TORRO: Tornado and Storm Research Organisation.
I have recently become Secretary and Archivist of this organisation which specifies in researching weather and climate in the UK. I am also a registered Site Investigator for the organisation whereby I have to go to the area and decide what damage has occurred and whether it was a tornado by asking eye witnesses what they heard, saw and to collect times and exact data as to where the funnel touched the ground and where it dissipated. Then this gets written into a report which goes together with all other research to help us all understand these unbelievable occurrences more and hopefully predict them in the future to help save lives.
Become a member of TORRO and improve the future for generations by data collecting, researching and predicting severe weather in the UK - www.torro.org.uk
Although the tornadoes in this country are far less severe than those in the USA, we do in fact have more tornadoes per square mile than any other country in the world. A lot go un noticed and many are so slight that hardly any damage occurs.
On New Years Day 2005 a tornado swept through Altrincham and Lymm near Warrington. Unfortunately this tornado was quite large measuring about an F2 on the fujita scale and a T4-5 on the T- scale and uprooted a 100 year old oak tree which fell on a young boy and killed him. We must continue our research into severe weather to help prevent this happening. A lot is still unknown about tornadoes, they can happen anywhere any time, any size and can last for any length of time. A recipe for disaster.
This particular tornado also lifted a commercial sized greenhouse into the air and deposited it 8 feet away from its original place and completely demolished it. Many eye witnesses saw the funnel and said they heard a noise like a jet flying over, some thought it was Concorde. Some houses were very badly damaged and some families had to move house whilst their own houses were repaired.
This size tornado is quite
unprecedented for our country and we are expected to get more. I feel people
should be made aware of the devastation these monsters cause and I feel everyone
should all get a guideline of what to do should a tornado strike in your area.
Even though we won't suffer like those in Oklahoma and oth
er areas of the US it
would still be useful over here and could help save lives.
Check out Journal Of Meteorology at your library for a full rundown of ALL known tornadoes in the UK published up until 2002. The International Journal of Meteorology hopes to re-begin this data publishing from September 2006.
REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO TORRO www.torro.org.uk/reports
Recent Tornado Site Investigations:
Middleton, Manchester - 9th April, 2006 (T1 intensity)