Confirmed Tornado E Sussex 15.07.07

[sunnijim]

But the same David Powell also spoke to Tony Gilbert and said he was certain it was a T2 Possibly T3, You sure you are not getting your T's & F's crossed Mate.

Scale

T10 = F5

T8 = F4

T6 = F3

T4 = F2

T2 = F1

T0 = F0

Thats the scale

Paul S

F3 Severe tornado

158-206 mph

Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forests uprooted

maybe i am,so much has been happening up here today,and my head is shot to bits.....some of those large trees survived the 87 hurricane,so must have been hit by winds in excess of 100mph imo,also there are at least two extensions that have been reduced to rubble in the village

[Neilsouth]

Confirmed Tops on this now what looks like a HP Supercell of up to 43,000 Feet

If you watch the Video below, A viewer has sent in a Video Clip which clearly shows what looks like a HP Supercell with amazing Anvil Striations.

http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/news/?pla...&void=80951

Paul S

That amazing cloud sheaf circle underbelly is what we saw here , it was amazing

Edited July 18, 2007 by neilsouth

[Arrows]

100% sure it was a supercell, you can tell when the camera is panned across, the structure def looks like it by the footage. Also I think the clouds look like they have layers. This probably helped the hail grow as rapid growth spurts mean the hail can get bigger and bigger like the american storms. Very lucky people. Wish I could have something like that.

quick thing, can anyone get some radar or sat images of the storm

Edited July 18, 2007 by Arrows

[ngoodman]

Hi everyone,

I was speaking to a co-worker who lives in bexhill ( 2- 3 miles east of hastings). They watched the storm roll in from the sea and described it loooking like a "vertical column of water" another co worker who lives in winchelsea ( 5 miles west of hastings) showed me their car today the hailstones had dented all the top facing fanels and broken the plastic rear light lenses!.

An amazing storm and a fantastic experience that must rank alongside the '87 hurricane. water spouts and funnel clouds are not an uncommon sight along the english channel but a full blown tornado and supercell thunderstorm - fantastic never to be forgotten experience. As tamara so correctly observed the masssive black wall of cloud approaching at rapid speed accompanied by strobe lightning and massive booms of thunder was awesome. I have attached some pics of the tree damage from outside my house the noise at this point was so intense i did not hear this happen!, incidently the tree debris is on the north facing side and the trunk was 50 - 70 mm in diameter fortunately no other trees in the street were damaged.

regards

Nigel

[Joneseye]

Evening all from NW France!

My brother and I caught the speed ferry from Dover to Boulogne on Sunday evening leaving Dover at 1815 and arriving in France at 1910 BST. We drove down from Boulogne along the coast to our current location in Vire 50 miles south of Caen in Normandy. We were fortunate enough to see these storms from the south east and what beautiful clouds they were, especially with the sun setting in the distance and giving an amber glow above the overshoots of the anvil.

There were 3 storm clouds lined up out to sea, the first of which was absolutely stunning with a fully developed anvil and overshooting striations. The 2 behind were still developing with the huge cauliflower convection taking shape. I have a picture on my mobile, which I will upload on this thread when I return to Blighty.

ps. I left Basingstoke in an overhead thunderstorm and arrived at night in Vire to an overhead thunderstorm. Amazing considering we hadn't had 1 overhead in Newbury all year...

[Nick F]

Typical, I go away for a week and all hell breaks loose on my doorstep! Will spend the rest of the evening trawling through all the reports now. Thanks for those who've given information.

[Joneseye]

Just been reading this:

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?s...34&start=34

check out post 39 from Brickfielder... seems to have hit the nail on the head!

[MR CB]

I've just had a look back at this thread and I'm amazed that some video exists...I nearly choked on my strawberries on the Meridian footage and when I saw that base in the background I immediately said supercell!.

I so wish I had been nearer (perhaps looking east from Sovereign Harbour) but you can never foresee these things - I had no idea this storm would turn into a monster. When it skimmed the Eastbourne coastline it was just a 45 min intense thunderstorm with a noticeable gust / rain front - there was no hint of 'things to come' to be honest. Once it moved through it did seem 'extraordinary' and the anvil was very high indeed - even on its approach.

I certainly won't forget this one in a hurry! Next time I see a storm with serious cirrus veil and outflow I'm getting out there double time! I should also get a proper digital camera!

Please note that the times I gave in my observation reply a couple of pages back are out by one hour...they should all be one hour forward (something to do with my PC and phone's time and date stamp..) this matches the time the storm was in Hastings affected Tamara.

The only other time we may have had a supercell (similar to this) was early May 2003 around the Pevensey / Bexhill area - I drove through that and again the hail was incredible. A tornado did spawn in North Langney...put nowhere as much damage.

