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BACK TO WEATHER-BLOG MENU New! Fine Art Prints & digital images for sale- Welsh Weather & Dyfi Valley landscapes Slide-Library - Click HERE ON ME I'm in my early 40's and I'm a consultant geologist based in Machynlleth in the middle of Wales. I've always had a fascination for the natural world and in the early 1990s I became interested in landscape photography. At some point this morphed into a passion for weather photography and by 2000 I was regularly heading out on the road armed with camera if severe weather, especially of the thundery type, was approaching. In more recent years this interest has seen me become a Director of the UK-based Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO). TORRO both forecasts and investigates severe weather outbreaks here in the UK, an increasingly important role in these dark days of climate change (see below!). After getting into web design a few years ago the site followed - www.geologywales.co.uk/storms - which is dedicated to all aspects of Welsh weather, especially the severe stuff! MEDIA WORK 2003: Working with Nia Dryhurst of Green Bay Media we filmed an intense Atlantic storm making landfall on the Welsh coast for Derek Brockway's series Welsh Weather (BBC Wales). 2003-5: Several radio interviews plus (non weather related) contribution to the BBC TV series A Picture of Britain (involving teaching David Dimbleby to pan for gold!). 2006: Appearance on BBC1's Countryfile, with Jo Brand, launching their annual photography competition - the theme this year being weather - as the provider of various "top tips" and bits of ad-libbed fun with Jo! ON STORM-CHASING Storm-chasing, which has been a popular activity in the USA for decades, is catching on over here in the UK, although at present there are no more than a few dozen of us, out of which maybe 15 or so are really dedicated to the activity. It involves careful forecasting of weather events likely to be spectacular and then intercepting them. In order to do this you need a few more things than a driving licence! Internet access to weather data (essential) is covered below. You need good navigational skills (take lots of OS maps!) and good road-sense. Ideally you need to know the location of all good vantage-points in your area - where you can pull off the road safely and without causing a hazard or obstruction to others. You may find yourself driving in severe weather (I reckon a hail-coated road constitutes some of the most dangerous driving conditions you can meet), and you must be aware of the likelihood that you will meet drivers unaccustomed to such conditions. Understand the principles of lightning safety. There is plenty of freely-available information on this on the web - so go and look it up! If it is striking in your area stay in your car. Finally a good camera and plenty of spare film/smart cards is an essential in case one of those "special events" crops up! A FEW USEFUL TORNADO FACTS A tornado is a violently-rotating column of air which has descended from the clouds overhead and is in contact with the ground. A funnel-cloud is a violently-rotating column of air that has not touched the ground, although if it does it is immediately reclassified as a tornado. The windspeeds within UK tornadoes are commonly in the 70-100mph range but may be 150mph or more and it is these strong tornadoes that are potentially capable of significant destruction to life and property. Tornadoes are primarily associated with thunderstorm clouds and with active weather-fronts and can occur at any time of the year. Tornadoes are not as rare in the UK as you might think. However, generally they are less violent than those that occur in the Great Plains of the USA (so-called Tornado Alley). Not that is is always the case, however. A violent tornado which tracked up a valley in South Wales in October 1913 killed three people and injured scores more with property damage equivalent to millions of pounds by today's standards. The largest tornado outbreak that has been recorded in Britain is also the largest tornado outbreak known anywhere in Europe, and it happened on November 21, 1981. On that single day, a staggering 105 tornadoes touched down in just five and a quarter hours! Almost every county in a triangular area from Gwynedd to Humberside to Essex was hit by at least one tornado, while Norfolk was hit by at least 13. Luckily, most of the tornadoes were short-lived and also weak (the strongest was around T5 on the TORRO Tornado Scale) and no deaths occurred. UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER To consistently get results, you need to be able to access, and properly understand, weather data. This means being able to forecast and then to modify the forecast as real-time data rolls in. Thankfully the Internet has made this much easier. The data can be accessed online and there are a number of web forums where its implications are discussed, such as UK Weatherworld. See my links page to access lots of useful weather forecasting and discussion sites. ON MANMADE GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE: People ask me about this often. The problem is that, like it or not, we have modified the composition of our atmosphere. Now we need to better understand what such manmade modifications are doing and will do to our climate, which works along many natural cycles, some of which we understand well and others only a little. In terms of preparation (research leading on to policy), it all boils down to three potential outcomes which are: 1) If we have prepared for radical climate change and it doesn't happen, the preparation will be seen to have been a major waste of money. 2) If we have prepared for radical climate change and it does happen, the preparation will be seen to have been the most important policy decision and investment of all time. 3) If radical climate change happens and we are not prepared, then heaven help many of us. I'd rather risk the money on the research/preparation personally. If it carries on just fine, let the auditors criticise! AND FINALLY...... Enjoy the rest of the site!! |
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