A less than average month for whirlwind events with just one funnel cloud. By comparison November 2001 saw two tornadoes and one possible, one waterspout and two funnel clouds.
NOVEMBER EVENTS
FC 14th Nov 3.15pm. Portsmouth, Hampshire. A magnificent photograph was taken from a tower block overlooking the city by the partner of a TORRO member. Rotation was observed as the vortex hung low from the cloud base. Locally the day had produced many well formed cumulonimbus (Incas) clouds with mammatus and small hail.
OFFICIAL TORNADO ADVISORIES, WATCHES AND WARNINGS
A TORNADO WATCH WAS ISSUED ON THE 2ND NOVEMBER FOR MOST REGIONS OF THE UK. Forecaster Meteorologist Paul Knightley.
COMMENTS
News media reported two surfers seriously injured by lightning near St Ives on the 23rd November. This incident highlights the dangers of being near water or even a damp field when thunderstorms are nearby. It doesn't necessarily need a direct hit for the charge to reach you and can be just as fatal.
November has often in the past produced some of our best known tornadic events. Whilst we were influenced by upper disturbances for a good portion of the month it would appear that wind shear as a feature was lacking in the main. The usual battle for supremacy of the sky's fought between instability and vertical wind shear left us with either just the one or the other and almost never the two. Though the month did produce some dramatic sky scapes. A combination of low dew points and moderate CAPE's allowed some lucky one's to capture some very stunning and visual cloud formations for their photo albums!
TORRO would like to thank TORRO executive Harry McPhillimy and TORRO member David Owen for some excellent tornado site investigation work. A combination of photographs, time and careful research has made for some good reporting. Others may also wish to 'follow suit' and venture into this rewarding and interesting part of TORRO research. Most full members would have recently received a site investigation check list in your last copy of the JMet. (Supporting members may get one via the Convection publication). Hopefully this can be used to get those new to the game on the right track. Please do remember that the Journal of Meteorology is also awaiting papers on similar research. Contact TORRO director Robert Doe http://www.journalofmeteorology.com. Also, those currently supporting or associate member status may wish to upgrade your membership to full. Thereby starting your subscription to the JMet. It will be here that you will learn much more about our severe weather events! Contact TORRO Ray Peverall at r.peverall@ntlworld.com for application forms.
A big thankyou to Mark Humpage having successfully subscribed 80 new members to the mailing list. Once again I will appeal to those new to the listing for more involvement in discussions and that we can now post to the list relevant pictures of up to 120 kb. Many thanks to Matt Capper with his continued efforts with the construction of the TORRO web site. Please be patient as the site with all its sub divisions is rather large and time consuming. TORRO would like to request the help of any full member who have a talent for graphics and printing. As an organisation we need to publicize our existence in the public domain and require someone to oversee leaflets and posters. If anyone is interested please contact Robert Doe robertkdoe@aol.com for more information.
Best Wishes Tony Gilbert (Executive to TORRO) Tornado Site Investigation Co ordinator.