Six hurt as tornado hits London

[jpak]

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/12/07/tornado-in-london/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F1%2Fhi%2Fengland%2Flondon%2F6217514.stm

Six people were injured and up to 150 houses were damaged when a tornado swept through several London streets leaving a trail of destruction.

Rooftops were ripped off and cars were badly damaged as the freak weather hit the Kensal Rise area.

One man suffered a serious head injury and five people were treated at the scene for minor injuries and shock.

Fire services have sealed six roads in a zone covering a quarter of a square mile and searched 100 properties.

<more>

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Isn't this unusual weather for Britain?

DUers from across the pond, please enlighten me on this.

[HereSince1628]

3. And how unusual for Britain in December?

[whistle]

2. As a matter of background, just how often does London and the UK

....get hit with tornadoes and hurricane force storms as a rule?

[whistle]

4. Got an answer....

HOT TOPICS - Natural Disasters

Dr. Fujita of Chicago University devised the standard method of measuring tornado intensity. He figured that since Britain has an average of 33 tornadoes every year in an area 38 times smaller than the USA, you’re twice as likely to witness a tornado here.

<from the quiz at> http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/naturaldisasters/hurricanes.shtml

[kestrel91316]

5. Yeah, but I bet most of them are like the "tornados" we get in SoCal........

teeny little F-1s that rip up a couple of carports and fling trash cans around.

Betcha England has never seen an F-5.............