General News
2 June, 2026
Rare cloud formation spied in local sky
A rare and striking weather phenomenon spotted near Mount Hooghly last week captured the attention of passers by, as an “unusual’’ funnel cloud emerged on the horizon.
Last Wednesday afternoon’s sun was drawn out by west moving rainfall just as the funnel cloud appeared, but senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Jonathan How said the conditions at the time weren’t typical to cause the formation, let alone in this part of the state.
“There are two aspects to the unusual nature of it. Firstly, these are more common in the high country where there is different terrain ... it’s certainly not as ruggered there as the Alpine areas, you don’t typically see [funnel clouds] in the central ranges,” he said.
“It also wasn’t really the type of weather system that does bring them. Normally, when we see these funnel clouds, we see a big cold front or a low pressure system moving across Victoria.
“There really wasn’t any big weather feature, there were a few showers and some winds across the ranges but it’s not a typical weather set up.”
What did emerge at that time last week was wind sheer, a change in the wind’s speed or direction causing the wind to turn on itself and form a rotating column.
“We did have southernly winds pushing over the ranges, but high up in the atmosphere and in the north, we had an upper atmospheric trough,” he said.
“That was pushing down northerly winds, so overall, the change from the surface with northerly winds created a bit of rotation, and that was able to be brought down to the ground in that funnel cloud.
“But what is interesting is the winds at the surface of the loft weren’t strong, but there was a slight topographic enhancement from the mountain that brought the column down to the ground through that funnel cloud.”
The BOM states a funnel cloud is a thin vortex attached to a cumulonimbus cloud that does not touch the ground.
If the cloud had’ve reached that far down, it would have classified as a tornado.
Most tornados do begin as funnel clouds, but many dissolve mid air, as did the one spotted in Mount Hooghly.
“From the photos, it doesn’t look like it touched the ground,” Mr How said.
“But funnel clouds do cause a bit of damage if they do get close to the ground.
“It looks like in this case, [the funnel cloud] didn’t cause too much of that.”
Regardless, there is a common misconception that tornados are unique to the North American continent, and Australia doesn’t produce such weather events.
Multiple times a year, Mr How sees evidence proving otherwise.
“It’s a common misconception that we don’t get tornados in Australia, but we certainly do, and funnel clouds or water spouts, and all sorts of things,” he said.
“Southern Australia is one of the regions of the world that does see a higher number of funnel clouds and tornados. We are well behind the US, but even south west Western Australia does see this happen.
“Australia’s ‘tornado ally’ is very much is south east Queensland during the spring and summer.”
Mr How said Australia can see between 20 to 70 tornados a year, but many of those go unreported or unnoticed, just because of how remote their location can be.
“There are the big tornadoes, they are associated with supercell thunderstorms, we do get them in Victoria but they are more common in the north east and in the south west of Queensland,” Mr How said.
“We also get another branch of tornados called the cool season tornados or ‘coldies’ and these are much smaller scale, and happen in the cooler months rather than summer, they don’t actually need a thunderstorm to develop, unlike the supercell tornados.
“There are those two types, Victoria does get both types, but these cooler season tornados are more likely and that’s why we tend to see them over the high country.”
While last week’s funnel cloud was very much a rarity for the Central Goldfields, Mr How said the BOM welcomes community photos from those who witness anything of its kind.
“We do get multiple reports across north east Victoria every year and we do rely on community photos otherwise those are things, we just never see, and it is very much under reported or under observed,” he said.