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Wild Winds: Twisters, Tornados, Dust Devils, Whirlwinds & Waterspouts

A

Anonymous

Guest
I went upto dartmoor today, pulled into a carpark which was quite dusty, and i looked at this thing going up into the sky, and when i looked closer it was a mini twister, its the most strangest thing ive ever seen in my life, it was clear blue skies, hardly any wind at all, it was lifting dust up into the sky into a perfect twister shape, and at the ground it was spinning like mad!

It must have been about 4 house's high and 1 metre wide

I dunno how the hell that happen, anyone know how ?
 
They say that Britain experiences about 50 twisters per year, although most of them occur just offshore.
 
hallybods said:
They say that Britain experiences about 50 twisters per year, although most of them occur just offshore.

Back in the late '70s I was lucky enough to see one off the coast of South Cumbria. It approached the shoreline and lifted the shingle and small rocks into the air before sudenly dying about fifty yards in front of me. The noise was amazingly loud.
 
mattjdarkstar said:
it was lifting dust up into the sky into a perfect twister shape, and at the ground it was spinning like mad!

It must have been about 4 house's high and 1 metre wide

Sounds like a dust devil.

Quote:
"Dust devils form in areas of strong surface heating, usually at the interface between different surface types, such as asphalt and dirt, or even irrigated fields and dirt roads. Typically, they occur under clear skies and light winds, when the ground can warm the air to temperatures well above the temperatures just above the ground."
 
That sounds lovely.
My dad saw a water spout last year off the Moray Firth. I so wish I had been there! I would love to see a tornado, not the kind you get in the US that kill everyone though.. a dust devil would do.
 
If it was a clear sky it was definitely a dust devil :) Lucky you!
 
Ah, Min Bannister, something like 1% of US tornadoes are responsible for 90% of the deaths. Seeing one in the open country is about the most heart-pounding, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring thing there is. (Most of tornado alley is lightly populated.)

Being in a city and seeing one does indeed often = really bad news.

IIRC, beakboo once saw a dust-devil in a parking lot once. Beak, care to share?
 
Yes naitaka, that image of the dust devil is very much like what i saw! only abit smaller!

it was amazing to see it! and yes it was a totally clear sky!
 
Just had about 10 twisters touch down last night (all within 30 miles of my house). The town I live in has 785 people and is about a mile wild and a mile and a half long. There was a tornado to the west and to the east both about about a mile and a half away. 2 touched down in the town 15 miles south of me. There was one about 10 miles North east that killed 3 people. I went outside to spot funnels and got pummeled by golf-ball sized hail (when I find out who locked the back door we're gonna tangle). When you grow up in Northwest Missouri you just get used to things like this. Definitely a sight to behold.
 
tornados do happen in england. I've never seen one.
 
I haven't seen a dust devil, but when I was a little girl I battled one for mastery of the front door. My grandfather saw it coming towards the house and told me to close the door. Unknowing, I got up and began pushing the door, but couldn't completely shut it because of the pressure. He was yelling "Close it! Close it!" I was crying hysterically and pushing for all I was worth, then the door closed with a big slam, easy as you please.

My grandfather chuckled, happy that he had prevented sand and dirt from blowing in through the screen. I was just bewildered and stunned about my inability to close the door until he explained to me what it really was.
 
comments on twisters and torndaoes

To all:

I am aware of the bad mouthing and lambasting I will be opening myself to, if I invoke the idea of chemtrails, with respect to mattjdarkstar's seeing a dust devil on Datmoor, but altering the weather does seem an effect of chemtrailing. Hallybods asserts that "they say that Britain experiences about 50 twisters a year", however, it should be borne in mind that, just because what are termed "official sources" may make a statement, doesn't mean that it must be true. Or, if it is true, that it should be true!

