Ireland experiences all types of whirlwind researched by TORRO. Each event is being recorded and investigated. Anyone who thinks they may have seen, or have otherwise come across evidence of a tornado, waterspout, funnel cloud, land devil etc., are asked to pass this information on to the contact address above.

Research in Ireland involves the ongoing construction of a dataset for the entire island of Ireland. Each year the results of this work are reported in the Journal of Meteorology. Some interesting facts that have emerged from this work are,

• The majority of people in Ireland do not believe tornadoes occur in the country at all, or at best think they are merely some kind of freak event.
• In recent years the number of tornadoes reported and verified in Ireland per year is approximately nine.
• Tornadoes and other whirlwinds may occur in any part of Ireland (see map below).
• Tornadoes may occur at any time of the year, but there have been a higher number of verified reports during the summer months.
• The most severe tornadoes are as likely to occur in the winter as in the summer months.
  

Tornadoes in Ireland, 2005

For further information please contact:
Dr John Tyrrell, Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Cork
Tel: 353-21-4902517