enkidu

If anyone is interested, I have pictures of some of the storm damage
at one of our local reserves at

http://www.cliffp.com/devastation

Cheers,

Cliff

dersu

If I had a web site I could post some of the pictures I took in our garden
this morning. Mu daughter and I had spent around two hours clearing up the
debris from the previous few windy days then we had a mini hurricane about
midday. It only lasted about four or five minutes but I have never seen
anything like it. Visibility dropped to about a couple of hundred yards so
much dust was being blown off the gravel road. Five willow trees blown over,
every pear on the pear trees now on the grass big chunks of the poplars
blown down. I suppose I should be grateful we didn't lose the roof! On the
bright side we have firewood enough for the next two winters it will just
take me a couple of weeks to clear up the mess.

D.

steve

Almost as bad as my garden. :-)

Lost a poplar completely, broke my mapley-thing in half....and completely
uprooted another tree which narrowly missed falling on my chicken coop.

........and I had to spend my entire morning cutting wood up....so I could
fit the debris out through my narrow front gate.

uncle stoatwarbler

That was probably a tornado. They're not always visible as funnels.

tarla

Wow, it really did some damage! The one of the bench with the exposed
foundations was really telling. On the other hand, it looks as though
not everyone hated the results. Your dogs seemed to be having a good
time.
Tarla
****
There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than
a man in the depths of an ether binge.

--Hunter S. Thompson

enkidu

Apparently the bench had been partly reinstated. My daughter said that
it had been lying down the bank earlier.

Dog? I thought it was an otter!

Cheers,

Cliff

enkidu

Yeah, we only had a couple of branches come down in the garden and
lots of twigs on the drive.

Cheers,

Cliff

If it had of been a tornado, it would have done much more damage and
spread it.

I watched last year as a cat. 1 hurricane tore our trees which had
been growing since the mid-80s and had weathered many a storm and a
few previous hurricanes of cat. 2 or more, finally loose major limbs.

The younger trees which had been planted for about a year [and
fortunately were still staked], had been wiped back and forth leaving
big holes around their roots from where the rain washed the soil away.

A couple of years ago, a mini tornado cut a path through the County
whch resulted in one of our trees being upturned.

Tornadoes leave tell tell signs of where they've hit.

People tend to forget that after years of wind and rain, tree roots
take a pounding. Unless they have been able to establish a good
root system at an early age, they can be uprooted more easily.
Sooner or later, especially if they have not been professionally
pruned, all it takes is one storm too many.

The lack of a visible funnel can be related to several processes. Most
likely, the pressure drop and lift in the tornado vortex was too weak
to cool and condense a visible funnel; and/or the air below cloud base
was too dry.

Did the Met Service issue a tornado warning i.e. were atmospheres in
the right balance for one to occur?

Does the Met Service have an emergency forcast band system in
operation?

Come and live where I am.
You will soon knowabout tornados.
Why do you think they put out tornado watches and warnings [both are
different].

A Tornado Watch
means that tornadoes are possible in your area.

A Tornado Warning
means that a tornado has been sighted or indicated by
weather radar and it is time for you to take shelter.

If the sound of "approaching freight train" is heard, individuals
should lie down next to the wall closest to hallways. Individuals
should seek an area away from glass windows or doors.

Once a tornado is HEARD, there is no time to notify personnel or
students.
http://movies.warnerbros.com/twister/cmp/tornadointro.html

Believe me, tornadoes are very dangerous and if for one minute there
was a chance the conditions were such that there was a danger of them
developing, if the Met Service did not issue a warning, then it is
lacking in it's public safety relations dept.

The scary thing is often they are issued at night and THEN you are not
as likely to see one.....

Funnel clouds are tornados that have not touched down. Cath

roger_nickel

Just phoned a roofing firm to get some second hand marsailles pattern
teracotta tiles, they have a backlog of 120 tiled roof repair jobs in
the Wellington area.

enkidu

It's rain that has the major effect. After weeks of rain the ground is
softened and even relatively light gusts will knock a tree over.

Cheers,

Cliff