Tornado injures 12 in Birmingham (UK)

[ps1074]

Nineteen people have been injured - three seriously - as a tornado ripped through the streets of Birmingham.

The sudden storm damaged buildings, uprooted trees and trapped people in their homes. The Met Office estimates the wind speed may have reached 130mph.

One sq km of damage was caused in Kings Heath, with "hundreds" of properties affected, council officials said.

Emergency services are using dogs and specialist equipment to see if anyone has been trapped in damaged buildings.

<snip>

A Met Office spokesperson said: "From the reports we have heard we would estimate that this is a tornado with a rating of T3-T4, that would mean it had wind speeds of between 93-114 mph for T3 and 114-130 for T4.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/4725279.stm

[msongs]

1. extremely rare in the UK...global warming anyone? eom

[AlGore-08.com]

2. There is no global warming! Commander Bunnypants says so!!

Now buy more gasoline for your SUV, d*mnit!!

[redqueen]

3. I don't think I've ever heard of one there before.

Wow... hope all the Birmingham DUers are okay. Those things are frightening...

Hope the injured get better soon.

[Julius Civitatus]

7. Never heard of this before in my life

I've lived in England and other European countries. Tornadoes are not common there at all, actually quite an oddity. Europe is squarely placed in a temperate weather region, equidistant from the tropics and the North Pole. It just doesn't have the weather requirements for the formation of tornadoes... until now.

This year alone I've heard of tornadoes in England and Southern Spain. This is very bizarre, maybe indicative of how global warming is changing the climatic patterns in the world.

[shanti]

9. we had two in sacramento this year

and they were unheard of before around here. :shrug:

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Not completely unheard of, but rare, yes...

Sacramento County Tornadoes

OCT 26, 1921 001 1445 0 0 F2 067
FEB 07, 1978 002 1326 0 0 F2 067
MAR 22, 1983 005 1410 0 0 F1 067
APR 19, 1988 005 1358 0 0 F1 067
MAR 23, 1995 002 1630 0 0 F0 067

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/catorn.htm#S

On Edit:

And here are some statistics re: dead/injured for some of the CA tornadoes (including, but not limited to Sacramento County)

<snip from site>:
CALIFORNIA: Tornadoes causing five or more injuries before 1953; three or more injuries after and including 1953


OCT 26, 1921 2:45 pm 0 dead 5 injured
About 35 homes were damaged in southeast Sacramento.

APR 6, 1926 0:05 AM 0 dead 8 injured
A waterspout came ashore and unroofed homes at National City, near San Diego.

MAR 15, 1930 11:40 AM 0 dead 7 injured
About 150 homes had roof damage in Hawthorne, Lawndale, and Lennox; all injuries were at a factory.

FEB 12, 1936 3:30 pm 0 dead 6 injured
Two homes were unroofed and five oil derricks were blown down at Long Beach, Los Angeles County.

JAN 11, 1951 8:17 AM 0 dead 30 injured
About 150 homes were hit at Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County. in the third most damaging US tornado of the year.

NOV 7, 1966 12:40 pm 0 dead 10 injured
Homes were damaged or unroofed at Lawndale, Hawthorne, Lennox, and Englewood, Los Angeles Co.

MAR 16, 1977 6:30 pm 0 dead 4 injured
A tornado skipped from Fullerton to Brea, Orange county; 80 homes had some damage.

MAR 1, 1983 7:40 AM 0 dead 30 injured
Fifty homes were damaged in south-central Los Angeles.

SEP 30, 1983 10:35 pm 0 dead 3 injured
Eight homes were unroofed and sixty were damaged at Hawthorne, Los Angeles County.

DEC 17, 1992 2:20 pm 0 dead 4 injured
Fifty three homes were damaged at Oroville, Butte County.

DEC 17, 1992 2:20 pm 0 dead 4 injured
At Oroville, Butte County, 53 homes and two apartment complexes were damaged.

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/worstts.htm#CA

[phantom power]

6. The second this year.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Wow! I didn't know y'all had tornadoes in the UK!

How common is this? I don't suppose you have warning systems like we do here in the states.

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. Here's UK info on frequency of tornadoes

Average is 33/year.
<snip>
4 How often do tornadoes occur in the United Kingdom?
On average, 33 tornadoes are reported each year in the United Kingdom. This average is based on a 30 year period, though in reality the actual yearly figures may vary dramatically from year to year.

Site:
http://www.torro.org.uk/severeweather/tornadofaqs.htm

[AlCzervik]

5. I have never heard of a tornado in the UK before, has that happened

before? The global weather patterns are really freaking me out lately.

[Wish Upon A Star]

8. Terrible.

How awful!

[deminks]

10. As a Kansan, T3 or T4 is a powerful

tornado, enough to cause major damage to structures. T5 are the kind that blow a house away with just splinters left behind, that is the highest rank on the Fujita scale. I pray that everyone is found and is ok. Amazing. I have been through a couple myself. Very rare.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. Damn Bin Laden weather machine!

In related news, Birmingham police have been given orders to shoot any cyclones on sight. Brooklyn Cyclones first baseman Nick Evans was appaerntly shot in the leg by Birmingham police who mistook him for a cyclone, y'know, like the tornado, not the baseball team, innit?

Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again ?
The Leeds side-streets that you slip down
I wonder to myself
Hopes may rise on the Grasmere
But Honey Pie, you're not safe here
So you run down
To the safety of the town
But there's Panic on the streets of Carlisle
Dublin, Dundee, Humberside
I wonder to myself

Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play

On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down
Provincial towns you jog 'round
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
HANG THE DJ, HANG THE DJ
Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ
HANG THE DJ

[Eurobabe]

12. Freaking weird, sounds like Day After Tomorrow shit!

I watched a program on Discovery about melting polar ice changing the salinity of the ocean and changing the currents, we all better hope that doesn't happen!

Have you hugged a Hummer driver today?

[HeeBGBz]

15. I didn't think tornados occured in England

I guess they can happen anywhere, but this is freakish.