Late report from May. FC 10th May 1518 BST Trowbridge. Wilts. A long narrow funnel cloud was observed by a member of the public. Report sent in by Dr Terence Meaden.
A particularly quiet month by comparison to June 2001 which saw (inc., probables) 12 Funnel clouds, 4 tornadoes, 1 waterspout and 3 land devils. This June saw just 1 funnel cloud, 2 tornadoes and 2 land devils.
JUNE EVENTS
FC 4th June 1840 BST nr Bath, Somerset. A funnel cloud was observed beneath a high cloud base by a member of the public. Report sent in by Dr Terence Meaden.
TN 14th June 1830 BST Horseforth, Leeds. A tornado made a brief touchdown damaging roofs and garden furniture. Many thanks to TORRO site investigator Chris Ingham for undertaking a detailed site investigation.
TN 14th June 1815 BST Middlesborough, Cleveland. A tornado left a short trail of destruction through a park damaging several mature trees. Many thanks to TORRO site investigator Ian Miller for undertaking a detailed investigation of the area.
LD 19th June Havenstead, Isle of Wight. This whirlwind carried a picknickers parasol for up to 400m where it landed on power lines causing it to burst into flames. Report Courtesy of TORRO member Paul Simons.
LD 20th June Royal Ascot. Whirlwind caused havoc amongst race goers lifting hats and chairs up to 100 ft into the air. Courtesy of TORRO member and meteorologist Paul Knightly.
NO SEVERE WEATHER ADVISORIES OR WATCHES WERE ISSUED
COMMENTS
Summer thunderstorms remained once again in the main, rather elusive. The quest for a 'decent' run of severe weather has kept most members 'chomping at the bit'! Whilst the remainder of Europe saw several severe weather events, inparticular for the 14th June where international media published details of tornadoes, lightning and damaging hail. A perfect combination of High CAPES, moisture convergence and a strong westerly mid level flow gave countries like Belgium and Denmark a temporary status to be compared with the 'Tornado Alley' in the USA. Closer to home we have had a good response from Site Investigators Ian and Chris who were lucky enough to be available for their first research projects on the two, as mentioned tornado events.
Many Thanks to TORRO member Laura Gilchrist for setting up and moderating the new chaser/spotters message board:- http://communities.msn.com/BritishStormWatchersCommunity This message board is open to all severe weather enthusiasts whether members of TORRO or not. It is also hoped that when severe weather is upon us members will be able to speak freely and share chase journals and photo's with others of similar interest. Ultimately helping keep non priority emails separate to the main TORRO list.
It is widely accepted that the 'Lifted Index' can be a good indicator of thunderstorm potential:- http://expert.weatheronline.co.uk/lftx_frame.htm Likewise many of you will be happy to learn of this new link to the weather online web site. The following link for the long term weather outlook is known by many of you, but for those who do not have it on their favourites please log on:- http://www.theweatheroutlook.co.uk/ Whilst on the subject of the severe weather outlooks, things look pretty stable for the next couple of weeks, but some forecasts are showing potential for some long awaited moist and unstable air from the continent around mid July. Well I'm saying nothing this time, we will just have to wait and see!!
Best Wishes Tony Gilbert (Site Investigation Co-ordinator and Executive to The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation)