[QUOTE(I work in meteorology,QUOTE]
Gfunc.
You're the man. Years back I wrote to BoM asking whether there was any record of Tornadic Tubes known to exist in Australia. The reply was they do exist around certain type super cell thunderstorms but not reported due only rare occurences and probably not seen at the time with so relatively few aircraft movements within Australia compared to USA.
It was tornadic tube activity in the clear air between two closely spaced cells, that ripped apart a BAC One-Eleven of Braniff Airways in Nebraska.
I have seen no mention of these phenomena published in Australian Met manuals. Google skirts around the subject and I wondered if you could supply any more information on their existence in OZ