In the U.S., for example, they seem to have everything they could to make people believe that tornadoes can occur anywhere. This is important to quiet any suspicion about the evident ubiquity of the storms, in recent years. It used to be accepted that essentially flat, unbroken land was necessary for tornadoes to form. The understanding of the nature of tornadoes was hinged on this. Hilly, overly rocky, rough terrain was felt to interfere with the winds that created tornadoes. And this was accepted because, until only a short while ago, tornadoes did only occur on flat land! Since the late Seventies, however, tornadoes have been reported in the uneven, rugged terrain of the Appalachians, and the East Coast. And, so, to avoid the acceptance that the weather may have become perverted, it was quietly asserted "officially" that this is perfectly normal!

And the concept of storm "supercells", to "explain" the occurrence of, frankly, apparently utterly abnormal tornadoes, was invented!

It has become evident to me that a purpose of chemtrails may have been the large-scale introduction of a substance into the atmosphere, likely a volatile, with a lower thermal inertia than water, to augment, or even take the place of, water, in meteorological processes! Don't forget, water, itself, is not theoretically crucial to "weather", just the behavior of something that can motivate the movement of air masses! Something that rises readily into the upper atmosphere will draw in air masses, by suction. Something that releases energy quickly, by condensing out more quickly than water, will provide the energy for artificial storms!

Nay-sayers may try to insist that there was no chemtrail activity indicated, and that the dust devil on Dartmoor an isolated incident, and, so should not be taken to be a sign of chemtrail activity. But it does appear to be anomalous, and the anomalous, likely, has at least some connection with something else anomalous! And, for all that "skeptics" or "debunkers" may try to say that a single twister on the moors is too little to ascribe to chemtrails, a point mattjdarkstar made comes out, namely, that it was "dusty". To be sure, I have never known the moor areas of England to be particularly dry and dusty, but, even if someone may try to say they are, the description of Dartmoor being "dusty" evokes memories of the frankly anomalous 100 degree heat wave of last year!

Divorcing this from weird weather would be difficult, at best!

Those intent on discrediting what I say with respect to chemtrails, incidentally, will be quick to point out the generally accepted assertion that the appearance of chemtrails, en masse, began around 1997. But, in fact, this only indicates an evidently eminently pernicious quality of the matter. It appears that the introduction of foreign substances into the atmosphere, to influence weather and permit weather control, seems to have been ongoing for some time now! Indeed, it may extend back to the late Seventies, or even earlier! The onslaught of hordes of persistent lines in the sky in 1997 may not mark the start of the project, but, rather, may be the indication of the date when the level of abnormal materials in the atmosphere reached saturation! Spreading more substance, now, may produce lines because it's difficult for new material to disperse, since there's already so much of it there!

And, yes, it is unusual, to the point of being abnormal, for tornadoes to form east of the Mississippi! Certainly, New Jersey never saw anything like the threat of tornadoes that is claimed, these days! Normal, water impelled tornadoes may be impossible in the terrain of New Jersey, but something created by a more powerfully acting material may not be! Again, "Debunkers", "skeptics" and nay-sayers may try one of their tricks to confuse the issue, namely questioning my understanding of the subject, or my familiarity with the truth. They will "inform" me that there have always been scores of tornadoes, every year, in New Jersey.

Below is a picture I took in early May, in Grover Cleveland Park, in Caldwell, New Jersey, looking roughly south or southeast, more or less toward West Orange. It has the characteristic appearance of a nascent tornado cloud. It even seems to have two tiny spiral spikes, sticking out of it. This never formed a full tornado, though. In fact, in, apparently, only a few minutes, it shrunk in size. But it does demonstrate a point.

If tornadoes were as reliable an occurrence as "debunkers" and nay-sayers may try to depict them as, then a city like West Orange would never have developed into the highly populated, highly constructed community that it is! With buildings being torn down, every year, there would be no point in turning it, or Newark, or South Orange, or Maplewood, or Summit, or Union into such urbanized spots! "Skeptics" may take issue with the assertion that normal tornadoes would not form around rugged terrain, but, in the end, places regularly assaulted by tornadoes would not be likely to become such highly developed urban centers! A map of the most urbanized areas of the United States, in fact, very closely seems to match the areas traditionally considered immune to tornadoes!

