Late afternoon remnants of Hector the Convector over the Tiwi Islands (see explanation below) - Northern Territory, Australia - 9 February 2024.01B

            Hector the Convector is a cumulonimbus thundercloud that forms regularly nearly every afternoon on the Tiwi Islands (90 km NNW of Darwin) in the Northern Territory of Australia, from approximately September to May each year.

Hector is known as one of the world's most consistently large thunderstorms, reaching heights of approximately 20 kilometres (66,000 ft). 

Named by US and Australian airforce pilots during the Second World War, (who were attempting to defend Darwin against Japanese bombing) the recurring position of the thunderstorm made it a navigational beacon for pilots and mariners in the region. 

Hector is caused primarily by a collision of several sea breeze boundaries across the Tiwi Islands and is known for its consistency and intensity. Lightning rates and updraft speeds are notable aspects of this thunderstorm and during the 1990s National Geographic magazine published a comprehensive study of the storm with pictures of damaged trees and details of updraft speeds and references to tornadic events. 

Since the late-1980s the thunderstorm has been the subject of many meteorological studies, many centred on Hector itself, but also utilising the consistency of the storm cell to study other aspects of thunderstorms and lightning.

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Taken on: February 10, 2024

Sets appears in: • Wet Season - 2023-2024 • Darwin - Sunsets, Sunrises, Storms, Clouds and Seashores

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