OFFICIAL SEVERE WEATHER ADVISORIES/WATCHES
A severe thunderstorm advisory was issued for UK and Ireland 7th and 8th January.
A tornado advisory was issued for UK and Ireland 11th January.
A tornado watch was issued for UK and Ireland 1st, 8th, 17th and 18th January.
Tornado watch 1st and 18th Jan has shown evidence of tornadoes within the watch period for both UK and Ireland. Well done Paul!
Forecaster: meteorologist Paul Knightley.
SITE INVESTIGATIONS
TORRO would like to thank TORRO site investigators Tim Sharp and Justin Parker for making a detailed damage survey for the Cheshire tornado. Keep up the good work guys! TORRO would like to emphasise that all involvement by its members is very much appreciated and apologise if we are not always there to answer your posting immediately. Please can members remember to state date, time and place of reports within the subject title within the severe weather reporting forum. Please also remember that guidelines, media fact sheets and investigation questionnaires can be downloaded directly from the TORRO website. Lets make 2005 an interactive year for members involvement with this division of TORRO's work. Thank you.
TORRO VACANCIES
A reminder, that we still have certain areas of our work for which we need assistance. If you feel you are able to offer some time or wish to be more involved please contact me Anthony.gilbert@torro.org.uk
Secretary - including: available at any reasonable hour to take messages from media or other authorities and pass it onto the appropriate division. Work as the central hub for TORRO dealing with the meetings. Following up results of action taken.
TORRO Funding - including: applying for lottery grant or other grant applications etc.
Merchandise - including: purchasing new clothing printing logo and arranging sales for TORRO.
COMMENTS
Please note that provisional whirlwind listings will no longer be printed on the newsletter. A combination of late and revised reporting has made collating the data at the end of the month a daunting task and rather presumptuous. Please note that the TORRO database is still under construction courtesy of executive Stuart Robinson. We hope to have the basic listings available for our members very soon through a members only link. Alternatively the monthly round ups are available within the Journal of Meteorology, all be it a slight time delay!
It was a busy month, with a succession of squalls traversing the UK. TORRO was inundated with various calls of tornado /wind damage. Some of these events have since in fact proven to be tornadic, though many have not! Much of the media seized the chance to create a tornado hysteria calling almost every wind damage event a tornado. Supposedly gone are the days when the media would reply. "Well I didn't know the UK had tornadoes?" From the sublime to the ridiculous it would seem! During such powerful squalls it is important that TORRO and its member keep their feet squarely rooted to the ground. Establishing the facts before giving any event a title. I personally tried to follow up a local media stations multiple tornado reports. The journalist who made the statement refused to make comment to TORRO. I wonder why, hmmm!
New Years Day started quite tragically with the death of a child when a tree was uprooted in Cheshire associated with strong winds, quite possibly tornadic. We have since received eyewitness reports of a vortex clearly seen in the area. This event could well be the second fatality directly attributed to a tornado in the last three months! Later in the month tragically saw two further deaths associated with the Carlisle flooding. It has since been suggested that there was signs of a repeated point deluge effect for that region. The forecast models made this quite clear to many of us on the forum whereby it was suggested that Carlisle should be on alert 24hrs before the event!
TORRO would like to thank Stuart Robinson and others for their recent interaction with filming companies highlighting TORRO's plight.
TORRO is glad to announce that executive Paul Knightley has offered his services as our press liason rep. So if you have the press on the line and you cannot or do not wish to answer their questions please pass this duty on.
Please note that the Convection Publication will soon reach it deadline. So if you have a story then post it to Alan and Wendy.
Best Wishes
Tony Gilbert (Director and Site Investigation Co ordinator to TORRO)
Tel:- 023 92502551
Mobile 07887755422