The fact that New Jersey is as developed as it is indicates that tornadoes never used to form here! And that only indicates the evident wholesale abnormality of tornadoes east of the Mississippi, and, likely, the twister on Dartmoor, as well.



Julian Penrod
 
Strange twist to stormy weather

By Craig Vaughan and Natalie Williams
20sep04

A SEVERE storm system caused bizarre weather along New South Wales' east and central coasts, the Southern Highlands and Blue Mountains yesterday, spawning hailstorms, a waterspout, high winds and heavy rain.

Hailstones about the size of a 10c coin fell in southwestern Sydney - at Razorback, between Camden and Picton - at 3.30pm as wild weather hit for the second time in two weeks.

The Bureau of Meteorology's severe weather specialist Andrew Haigh said the rain storm then moved across parts of Liverpool and Blacktown towards northwest Sydney.

A spectacular water spout erupted at Newcastle, alarming hundreds of people out on a Sunday stroll on the foreshore.

Daily Telegraph photographer Liam Driver was one of hundreds mesmerised as the mini-tornado formed off Nobbys Beach and made for land.

Within a couple of minutes of the water spout forming - and just a few hundred metres off the beach - it simply dissipated.

A separate storm in southern NSW forced flights heading from Sydney and Melbourne to Canberra to turn back and grounded outbound flights for almost two hours.

Budgewoi, Toukley and Erina, where 102 elderly residents were relocated after their nursing home's roof was shattered, bore the brunt of the storm.

The bureau said the storm was not as ferocious as the one that struck Sydney two weeks ago but still classified it as severe weather.

The SES duty officer for southwestern Sydney said the hail was brief and wind had done more damage.

"The biggest job was half a roof that was ripped off by a wee-willy (small tornado) about 2pm," he said.

Other storms also developed to the west of Sydney, in the Richmond area, and were forecast to move on towards Sydney's northwest later in the night.

The heavy rain turned Eungai Place in North Narrabeen into a series of spectacular waterfalls.

About 5mm of rain fell on the Northern Beaches, but it was enough to form at least six waterfalls in the tiny street as the water drained off the overhanging escarpment.

Residents Michael and Libby Krillich said they were treated to the spectacle almost every time it rained.

The bureau issued several warnings of possible severe thunderstorms occurring throughout the day.

Regions under threat included the western part of the Sydney metropolitan area; the southern part of the Hawkesbury; Northern Rivers; Mid-North Coast; and the Lower Hunter.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10817808%5E421,00.html
 
Mini tornado damages houses

Roofs were blown off houses, a lamp post knocked over and windows blown out by a mini tornado in Haverfordwest on Monday night, firefighters have said.

The whirlwind struck more than 20 homes on the Priory Estate, Hawthorn Drive and Spencer Way just before 2200 GMT.

Firefighters spent hours making the properties safe and clearing the debris on Monday and Tuesday.

John Davies, who lives on the Priory Estate, said it was "a general scene of destruction".

"It has gone through in a line, taken slates off, smashed tiles into cars and gone through windows," he said.

"I had a car parked in the drive - tiles came off the roof and gone through the sunlight roof and also the windscreen."

Phillip Rees said he was sitting in his dining room with his two children when the tornado struck.

"All of sudden you could hear this noise - both the children were petrified," he said.

"It was just this fantastic roar that seemed to increase then just died instantly.

"Someone could have been killed. I know there are a few houses where the windows have actually gone in."

Gethin Davies, the fire service's county commander for Carmarthenshire, said firefighters had been involved in securing properties and removing debris.

"With severe weather and increased winds, about 25 properties were affected," he said.

"We also had a tree and a lamp post blown down. It lasted about an hour."

A Met Office spokesman said tornadoes could be so localised they only affect one or two streets.

"The ones that happen in the US are on a much larger scale than the ones which happen in the UK," he said.

