16 AUS TORNADOES YEARLY

While Australia has nothing to match America's Tornado Alley it still averages 16 tornadoes every year.

Some places like Lennox Head - on the New South Wales far-north coast - are more tornado-prone than others, according to Barry Hanstrum, NSW regional director of the Bureau of Meteorology.

"The most common tornado spots are the south-western coast of Western Australia, south-eastern South Australia and over the border into nearby Victoria, the area around south-eastern Queensland, and the far north coast of New South Wales where the Lennox Head tornado hit.

"When we look at tornado occurrence in Australia we find two peaks, including a summer peak around November, December and January, but a significant proportion happen in winter, especially in the southern coastal part of the country".

Willy-willies, which look like tiny tornadoes that form in the outback, are actually intense thermals of hot air rising and are also associated with a trough or shear line.

The savage twister at Lennox Head rated an F1 or F2 on the Fujita tornado scale.

While nobody was killed, police said 12 homes were destroyed and another 30 were damaged by the twister's wild winds.

F2 tornadoes have wind speeds of 250 kilometres per hour with a path of destruction about 250 metres wide. Damage from an F2 will be similar to an F1 but over a larger area and to a more extensive degree.