Edited July 18, 2007 by MR CB

[rc28]

Confirmed Tops on this now what looks like a HP Supercell of up to 43,000 Feet

If you watch the Video below, A viewer has sent in a Video Clip which clearly shows what looks like a HP Supercell with amazing Anvil Striations.

http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/news/?pla...&void=80951

Paul S

When i click on that link it says "this content is for uk viewers only" For what possible reason would they have a problem with people fom outside the uk from watching that video?

Does anyone have another link to the same footage?

[c_jephcott]

When i click on that link it says "this content is for uk viewers only" For what possible reason would they have a problem with people fom outside the uk from watching that video?

Does anyone have another link to the same footage?

Agreed. I can't access it either at the moment as I'm in the USA. However, can someone point me in the right direction?

[Mammatus]

I don't apologise one bit for continually repeating myself so many times - it is an experience I will never forget !

Tamara

Hi Tamara, hope your well? I know exactly how you feel. When the tornado ripped through Haverhill in early January and ripped peoples conservatories to bits(FineWines in Great Yeldom)/some roofs blown off including the local Hotel roof (which was main story on ITV News) signs ripped out of ground with turf and thrown 80 metres (Heavy) . It is exciting time Tamara. Our Tornado was T2 - so fairly strong. Certainly scared me The nice thing about your tornado is there seem to be more accounts. Haverhill is a small town with few people and countryside all around so less accounts.

Mammatus

Edited July 19, 2007 by Mammatus

[dogs32]

Welcome back Nick F

looks good for today..and tomorrow....yesss

http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/live_storm_data.htm

my eyes are on s/w cornwall..ps I like this radar even if others dont

Edited July 19, 2007 by dogs32

[sunnijim]

Hiya!

I'm fine thanks - my patio area has been fixed now and the snapped beams of the archway over the patio fixed with some much needed assistance!

It is good that more of us experience these things - builds up great material for future anecdotal and historic threads!

Outside of the main town and seafront there is immediate countryside here and the area which received the most damage are the very pretty villages of Fairlight and Pett. I know a few people who live there and they are particularly stunned atm. Like your instance, because it is a rural area (with a lovely large Countryside National Trust parkland) it gets less coverage as there tends to be fewer accounts as you say, and less people relatively affected. Had the tornado and largest hail been just a mile to the west it would have hit the town centre and seafront, and as those in Fairlight have said, there could well have been some nasty injuries and even fatalities, not just from tornado risk but from huge horizontally driven hail which has 'sandblasted' many properties and shredded plants, shrubs and gardens in Fairlight. As it is, I am only a mile or so from this biggest affected area! So in terms of potential damage I am very lucky indeed.

Tamara

Hi Tamara, i spent some of yesterday tracking the tornado"s path from where it made landfall to where it went back out to sea again.

As you are probably aware it started life as a waterspout off Hastings pier,causing some damage to the pier itself,it made landfall at the Hastings Country park,in the firehills area,there is an area of woodland known locally as the Twitten,where damage to trees is evident.

The Bracken has been twisted out of shape,and notices have gone up about unstable trees in the area,i counted three topeled trees here,in an Eastward line,and a few limbs on trees twisted and split.

As you enter the village itself and walk Eastward,it seems that there are two corridors of damage,with a 20 foot gap in the middle of this without much destruction.

Many places,including my mothers in the village,found there propertys sandblasted by there own trees and shrubs,it looks as though someone has gone around with a blunt macheti hacking at the trees and plants,bark stripped and twisted everywhere.

The village has also lost three trees that are hundreds of years old,and are some of the tallest around,where as smaller trees nearby have been left relativly untouched.

The damage seems quite random in the village itself,but as you head further East,toward an area known locally as the Haddocks fields,the damage to the vegitation seems far more prolonged and organised,a clear swathe for about 1 mile can be seen,with trees torn from there stumps,and bracken ripped from its roots.

Imo this could be that because this area is closer to the coast,the tornado may have picked up some more energy from the sea?

The tornados path can be seen heading out to sea,just before the area known as Pett Leval.

The damage in Pett seems to be from the largest of the hail,which was golfball sized ( a friends car was written off here,the bodywork and windows looking like it was from a scrapyard) many places had the windows and tiles smashed by the hail here.

In Fairlight,the hail was of a large marble variety.

Unfortunatly tradgedy struck me personally,my mother was looking after my dog whilst i was away,and was electrocuted by a live power line in her garden......

Edited July 19, 2007 by sunnijim

[Upgrade]

I'm so very sorry to hear what has happened I picked up from a previous post of yours on here or maybe on the other forum you are involved in that something may have happened.

thanks for your detailed post - I too, am finally going to have time to have a look around the area shortly today.