"But we do have a few reports of tornados in Wales and the south west of England each year."

Earlier this year, a tornado was spotted off the coast of Barry, south Wales.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 129561.stm
Published: 2004/12/28 16:57:01 GMT

© BBC MMIV
 
Waterspouts 'skip over' Channel

Tornado spouts formed out of sea water and about 500ft tall were seen on the English Channel on Monday.
Dover coastguard crews saw three spouts moving across the water at about 25mph, about eight miles offshore.

A spokesman said the rarely-seen weather phenomenon is caused by convection currents which pull water towards the sky in a circular motion.

Meteorologists said waterspouts are more usually seen in late summer or autumn, when cold air hits warm water.


'Not dangerous'

Crews were alerted by ships in the Channel and were able to see the spouts from their base at Dover, the spokesman said.

He said: "The cloud forms circles at the top and the spout then spirals all the way down to the sea."

He added that the waterspouts were moving along at about 20 knots, or about 25mph, "skipping along on top of the water".

The coastguard explained that the waterspouts move at the same speed as the clouds.

He said the waterspouts were not dangerous to larger vessels and would have had a width of about one metre.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e ... 202981.stm
Published: 2005/01/24 16:13:14 GMT

© BBC MMV
 
From 'Michelle Williams' on that page:
"Me and my fiance Dan were there when the tornado hit looking to buy a wedding dress."

(where did it keep its money?)

Actually most of the comments look like piss-takes.
 
Jubilee~ said:
There has been a tornado in Birmingham, which is pretty odd.
....
See here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content ... ture.shtml
I'm sure it would have got more comments here, if not for thr MB 'melt-down'. Plenty of good pics in the press and on the web. Many houses so badly damaged they'll have to be razed to the ground. Lucky no-one was killed.

But the weatherman agreed it was pretty odd, since tall buildings normally disrupt the airflows that cause hurricanes. (Although I didn't see any tall buildings in the area, in the videos on the net.)

The last one I recall causing significant damage in UK hit Patrick Moore's house on Selsey Bill.

EDIT: Any Brummies out there with personal experience of this event?
 
Jubilee~ said:
There has been a tornado in Birmingham, which is pretty odd. (Birmingham in the UK, I have a vague idea that there are Birminghams all over the world where tornadoes are more common)

See here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content ... ture.shtml

I like the use of punctuation in the comment from the witness called Kevin Drew

and it's happened again!

Second tornado strikes Birmingham

Another tornado has struck Birmingham under a mile from the scene of this summer's disaster. Emergency services were called to Passey Road in Moseley early on Wednesday evening.

One home was evacuated after its roof was ripped off and a nearby road was closed, although no one was injured.

Weather experts said almost an inch of rain fell within an hour in Edgbaston and caused traffic chaos for many rush hour motorists.

Meanwhile, Central Trains services between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch have been suspended until further notice due to flooding in the Longbridge area.

More heavy downpours are expected throughout the evening.

The trees were bending in and birds were getting caught up in it too
Ritesh Bara, tornado eyewitness

Resident Mohammed Saleem said he had not been in the house when the tornado struck. "When I came back I saw it. There was debris everywhere. I was shocked it had happened again," he said.

His wife, four children and disabled mother have been forced to stay with his brother overnight.

"The upstairs of the house is gutted completely and water is coming in downstairs," he said.

Fire crews said they were unable to cover the house with tarpaulin as the structure had been taken away by the winds.

Neighbour Ritesh Bara witnessed the twister, he said: "I couldn't get a signal on my TV so I looked out the window and it was dark black.

"For a couple of seconds I couldn't hear anything from the pressure. I went outside and there was a thick, black smoke going around.

"The trees were bending in and birds were getting caught up in it too. It was terrifying."

A teacher at a nearby school said debris had been thrown through the air.

Maggie Hazel, from Springfield School, said several tiles were ripped from the roof.

'Tornado conditions'

She said: "One colleague saw it pass by, she saw something whirring and something fell and dropped by the window.

