This just seems so odd to me…
[story]
I’ve seen enough movies were something supernatural happens and causes local disturbances, etc…
While not common in the UK we do get the odd tornado. Most of the time though they’re not strong enough to do any damage, but occasionally they do. There was another one a few months ago in Birmingham I think.
It’s weird to me, as an outsider, because the newstory didn’t mention the overall weather conditions in London to give it context…
I don’t pay attention to the weather reports for london but I have a vague memory from watching the news this morning that it was going to be very wet and pretty windy.
Steve or someone might have a more accurate description of what the weather was like down there today.
Just found an interesting quote from the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO):
8 How does this compare with other nations?
In order to accurately compare tornado frequencies between different countries, land area must be taken into account - after all, a large nation will report many tornadoes simply because of its large land area. When land areas are taken into account, the United Kingdom actually has the highest frequency of reported tornadoes per unit area in the world.
http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/severeweather/tornadofaqs.php#faq4
Man, these folks just stayed out and watched it, even with roof tiles raining down on top of them. You Brits got balls.
Where I come from, the point at which the sky starts dropping pieces of houses on us is generally well beyond the point at which we have gone inside and moved away from the windows and hunkered down under an over-turned sofa. Most of us, anyway. There’s always those two guys standing outside in the trailer court with the video camera, which the sheriff will find two counties over the next day.
I tell ya, it’s all them ghosts in Olde England!!! 
Seriously, I would have never thought of the UK as tornado country, except maybe Dartmoor or something where its windy anyway…
I suppose to qualify the stat a bit you have to consider that, aside from areas of the highlands and perhaps the moors in England there are no real wilderness areas in the UK. We have 60 million people in a pretty small place so whenever a tornado pops up it’s quite likely to be spotted by someone.
since I already had the experience of an F5, I guess with statistics like that I won’t be visiting England anytime soon…
Your loss, Missy. It’s my favorite place to visit. I wish I could go back. I wouldn’t let a twister scare me off!!
I’ve been staring at the original question, and just realised what it meant.
Weeks, you may be onto something.
There was an archeological dig which pulled up a body just last week. It was buried Roman style, and dated from that period. It was slightly more flash than the stuff that’s been hauled out of Hackney, and it was dug up in a more central location (but I neglected to see where).
Yeah, baby!!
It was at St. Martin-in-the-Fields:
http://www.molg.org.uk/English/NewsRoom/Current/StoneSarcophagus.htm
I work about five miles away from where this happened, and was in a meeting from 10:40 to 11:10 that morning. It had been raining and I remember seeing lightening and hail during that time period - though it quickly dissipated and was over before the meeting was.
Ah, thanks, Beth! I remember seeing it on the TV news, but couldn’t find it either on the Guardian or BBC websites.
Ireland had a big storm too, some impressive pictures here:
I want everybody here to raise their hands above their head. Go on, raise your hands above your head.
Now everybody shout out, "Thank ya, global warmin’ ".
Again!
LOUDER!
Now pass the unleaded and say, “Amen.”
djm
I tried it but it’s still cold outside. I must not have believed enough.