July 2015

Ten years ago this month on 28th

July 2005 shortly after 1:30pm a tornado struck

Birmingham causing extensive damage.

• Damage estimated at £40million.

• Rated T5/6i making it the strongest tornado since 1954. It hasn’t been equalled since.

• Track length of 11.7km from Kings Heath to Erdington.ii

• Maximum track width of 500m.

• There were a total of six tornadoes on this day as well as a supercell in

Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire.iii

• Birmingham also had a weaker tornado (T2/3) on 12th

October 2005. The most recent

tornado to hit Birmingham was on 24th

May 2014 rated T1.

28th

July 2005 tornadoes. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right

2015

• There are an average of 36.5 tornadoes each year in the UK (47.2 if waterspouts are

included).iv

• Tornadoes occur all year round with a peak in August.

• Tornadoes occur right across the UK but are most common in eastern and southern England.

A comprehensive review of extreme weather in the UK and Ireland by TORRO will be published in a

new book in October 2015. See http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-

1118949951.html for more details.

Tornado and Storm Research Organisation

http://www.torro.org.uk

i http://www.torro.org.uk/site/tscale.php ii Kirk PJ. 2006.A Mammoth Task: The Site Investigation After the Birmingham Tornado 28 July 2005. Int. J.

Meteorology, 31: 255-260 iii Knightley P. 2006.Tornadogenesis Across England on 28 July 2005. Int. J. Meteorology, 31: 243-254

iv Kirk PJ. 2014. An Updated Tornado Climatology for the United Kingdom – 1981-2010. Weather, 69: 171-175

http://www.metlink.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/wea2247.pdf

Top right photo © Ian Dunsford, Birmingham City Council