"We all felt the wind blow right through the building and wondered what was going on, then we heard a big bang.

"The worst damage was to a business across the road, something like a wooden pallet was picked up and hurled through the roof. It is still sticking out of it."

The weather conditions are similar to those of the afternoon 28 July when a tornado struck the Moseley and Kings Heath parts of the city.

Entire roofs were ripped off homes, trees were uprooted and cars overturned in the street as the wind whipped down the streets.

A Met Office spokesman said the second tornado was possible because of the heavy rain some areas of the city had experienced.

The Environment Agency has reported the River Rea, which runs through Northfield and Solihull is rising rapidly and is in danger of flooding.

Roads were closed in Sutton Coldfield and Harborne and flooding affected many more in Erdington, Stirchley, Small Heath and Edgbaston.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e ... 336208.stm
Published: 2005/10/12 21:52:36 GMT

© BBC MMV
 
Tornado 'kills 11' in US Midwest


A powerful tornado has killed at least 11 people and injured dozens of others in the US state of Indiana, local emergency officials say.
Seven people are reported to have killed at a mobile home park in Evansville, while four people are said to have been killed in Newburgh.

The storm hit southern Indiana and parts of Kentucky at about 0200 local time (0800 GMT).

Alarm sirens sounded only about 10 minutes before the tornado hit.

Newburgh assistant fire chief Chad Bennett said: "Most people were asleep. They probably didn't hear the sirens.

"We've had severe damage. Homes were totally devastated."

He added the death toll could climb as rescue workers searched through rubble.

Thousands of homes are without power, and there are also reports of natural gas leaks.

Local officials are said to have declared a local state of emergency, the first step toward requesting state assistance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4412180.stm
A bit late in the season for Tornadoes, surely?
 
A very local tornado hit the Alkrington area of Middleton, North Manchester on Friday, causing quite a bit of damage and uprooting trees:

here

Saturday, 8th April 2006

Homes hit by mini tornado

Paul Britton

A MASSIVE clear-up operation is underway after a freak mini tornado caused widespread damage to a Manchester estate.

The huge gust cut a swathe of damage along a 100-metre area, smashing windows of homes, flattening lampposts and blowing garage roofs 35 feet into the air.

The mini tornado hit Alkrington, in Middleton, at 9.30pm on Friday night.

Firefighter Paul Wilcox, who was called to the scene from Blackley fire station, said: “I have never seen anything like it in my life before.


“At first we thought there had been an explosion.”

Police said there were no reports of injuries.

The majority of damage was caused in two main sites - The Heath estate and Hardfield Road. Fire fighters were flooded with calls from worried residents.

Damage

A timber roof was blown off a row of ten domestic garages, breaking into three pieces - two of which were blown over houses, smashing windows and causing severe damage to sections of tiled roofs.

The third section of the roof was blown into a block of flats, knocking down a lamppost, sections of metal fencing and concrete posts. In Hardfield Road, a chimney stack and roof tiles were blown off two semi-detached houses.

Fire fighters said the force of the gust also peeled open three closed metal garage doors.

The roof of a garage attached to another house was blown into a house across the road and a series of garden sheds were destroyed.
 
A 25ft high tree was also uprooted and blown along the road.
 
Residents of the homes hit by the wind gathered in the streets, recording the damage on camcorders and mobile phone cameras.

Council workers were helping with the clean-up today and police sealed off areas of the estates. :shock:
 
JamesWhitehead said:
A very local tornado hit the Alkrington area of Middleton, North Manchester on Friday, causing quite a bit of damage and uprooting trees:

here

Saturday, 8th April 2006

Homes hit by mini tornado

Paul Britton

A MASSIVE clear-up operation is underway after a freak mini tornado caused widespread damage to a Manchester estate.

The huge gust cut a swathe of damage along a 100-metre area, smashing windows of homes, flattening lampposts and blowing garage roofs 35 feet into the air.

