Met Office - "Not A Typical Winter Event" As Hurricane-Force Winds, Small Tornado Hit England

[hatrack]

Hurricane force winds ripped through Britain causing catastrophic devastation in one of the worst storms for 10 years. Lethal winds gusting over 100 mph battered the coast, whipping up freak waves which crashed over harbour barriers, sweeping a man to his death and sinking several boats.

In dramatic scenes, 12,000 homes were plunged into darkness by power cuts, whilst parts of the South were flooded by torrential rain. In Gloucestershire, a mini tornado sucked tiles from roofs, tore windows from their frames and blasted trees onto power cables.

But whilst emergency services were struggling to deal with the scale of the damage last night, forecasters warned that a second onslaught was on its way overnight. Britain remains on severe weather warning alert with a risk of further structural damage and localised flooding tonight, according to experts.

Met Office forecaster Nick Ricketts said: "This is not a typical winter event. It is very unusual for us to see this strength of wind. We haven't seen anything like it for a good number of years. "This is a once in five or 10 year event. It's one of the worst storms for 10 years."

EDIT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=420219&in_page_id=1770

[BushOut06]

1. Get used to it

As global warming continues, Britain and Northern Europe are going to be in for some very nasty weather.

[Target_For_Exterm]

2. Doesn't worst case global warming put a big chunk of

England under water?

[aquart]

3. England, Manhattan....oh, yeah.

[BushOut06]

4. I thought it would be a deep freeze

Britian and North Europe would look much like Greenland and Siberia. As the Gulf Stream shuts down, those areas would be deprived of the warm water and air that the current provides.

That is an interesting question, though - which would hit first, rising water levels or the deep freeze?

[Odin2005]

5. Tornadoes? In Britain?

:wow: