London had a tornado!!

"Karen" wrote in message
...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ado/index.html

I'm amazed! I didn't think you guys ever got tornados (or at least
really
rarely).

That's what I thought until I heard on the news today, apparently we
have the most tornados for the size of the country in the
world......about 35 per year. Thankfully they are not severe ones.


--
Shirley
http://community.webshots.com/user/shirleycatuk

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 14:05:56 -0600, "Karen"
wrote:


"Matthew" wrote in message
m...

Some place in the world like my hometown have no sirens. we get
tornadoes
every time there is a bad storm :-(


That's insane. Aren't they required to have sirens?

Not that I'm aware of. The town I grew up in would sound the siren
for the volunteer fire department (you can imagine the confusion that
led to), but even then there was only the 1 siren in town.



Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 13:56:50 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:

The tornado
warning siren is right on the corner by my apartment so I shouldn't be
surprised. But by then, if it's coming towards you it's usually too late to
do anything except grab your cat(s) and huddle in a room at the center of
the house. A bathroom is usually best because there are plumbing pipes in
the walls, but only if it's not on an outside wall. Stay away from windows!


Last summer, while I was commuting back and forth from Indianapolis, a
storm followed me south along I-65. (I didn't even realize it until I
got home and looked to the north as I got out of the car) We did
what your typical blase Hoosier does when a storm is heading in your
direction -- stand there in a room that's 3 sides glass walls, looking
at the oncoming storm and watching the funnel cloud the storm has
generated to see if you can tell if it's heading in your direction or
not.

Really, REALLY stupid thing to do, because tornadoes change direction
seemingly on a whim. Then again, members of my family have been known
to go tornado chasing on country roads at night.



Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 14:05:56 -0600, "Karen"
wrote:

That's insane. Aren't they required to have sirens?

No.

--
The night is just the shadow of the Earth.

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 21:01:13 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Karen" wrote in message
m...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ado/index.html

I'm amazed! I didn't think you guys ever got tornados (or at least really
rarely).


Sometimes we do. Surprisingly, around 20 or so years ago my husband's
cousin was killed in one. He might even be the only person to have ever
died in a British tornado.
The tornado happened near the town of Coalville in Leicestershire. I don't
know if there is anything on the web about it. I haven't looked. I can't
remember his first name now - I never knew him - but his surname was the
same as mine.

Patrick Moore's observatory in Selsey was damaged by a tornado in
1998. Tweed might recognize the name from his BBC program.

Bud
--
The night is just the shadow of the Earth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/6217514.stm

That story says the tornado was in the Kensal Rise area of London. I
have 2 web-friends (of the not on RPCA variety) in London. One works
there, but I'm not sure where. The other lives in the Raynes Park
area. I haven't been able to reach either.

Anyone know where Raynes Park is, and if it's anywhere near Kensal
Rise?



Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com

"William Hamblen" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 7 Dec 2006 21:01:13 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Karen" wrote in message
om...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ado/index.html

I'm amazed! I didn't think you guys ever got tornados (or at least
really
rarely).


Sometimes we do. Surprisingly, around 20 or so years ago my husband's
cousin was killed in one. He might even be the only person to have ever
died in a British tornado.
The tornado happened near the town of Coalville in Leicestershire. I
don't
know if there is anything on the web about it. I haven't looked. I can't
remember his first name now - I never knew him - but his surname was the
same as mine.

Patrick Moore's observatory in Selsey was damaged by a tornado in
1998. Tweed might recognize the name from his BBC program.

Yes, I've seen him on TV lots of times. He is very eccentric, (sp?) even
for a Brit. ;-)

Tweed

"Jeanne Hedge" wrote in message
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/6217514.stm

That story says the tornado was in the Kensal Rise area of London. I
have 2 web-friends (of the not on RPCA variety) in London. One works
there, but I'm not sure where. The other lives in the Raynes Park
area. I haven't been able to reach either.

Anyone know where Raynes Park is, and if it's anywhere near Kensal
Rise?


