[Flipside]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6217514.stm

'Up to 150 houses and many cars were damaged when the freak weather hit the Kensal Rise area.'

Fortunately this is South of me, but spooky nonetheless.

[karajorma]

Well they do occur in London on rare occasions. Not exactly the kind of weather you'd expect in the UK admittedly though.

[NGTM-1R]

I remember they used to think that you couldn't have a tornado in an urban area, because urban areas are effective heat sinks...

...then Denver got hit downtown. Whoops.

[aldo_14]

Well they do occur in London on rare occasions. Not exactly the kind of weather you'd expect in the UK admittedly though.

Even though we apparently have the highest rate of them

[wtf_cl0vvn]

i live in texas...we get 'em all the time in these here parts 


didnt expect for a tornado to hit in london, of all places...

[perihelion]

Even though we apparently have the highest rate of them

[Quirks eyebrow.]  Um.  Have you not heard of "Tornado Alley?"

[an0n]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If global warming means hotter summers and everyone south of Leeds ending up drowning, dehydrated or dead - fire me up a coal power station...

[karajorma]

It means ****ing cold winters too though.

[an0n]

Yeah, but it also means the cold is interspersed with unseasonable warmth - so it balances out.

[aldo_14]

Even though we apparently have the highest rate of them

[Quirks eyebrow.]  Um.  Have you not heard of "Tornado Alley?"

Doesn't matter.  Per unit area, as measured by (a) Dr. Fujita in 1973, the UK has the highest number of tornados in the world.  Even though you may have localized areas of high frequency in the US, divvy is up as an average and it's apparently not as high.

EDIT; highest frequency of reported tornados, at least.  Although apparently there's a suggestion Holland could now be higher.  Plus, the strength is lower (in the UK) and you wouldn't see the monster F4s and F5 in the US.

[Flipside]

Aldo is correct, the UK has the highest number of whirlwinds and tornados on the planet, it's just that most of them are pretty localised...

http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/php/gallery.php?category_path=tornados&start=0

It's just surprising to see one of such strength.

[WeatherOp]

Aldo is correct, the UK has the highest number of whirlwinds and tornados on the planet, it's just that most of them are pretty localised...

http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/php/gallery.php?category_path=tornados&start=0

It's just surprising to see one of such strength.

I don't know, I really don't see any damage greater than a strong F0, allthough the possibility is there of it being a very weak F1 when it pulled the roof off that house. IMO, the tornado that hit the UK last year was much more impressive, I think it was a strong F1, and had one of comparable strength hit this area, we would be looking at a much more grim aftermath.

EDIT; highest frequency of reported tornados, at least.  Although apparently there's a suggestion Holland could now be higher.  Plus, the strength is lower (in the UK) and you wouldn't see the monster F4s and F5 in the US.

Quite true, the reason is that the UK does not see as many "supercell" type storms, most of the UK tornadoes are ether cold core, or waterspouts that have moved inland, allthough every now and then you will get a mesocyclonic storm like that second and third pics of the link Flip posted.

[Flipside]

I hate it when WeatherOp posts in a weather thread, cos there's no arguing with him

[Fragrag]

I hate it when WeatherOp posts in a weather thread, cos there's no arguing with him

I hate it because I don't understand half the words he's saying

[WeatherOp]

I hate it when WeatherOp posts in a weather thread, cos there's no arguing with him

Nonsense, I just use Fragrag's point to my advantage.