Your post brings it home even harder to me just why I was so taken aback by the arrival of the type of storm it was on Sunday.

take care and very best wishes

Tamara

wow - thought you were joking / overexaggerating when you posted on Sunday!

scary stuff- glad you are ok !

lets hope we get more supercells this summer

[gazza1]

hello registerd to this forum just because of this topic! I live in st leonards and watched the wall cloud approuch right infront of my window looking over towards marine court ever since i was little i have been fascinated by tornadoes and have always wanted to see one and am so dissapointed that i did'nt see a funnel so close to where i live literaly a 10 min walk to the pier from my house, but the storm itself was amazing the rain,hail,wind and lightning was nothing like a have experienced before in a thunderstorm but judging by the look of the clouds that day you knew this was going to be somthing special.

[Mammatus]

hello registerd to this forum just because of this topic! I live in st leonards and watched the wall cloud approuch right infront of my window looking over towards marine court ever since i was little i have been fascinated by tornadoes and have always wanted to see one and am so dissapointed that i did'nt see a funnel so close to where i live literaly a 10 min walk to the pier from my house, but the storm itself was amazing the rain,hail,wind and lightning was nothing like a have experienced before in a thunderstorm but judging by the look of the clouds that day you knew this was going to be somthing special.

Hi gazza1, welcome to NW. Great to hear your account of the storm. Sounds like it was one to remember! I would have 'loved' to have been there to experience this potent/extreme storm. Certainly was a special storm.

Many regards

Mammatus

[sunnijim]

Just one further point with regards to Sundays tornado that may be of interest to some of you.

The temperature dropped to 2.8c during the storm,quite exceptional i would have thought for a July evening at 2100

[MR CB]

More footage for anyone who's interested...

Meridian TV Report http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/news/?pla...&void=81031 def showed the storm in the background at 42-50 seconds

Viewer Video http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/viewervid...&void=80867 you can see how quickly the storm base descends in a matter of minutes and that the white wall cloud makes it looks very menacing. Seagulls go ape and winds are very strong!

YouTube (also used on BBC South East Today)

:huh:

I'm gobsmacked and I still keep talking about it :o

[Tony Gilbert]

Dear Netweather member!

TORRO would like to know if anyone actually saw the footage that was in circulation in the south east news reports of the waterspout which damaged the Hastings pier. Alternatively did anyone actually see or know of a photo available as the waterspout made landfall becoming a tornado?

Thankyou for your assistance.

[sunnijim]

I know of some mobile phone footage of the waterspout hitting the pier,but i think it unlikely there is any footage of it becoming a tornado,the reason being the area it came ashore, and time on a Sunday evening.

An area known as the Firehills,( part of the Hastings Country Park) alive with people during the day, but probably quite on a stormy sunday eve?

Also of interest to you maybe a conversation i had with the landlord of the Smugglers Inn at Pett Leval,they reported Golf Ball hail from the storm,inside one of the hailstones was a stone from the beach!!

I work with David Powell,a TORRO member,and a fellow weather observer in Hastings,if you would like me to ring him and ask him if he knows of any other footage,let me know.

Edited August 22, 2007 by sunnijim

[sunnijim]

I have been hoping that some more footage/photos/evidence would become available of that not to be forgotten storm. Incredible about the hail - the fact that pebble(s) were picked up in such powerfully strong updrafts and sent so high into the cloud and then deposited only a couple of miles or so away. Incredible!

There is no doubt that this storm intensified very quickly on the doorstep here in Hastings. Those clouds - never seen anything like them. It was like one of those mystical thunderstorms that you see in Sci Fi programmes/films had come to life.

I really believe that would have been an especially dangerous storm if the core of the storm with the tornado had come ashore a mile or two nearer to the town.

Tamara

:wub: Hi Tamara,very true,it can be counted as a blessing that the storm arrived on a Sunday evening to,i dread to think of the results had it been, A.in the daytime,or B on a Friday or Saturday at the same time.

Just going back to the stone within the hail,The Smugglers Inn is right on the beachfront,but still amazing stuff!!

[sunnijim]

Hi :wub:

Yes, sorry you are right of course about where Smugglers is. Is a local weather book planned any time soon!? A must have copy I think - I keep ruing to this day not having my camera to hand :wub: , but then it all rather came out of the blue.

Regarding my comments about when the storm struck, I know that from your point of view it was no saving grace. Apologies for not wording that better :wub:

Tamara

I have very mixed emotions now about the whole thing,being such a weather "nut" i am gutted to have not been around to see it live!

It was a live power cable that killed my dog,i dont realy blame the weather for it,thats how i have allowed my love of extreme weather to continue without guilt.

We produce a booklet on the years weather locally,which will be published in January 08,i will try and make sure there is a dedicated page on the storm,with hopefully some photos.

[Tony Gilbert]

Thank you all for the response to my email.

David Powell was our site investigator for the event, though has been unable to find the source of any footage supposedly available. I have also spoken to Mr Mercer the landlord to the Smugglers Inn and am awaiting for photo's of the the stones inside the hail.

We are particularly interested in the getting hold of the person that took the film of the waterspout as it hit the pier. If anyone has any further detail on this it would be much appreciated. Thank you