The mini tornado hit Alkrington, in Middleton, at 9.30pm on Friday night.

Firefighter Paul Wilcox, who was called to the scene from Blackley fire station, said: “I have never seen anything like it in my life before.


“At first we thought there had been an explosion.”

Police said there were no reports of injuries.

The majority of damage was caused in two main sites - The Heath estate and Hardfield Road. Fire fighters were flooded with calls from worried residents.

Damage

A timber roof was blown off a row of ten domestic garages, breaking into three pieces - two of which were blown over houses, smashing windows and causing severe damage to sections of tiled roofs.

The third section of the roof was blown into a block of flats, knocking down a lamppost, sections of metal fencing and concrete posts. In Hardfield Road, a chimney stack and roof tiles were blown off two semi-detached houses.

Fire fighters said the force of the gust also peeled open three closed metal garage doors.

The roof of a garage attached to another house was blown into a house across the road and a series of garden sheds were destroyed.

A 25ft high tree was also uprooted and blown along the road.

Residents of the homes hit by the wind gathered in the streets, recording the damage on camcorders and mobile phone cameras.

Council workers were helping with the clean-up today and police sealed off areas of the estates. :shock:

Whats a "mini-tornado" ?????
 
Hexebus said:
Whats a "mini-tornado" ?????
A severe cyclonic storm, but not as severe as those experienced in the US mid-west?

Which part of "mini-tornado" didn't you understand?

(Sorry, I've had a bad day...)
 
rynner said:
Hexebus said:
Whats a "mini-tornado" ?????
A severe cyclonic storm, but not as severe as those experienced in the US mid-west?

Which part of "mini-tornado" didn't you understand?

(Sorry, I've had a bad day...)

The "mini" part...
I'd of thought the media would realise that mini is a description of size rather than power. And that UK tornadic events are **usually "weak"

Even though the UK averages 35 tornadoes a year, more per square mile than anywhere else on earth, even tornado alley in the midwest US.

** Except for the July 05 Birmingham tornado and the killer tornado(es) at Corfe Castle, Dorset in Oct 04

See http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22846&start=1 for Birmingham

And http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=16152&start=1 for Corfe Castle
 
'Mini-tornado' strikes small town
A "mini-tornado" has swept through a small town in County Donegal, damaging cars, house roofs and windows lying in its path.
The town of Buncrana was struck by strong winds early on Tuesday evening. Local woman Rachel Hegarty said it had been a terrifying experience.

"I had to lie down on the floor because there was a plank of wood heading for the window," she said.

"It only lasted a minute or two, if even that.

"The trees were bent right down. I looked outside and saw a van, and a sheet of wood had smashed right into a window."

Last year, a tornado struck the County Antrim villages of Aghalee and Rasharkin.

A tornado expert said at the time that as many as five such incidents would hit Northern Ireland each year.

Paul Knightley of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation said tornados were "not particularly common, but they're not uncommon either".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/n ... 988436.stm

Published: 2006/05/16 21:14:50 GMT

© BBC MMVI
 
Tornado is seen blowing over moor

The tornado was seen around Yelverton. Picture: John Bate
A tornado was seen sweeping across Dartmoor in Devon on Sunday.
The twister was seen by walkers around the Yelverton area between 1630 and 1730 BST.

Witnesses said they could not believe their eyes as they watched the funnel cloud move across the sky over the National Park.

Police and the fire brigade said they did not receive any calls about the tornado and believed that no damage was caused to any property.

'Just surreal'

Darren Vertessy, from Plympton, said he watched the cloud moving during a day out with his family.

He said: "The skies above us were cloudy, but not dark.

"It had been really sunny all day, but over on the moor it was the most unreal black cloud I had ever seen with this tornado just coming out of it. It was just surreal."

BBC South West Weatherman David Braine said tornadoes were not an uncommon occurrence.

He said: "There are more tornadoes in this country than you would think.