Debbie might be able to help you better than me, I think she lives in
London. I live more than 100 miles from London and haven't a clue. Sorry.

Tweed

"gracecat" wrote in message
...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ado/index.html

I'm amazed! I didn't think you guys ever got tornados (or at least
really rarely).

Nor did we! Although, there are sometimes little ones that take
someone's roof off occasionally. But this area has never ever had
one!

Deb.

Wow, that's amazing! As someone who is fairly used to (like you can
ever
get used to!) tornados, they often take you buy surprise. The
tornado
warning siren is right on the corner by my apartment so I shouldn't
be
surprised. But by then, if it's coming towards you it's usually too
late
to
do anything except grab your cat(s) and huddle in a room at the
center
of
the house. A bathroom is usually best because there are plumbing
pipes
in
the walls, but only if it's not on an outside wall. Stay away from
windows!

Jill

Some place in the world like my hometown have no sirens. we get
tornadoes
every time there is a bad storm :-(


That's insane. Aren't they required to have sirens?

They have emergency broadcast system that broadcast all frequencies TV
and radio plus the weather alerts radios. The cell phone carriers also
has a call back alert to dial your phone in case of a problem like that.

I am sure their are sirens but in all the years I have lived hear and had
tornadoes within sight of my house never heard or seen a siren.


Don't feel bad Mathew. We don't have them here either and whenever we have
a huge thunderstorm, there are usually tornadoes out and about. But the
destruction isn't as vast as in other places. The only people that seem to
suffer are trailer parks. We're densely wooded though so that could be a
reason why.

To my knowledge, no. sirens are not required by law.
Grace


Sorry, I wasn't going to say it, but the first thing to cross my mind when I
read "London had a tornado" was I didn't know London had trailer parks.

There just seems to be some sort of affinity between trailer parks and
tornados. Above and beyond the fact that they can do so much damage in one.
Its like they are attracted to small metal buildings lined up in neat rows.

We've had maybe three tornados in this area in the last twenty years. Small
very localized ones. But one of those took our a trailer park too.

Jo

Karen wrote:
"Matthew" wrote in message
...

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Debbie Wilson wrote:
Karen wrote:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ado/index.html

I'm amazed! I didn't think you guys ever got tornados (or at least
really rarely).

Nor did we! Although, there are sometimes little ones that take
someone's roof off occasionally. But this area has never ever had one!

Deb.

Wow, that's amazing! As someone who is fairly used to (like you can
ever
get used to!) tornados, they often take you buy surprise. The tornado
warning siren is right on the corner by my apartment so I shouldn't be
surprised. But by then, if it's coming towards you it's usually too
late
to
do anything except grab your cat(s) and huddle in a room at the center
of
the house. A bathroom is usually best because there are plumbing pipes
in
the walls, but only if it's not on an outside wall. Stay away from
windows!

Jill

Some place in the world like my hometown have no sirens. we get
tornadoes
every time there is a bad storm :-(


That's insane. Aren't they required to have sirens?

I was thinking about that the other day. We have extremely
sophisticated weather tracking equipment and a fleet of tornado
spotters that work the field in addition to the Moar, Dopplers, etc. A
tornado never sneaks up on anyone here. You have plenty of warning
whether or not you're likely to be in the path.
I was smack in the middle of an F5 (winds up to 360mph; the London
tornado was an F3, winds up to 160) in May of 1999. The houses right
behind ours were gone. 3500 homes gone total. Flat gone. Nothing left
but the foundations. Weirdest thing was, a framed photograph hanging in
our neighborhood elementary school was found 200 miles away. Tornados
do really weird stuff.
Anyway, back to the point. We had TWO HOURS warning because of all the
technology and readiness. But When it SNOWS here, we are screwed. We
don't have hardly any snowplows, and they never have enough salt or
sand. They just do what they can.

I think it depends on what your state deals with the most, and that's
where the money is spent. I can honestly say tornadoes don't freak me
out though. I am less scared now of the weather than I was before then,
because now I know that you're either in the path, or you're not, and
you're going to know the difference if you just pay attention.

Sherry