Bulahdelah tornado

Bulahdelah Tornado
Date:	1 January 1970
Time:
Rating:	F4/F5 tornado
Damages:
Casualties:
Area affected:	Bulahdelah

The Bulahdelah Tornado was an intense tornado which occurred near the town of Bulahdelah (100 kilometres (62.1 mi) north-northeast of Newcastle), New South Wales on 1 January 1970, and is thought to be the most destructive tornado ever documented in Australia. It is thought to be least F4 or F5 on the Fujita scale however no official rating has been made public.

The tornado left a damage path 22 kilometres (14 mi) long and 1–1.6 km (0.6–1 mi) wide through the Bulahdelah State Forest. According to reports, it threw a two ton tractor 100 m (328 ft) through the air, depositing it upside down. It is estimated that the tornado destroyed over one million trees. A caravan was destroyed and a 2 ton (2,000 kg) tractor was lifted into the air, landing upside down. The tornado was reported by witnesses as a swirling black cloud surrounded by flying debris, and producing a thunderous roaring sound. The weather system that produced the tornado was a classic set-up for violent tornadoes, something somewhat rarely seen outside of the United States, Canada, Bangladesh, and adjacent areas of India.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
  • List of Southern Hemisphere tornadoes and tornado outbreaks