Around this time of year, the people of the Tiwi Islands in northern Australia can count on pretty much the same thunderstorm showing up at pretty much the same time every day.
That’s why they gave it a name: Hector the Convector, or simply Hector.
This weather phenomenon is a quirk of geography and topography.
The Tiwi Islands, being, well, islands, are surrounded by the sea.
And where there’s sea, there’s sea breezes, carrying a lot of moisture around.
When the winds collide over the islands, they move upwards into the upper atmosphere.
The higher the air column goes, the cooler it gets.
That causes the water vapor in the air to condense into drops of water, which forms clouds, which leads to storms.
This plays out day after day through the wet season in the Southern Hemisphere, usually leading to a storm around 3pm local time.
It’s so reliable that crowds will gather ahead of 3 o’clock so they can watch the phenomenon in action.
It’s also so large that people in the city of Darwin, over 60 miles away on mainland Australia, can see it happening.
Hector continues most days through the rainy season, dropping some 80 inches on parts of the Tiwi Islands.
That can be a lot for the people on the ground.
But Hector is actually handy for those in the air: it’s so reliable that pilots trying to navigate can use the storm as a reference point.
This weekend in Newport, Indiana, it’s the annual Antique Auto Hill Climb.
For decades, people have been taking their vintage cars, trucks, motorcycles and more up a local hill, and the ones who can climb the hill the fastest win prizes.
You could say things are definitely looking up there.
Hector arrives promptly at 3pm. But Hector isn’t a person (CNN)
Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb
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