The Birmingham Tornado, one year on by Laura Gilchrist
Friday 28th July marks the first anniversary of the Birmingham (UK) Tornado. One year on, experts are examining the event which damaged over 600 homes across four suburbs.
With winds estimated to be around 140 mph (225 km/h), the tornado wreaked havoc along a path that measured 7 miles (12 kilometres) long and, in places, over 540 yards (500 metres) wide. Some homes in the worst-hit residential streets in the Balsall Heath area are still uninhabitable. Nearly every roof in Birchwood Road and adjoining Alder Road was torn off, and part of Alder Road remains closed while repairs are completed.
On the day the tornado struck, the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) had issued an experimental weather forecast highlighting the risk of tornado development across the Midlands that afternoon. Other tornadoes also affected parts of Peterborough, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire later on that afternoon. A year later, TORRO’s experts have thoroughly examined the day’s events and are presenting their findings at a public conference on Saturday 29th July.
The conference aims to examine how the tornado formed, why it caused so much damage, and how unusual it was. The climatology of tornadoes for the UK as a whole will also be presented; the country is number one in the world for the average number of observed tornadoes per unit of land area.
|
|
