Storm chasers hit Top End

Reporter: Murray McLaughlin

TRACY BOWDEN: Now to another magnificent obsession.

You've seen them in news stories from the United States - mad groups of enthusiasts who chase tornadoes and twisters across America.

They have their equivalent in this country, and they belong to the Australian Severe Weather Association.

Their membership numbers around 200 and, for the past fortnight, they've gathered in Darwin to track storms across the Top End.

Murray McLaughlin reports.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: In Australia's far north, they call it the build-up, that time late in the calendar year between the Dry and the Monsoon seasons.

Daily temperatures are constantly in the mid-30s.

Overnight temperatures rarely drop below 27 degrees and occasional storms give some respite from otherwise oppressive conditions.

The chance of witnessing those storms has drawn to Darwin an oddball bunch of enthusiasts, members of the Australian Severe Weather Association.

MAX KING, STORM-CHASER: The storms up here in the Top End are some of the biggest storms in the country.

They're regular, you can predict what they're going to do usually, not always.

A lot of storms are unpredictable.

But at least up here in the Top End you know you're going to get them and they're going to happen.

That's the glory of the wet and the build-up.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Max King is a travel agent from Sydney.

He's been chasing storms around Australia since he learnt to drive a motor vehicle.

MAX KING: About 30 years.

Work tends to interfere with it, but you get that.

Fortunately, down south where I live, they usually happen after work anyway, so it doesn't matter.

If you get a day off, they don't happen.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: The Severe Weather Association has around 200 members across Australia.

They found their common interest in storms through the Internet and formed the association five years ago.

Not that they tend to allow storms to blow over them.

Their plan is to stay ahead of a storm and capture its development on film and videotape.

ANTHONY CORNELIUS, STORM-CHASER: The best thing, in my opinion, about storm-chasing is actually taking the photos.

So it's not so much being in the storm and getting the heavy rain or whatnot.

It's actually just taking the photos, and we've had a couple of days here where there has been some really nice lightning shots we've been able to get and even getting the nice gust front or storm front coming ahead of the storm.

And if you were in the storm, you wouldn't be able to get that.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Anthony Cornelius is a meteorologist in private business in Brisbane.

His clients, film-makers for example, rely on his weather forecasts to plan their work schedules.

On outings like this, he's happy to share his professional knowledge.

ANTHONY CORNELIUS: I still consider myself largely an amateur storm-chaser.

There are no real professional storm-chasers as such.

But it is a lot of fun.

We're all friends as well just at a personal level.

I guess we all share the same interest, which is good.

So it's a great holiday as well to come out and storm-chase.

BRYCE HAWKINS-FISHER, STORM-CHASER: Welcome to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

It's been a perfect summer's day up here.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: It's a busman's holiday too for Bryce Hawkins-Fisher, who's come from Wollongong to join this bunch of enthusiasts whom he has met previously only via the Internet.

He's a freelance contributor to a cable television service, the Weather Channel, and aspires to be a professional presenter.

BRYCE HAWKINS-FISHER: These flies keep getting in my face.

I've got to start again.

Mother Nature puts on a show that basically we cannot control.

A storm can devastate a town and basically leave it in ruins so I think basically watching it and observing it and helping out with the community by notifying the Bureau of Meteorology and things like that can help and educate people against severe storms.

Hi.

I'm outside Annabaroo, in the NT.

Let me tell you it's been a glorious day in Darwin.

The sunshine has crept out and flowed its rays across the countryside.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: It is late afternoon at Annabaroo, a wayside stop in the Arnhem Highway just outside the boundary of Kakadu National Park.

Darwin is 150km to the west.

If it holds together, this storm drifting slowly from the east will likely alarm family pets and snap the residents of Darwin out of their sleep later tonight.

But there are no guarantees in the business of storm-chasing.

ANTHONY CORNELIUS: It can be really, really frustrating.

A lot of patience is required with storm-chasing.

You have to sit.

Here we are sitting on the road waiting, and that is a lot of what storm-chasing is about.

You get to an area and sit there and wait and watch the sky, and that's all you can do until something happens.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: Each of these chasers has his own favourite storm feature.

MAX KING: My favourite is probably the most dangerous one of the lot.

I like to do what they call core-punch.

I like to go in underneath the storm and see --

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: What is it called?

MAX KING: Core-punch.

You actually go into the storm under its core and see what it's doing.

Some people call it getting hammered.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: And that does something for you?

MAX KING: Yes, yes.

I like that.

That's fun.

The insurance company doesn't like it, but I do.

MURRAY McLAUGHLIN: It's been a long, hot and steamy build-up this year.

The occasional storms have yet to startle the locals, but the visiting chasers have been happy enough.

And as a holiday diversion, their stay over the past two weeks in the Top End has meant long days and little sleep.

MAX KING: Usually you get to bed after the lines go through, probably about 4:30am, and they've usually started to build again by lunchtime, so you're probably up around 10:00 or 10:30 at the latest to check all the computer models and things so we know what's going to happen, and then out on the road again.