Late Report From June 2002 LD 28th June 1220 BST. Reading (close to Thames). A 20ft wide 'Hay Devil' was observed by TORRO member Laura Gilchrist. Photo's were taken and displayed.
A slightly better month than of recent (inc. possibles) 10 Funnel Clouds, 4 Tornadoes and 1 Land Devil. By comparison last year which saw 13 Funnel Clouds, 5 Tornadoes, 2 Waterspouts and 3 Land Devils.
JULY EVENTS:-
TN 1st July 1500 BST Methlick, Aberdeenshire. A large wedge shape tornado was seen over open countyside. Photo's were sent in to TORRO by eyewitness.
TN 2nd July 1530 BST Argyll, Scotland. Large tornado was viewed less than half a mile away. Rapid rotation and upward velocity was noted. Sheep in next field were said to look worried.
FC 5th July 1550-1610 BST Corfe Mullen, Dorset. Long spectacular funnel was observed and photographed by TORRO director Robert Doe. The vortex was seen to influence the tops of some tall trees.
FC 9th July. 1510 BST County Tyrone. N. Ireland. Details of this event were passed on from Dr Terence Meaden and via the UKMO.
FC 10th July 1930 BST. Worthing. W. Sussex. Eyewitness observed long thin funnel twisting for 5 minutes.
FC 10th July. 1950 BST Rossendale. Lancashire. TORRO member Matt Hugo was rewarded with a funnel cloud after chasing a thunderstorm. Phot's were submitted as proof.
FC 11th July 1815 BST Witham, Essex. A long thin funnel cloud was seen protruding from the base of a wall cloud and was visible for two minutes. This item was passed on by TORRO member Terry Fryer.
LD 13th July. Meesham, Lancashire. Eyewitness said a powerful whirlwind was seen to push a worker to the ground and damage a portable boat yard shelter weighing over a ton.
FC 20th July 1130 BST. Oxford. Passed on by TORRO director Jonathan Webb. Apparently spotted from the air.
2 FC/TN 20th July . Leeds. TORRO member Chris Ingham witnessed two funnel clouds and one tornado. Subsiquently undertook a detailed site investigation.
FC 28th July. 1719 BST Bury St Edmonds. Eyewitness made report.
TN 30th July 1600BST N. Allerton, N.York. The eyewitness whilst storm chasing had a close shave when he observed what looked like fingers rotating downward to the ground below a lowered cloud base overhead. The car was surrounded by lightning bolts and large hail. A strong misty wind pushed the car from the road. His observations might suggest he was within the circulation of the vortex.
tn 30th July Leatherhead, Surrey. No further details as yet. FC 31st July. 1515 BST Beenham, Berks. TORRO member Matt Capper passed on the report of a funnel cloud. Condensation was seen to rise from the ground and the vortex was seen to rotate.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ADVISORY WAS ISSUED FOR ENGLAND AND WALES 30th JULY By Dr David Reynolds. The day did infact result in wide spread intense thunderstorms, some severe with one definite and one probable tornado. Reports of golf ball size hail in some areas.
COMMENTS:
This month saw the new message board http://communities.msn.com/BritishStormWatchersCommunity become very popular with Storm Chasers. The aim of the message board was to take general discussions away from the main TORRO mailing list allowing this to remain intact for scientific communications only. The new message board has already alerted us to reports that we may never have got to hear about.
Storm activity was fairly inactive till the end of the month whereby a 'spanish plume' set of a run of storm effecting most parts of the UK. This included black outs, several houses set alight by lightning and thousands once again were effected by flooding and in the period of a couple of days.
A big thankyou to Matt Capper who has recently had communications with media and has pushed the TORRO name together with a mention for the new chaser message board. Many thanks to TORRO site investigator Chris Ingham on his second site investigation for TORRO.
Best Wishes Tony Gilbert (Site Investigation Co-ordinator and Executive to The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation)