactly 1 week for these photos to show up in my inbox with the caption, "Photos taken near Orangeville during last Friday's storm! Isn't nature amazing!?!" (Orangeville is in a rural area NW of Toronto.)

Where will they appear next? Anywhere but Iowa, no doubt.

I first received these photos in early July, after Calgary and area had experienced days of rain and floods. The email's subject was "storms in Southern Alberta". I knew that these storms didn't happen here!! I just burst out laughing when I received them again in August, now titled "storms in Toronto area"! My friend at work received them the same week, titled "storms in Fergus and Barrie, Ontario".
Every time I receive an email now with a picture that seems too good to be true, I check with a hoax site first. I also send a link to either this site or snopes.com to the person who sent me the email....I wish people would be a bit more discriminating about what they forward.

Yep they've turned up again. I've just been sent this same set as being photos of Hurricane Katrina.

I stumbled across this forum whilst reseaching an apparant increase in Tornado's in Western Australia for a documentary I'm working on.

Allow me to settle the argument irrefutably.

The pictures in question cannot possibly be of the storms experienced in Bunbury WA on 16-05-2005, because the storms hit Bunbury and Metropolitan Perth BEFORE sunrise.

If however, anybody does have any pictures or footage of any tornado's in Western Australia (according to official burinformation, Perth experiences an average of 6 per year) then I would love to hear from you.

I can be contacted by email - .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Adam, this issue has long ago, and in this very thread, been settled irrefutably, even down to identifying _exactly_ where the photos were taken, by whom, and when. To cut a long story short, earlier posts point you to:

http://extremeinstability.com/2004photos.htm

wherein all is revealed.

regards,
Shel

These pictures were taken in near Orangeville Ontario Canada by a friends sisters friend. As I got them exactly 2 days post the Tornado that hit the Orangeville/Erin / Toronto area on Aug 18th.

I've now seen this doing the rounds as "Hurricane Katrina"

Media Watch (ABC) did a piece on it the other night. Not only did the W.A newspapers use Hollingshead's photos incorrectly, but I think the Herald & even the tv show Sunrise featured them. Talk about not doing your homework!

I'm not posting to refute where the photos actually came from. But to add something. About a month or a month and a half, my secretary showed me these pictures claiming they were the Orangeville tornado. I believed her until I got home and realized it was a hoax. I cannot believe that people STILL believe every fucking thing that comes into their inbox.

tell me more because i am doing a project on austrilian weather

Ashley, this issue has long ago, and in this very thread, been settled irrefutably, even down to identifying _exactly_ where the photos were taken, by whom, and when. To cut a long story short, earlier posts point you to:

http://extremeinstability.com/2004photos.htm

wherein all is revealed.

At least Aussies can establish facts for themselves without having to "wait until Snopes gets holds of this to know for sure".

regards,
Shel

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