"The UK sees some 150 through the year, many too small to do any damage, but one or two touch down briefly and cause a certain amount of damage."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 116710.stm
 
ANGUS GLENS IN A SPIN AS MINI-TORNADOES STRIKE
JENNY SIMPSON
Aberdeen Press & Journal
08:50 - 02 August 2006

link

Residents in rural Angus were in a whirl yesterday as a string of mini-tornadoes swept through the glens.

The twisters were spotted whipping across the Glen Ogil, Glen Moy and Glen Clova area about 10am.

Farmer Scott Mather was alerted to the phenomenon by his father, who saw three spiralling wind columns from his home at Fern.

Mr Mather, 32, of Goynd Farm in Glen Ogil, captured one of the twisters on camera as it spun over Arnold's Seat.

He said: "It was no more than two-and-a-half miles away over the hills.

"I watched it for about 20 minutes. It looked like a funnel and at one point you could see an internal tube within the column.

"There was no wind at all down here but I could see buzzards going up in the distance.

"It didn't seem to worry my cattle or sheep and I don't think it did any damage."

Torrential rain shower followed when the tornado passed over.

A spokesman for the Met Office said tornadoes were not uncommon in the UK, with about 30 reported every year.

The phenomenon occurs during periods of unsettled weather when dry, cold air comes into contact with warm, moist air.

They can last from a few minutes to more than an hour.

The Met Office spokesman said the Angus tornadoes appear to have been very weak ones. "It's difficult to say what speeds the winds may have reached but as they appear to have been pretty weak tornadoes," he said. "It probably was no more than 20mph or 30mph."

Funnel clouds - a whirlwind which does not reach the ground - were spotted at Methlick and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire last week.
 
Five students injured in tornado

The tornado touched down near Thurlby
Five students have been injured after a tornado lifted a portable building into the air in south Lincolnshire.
Archaeologists and archaeology students were working inside a sand and gravel pit at Baston, near the Cambridgeshire border, on Thursday, when it hit.

Four people were taken to Peterborough Hospital in Cambridgeshire with minor injuries, after the building was lifted up by high winds and dragged 70 feet.

Thunderstorms also left 6,000 homes without power across Lincolnshire.

Eyewitness Marguerite Cullen, who lives in Thurlby, said: "I was sitting in the house watching a thunderstorm when it developed a funnel."

"This time last year there was also a severe tornado in the area," she said.

"This one was quite enormous and a lot closer than last year's - I could see the cloud rotating in the tunnel."

She said even though the tornado was "snakey and small" it was clearly touching the ground.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 261198.stm
 
'Mini-tornado' strikes camp site

Tornadoes can strike at any time of the year
A mini-tornado is thought to have swept through a caravan park causing damage and smashing windows.
It struck on Monday night lifting a boat off a trailer and tearing awnings at Morfa caravan park in Llanrhystud, near Aberystwyth.

Holidaymaker Jason Jones, from Caerphilly, thought the roof of his caravan was "going to be ripped off".

A weather specialist said he was confident a weak tornado was responsible as damage was "localised".

Mr Jones, who was staying in a caravan with his wife and two children, said the strong winds blazed a path about 40ft wide at about 2230 BST on Monday.

He said: "It started raining heavily and then there was a rumbling sound that I'd never heard before.


It was so bad that I thought we were either going to take off or the roof was going to be ripped off

Jason Jones

"The caravan started shaking and the children were becoming quite scared so I told them to get into the back with their mother and get under a duvet.

"It was so bad that I thought we were either going to take off or the roof was going to be ripped off."

Mr Jones said the strong winds only lasted a "few seconds", but "wreaked havoc".

John Mason of Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) visited the scene on Tuesday.

After speaking to the site owner and holidaymakers he said he was confident a weak tornado was responsible.

He said gusts would have reached about 70 or 80mph.

Morfa caravan park owner Enid Jones said the strong winds lifted a boat off a trailer and hurled it into a caravan awning. She said that some caravan windows were also broken.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wale ... 294914.stm
 
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