Significant Tornado Hits North West London!!

[nanu]

Being smacked again this end.

2 flashes so far... wind is very gusty.

[PersianPaladin]

Cumbria and the northern pennines are getting battered at the moment, perhaps we should be watching this area next?

:blink:

[Harry]

The thunderstorm went over my house at about 11:15 this morning. My dad rung me and said it was on the way. There was definite rotation towards the end of the storm and quite a defined squall line, furthermore some pretty decent mammatus clouds. The rain wasnt anything special, though there was thunder and lightning and apparently significant hail a couple of miles from my house!!!

[Angel15]

i'm in Hammersmith, to the west of London and it's suddenly gone very dark again and from the look of the 2pm radar we could well be in for round two.

At 11am there was a flash of lightening then a big crack of thunder. It was torential for about 10 minutes with rain and hail but after that the sky cleared and that was the end of it until.....................?

It's gone very dark here as well at Holborn - when it happened, Sue and I were looking out of the window as the sky was so dark and I said to her that the weather cock was not moving, there was no wind out there -then we saw the sheet of lightening and the crack of thunder, and then there was torrential rain and hail (very briefly) - that was when it happened - how bizarre for London to have a tornado.

[Harry]

Meant to say gust front, not squall line!

[Tom D]

why is sky bothering to tell people affected how to get their insurance!?!?!

i doubt anyone is watching sky news if they're affected, they're out on the channel!

[nanu]

Blimey!! Its even making big headlines on the american news channels now :blink:

[Andy Bown]

No probably not this time, as the city is a good 3 miles to the East of thr approaching squall which came from the West.Paul Sherman

Thanks Paul, my geographical knowledge of the London area isn't too good.

[Stratos Ferric]

Nice to see that both torro and francis dissmised this as anything to do with global warming which in itself is a complete farse :blink:

Is the farse [sic] that it was dismissed as being linked to GW, that anyone would have linked it to GW in the first place, or that anybody believes in GW at all?

Not surprised there was activity like that. The same line passed through Reading at about 1015, and when I posted the storm report this morning it struck me that a major storm was possible. There must have been considerable convective development because it really did get dark. Haven't check the sat pics.

Is it linked to GW? Well, I'd say "yes and no"; "no" because these things can happen anytime in the right conditions; "yes" because with such a mild start to December there's the potential for unusually steep thermal gradients and very rapidly flow along gradients.

[Essan]

As I said on UKWW, all we need now if for tomorrows newspaper front pages to be "London hit by MINI tornado! *bangs head on wall*

Actually, I'm amazed they haven't declared it a major tornado yet - after all, if it happens in London it must be bigger than anywhere else in the country :blink:

[rob-lancs]

Just wait until theres a few snowflakes Essan. That's when the real trouble starts for London, the motorways will grind to a halt! :blink:

[Essan]

Just thinking here ; the radar (and of course the outcome) would suggest that the squall line got worse over London. Could it have been the UHI effect as is often the case in summer?

Warmer temps over the City intensifying the temp gradient? Worth considering :blink:

[Angel15]

Actually, I'm amazed they haven't declared it a major tornado yet - after all, if it happens in London it must be bigger than anywhere else in the country :blink:

That's a bit harsh. However, they did say that the mini tornado did maximum damage!!

[Paul Sherman]

But what do you Term the City Andy ? I am literally 3-5 miles South east of where it occured and that part of London is no-where near the City, or indeed most of the Built up area, are you classing London as a Sprawl, then if you are then maybe it could be from the outer edges of built up West London.

Paul Sherman

[Ross B]

Sky news now reporting that people on a BA flight just about to land flew over the tornado :blink:

Only caught the last few seconds of it though so dont know the whole story.

[Kent Snow]

It was a passenger that had departed Heathrow for Glasgow and he said the turbulence after take off was terrible and told how the cabin was in sheer terror. Plus he was an experienced flyer, so who knows what others made of it!

Edited December 7, 2006 by Kent Snow

[Ross B]

Ah! By the way he was talking about it, it sounded as if he had seen it :blink:

[Kent Snow]

Found these photos of the aftermath.

LINK

Check out photo 2!

[Arrows]

very cool tornado indeed. Maybe bigger than the Birmingham tornado. hopefully some cctv footage or something.

[Andy Bown]

LINKCheck out photo 2!

The caption says 'A Fallen tree'. Me thinks it's a bit more than that ; looks like it's been ripped apart!

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Found these photos of the aftermath.

LINK

Check out photo 2!

Shouldn't laugh at all but look at picture 5. The picture is still on the wall!! :lol: And the last picture .. where is the baby?! :blink: :unsure:

[Snow Queen one]

nice to see the firemen get food on the job. :blink: :unsure:

[PersianPaladin]

very cool tornado indeed. Maybe bigger than the Birmingham tornado. hopefully some cctv footage or something.

Nope, not a chance.

That tornado lasted for longer and caused more serious damage. The characteristics of the storm were much more vigorous, and almost super-cellular in nature.

[Arrows]

the birmingham tornado was in downtown streets with open doors and canapies outside so it's bound to cause more damage. I think they'll be very similar in strength

[PersianPaladin]

the birmingham tornado was in downtown streets with open doors and canapies outside so it's bound to cause more damage. I think they'll be very similar in strength

And so was this.

A lot more damage was done in that tornado, particularly to roofs. Birmingham just seems to be more prone.

Edited December 7, 2006 by PersianPaladin