UK's costliest tornado in Birmingham 20 years on
What made this tornado unique?
Tornadoes are rapidly rotating columns of air that form beneath thunderclouds and stretch down to the Earth's surface. Most are small, weak, don't last long and don't cause much damage. The Birmingham tornado, however, was different - it was a very violent storm that we rarely see in the UK.The record breaking twister touched down to the south of the city in King's Heath and travelled north-eastwards across Wake Green, Moseley, Balsall Heath, Sparkhill and on towards Erdington. It's not just the strength and wreckage caused by the Birmingham tornado that makes it very unusual for the UK, but also its size, growing to 500m wide at its largest point.
England's tornado world record
The UK has around 30 tornadoes each year whilst the USA reports more than 1,200 on average over the same period. However, according to Guinness World Records, external England has the greatest density of tornadoes of any country. This is based on research by the University of Manchester which discovered that between 1980 and 2012 England had 2.2 tornadoes per 10,000km² (3861miles²). This compares to a figure of 1.3 for the USA.
Size matters
The reason behind this is simply that the USA is a vast country, 75 times bigger than England. It has large areas that seldom ever see tornadoes and it is this sheer size that acts to dilutes their density. Also tornadoes are only reported if they're actually seen by someone - this means population density is important too, and England has a high population density, with lots of eyes on the sky. In contrast the infamous 'Tornado Alley' in the US has a low population so it is likely that many tornadoes here go unseen and therefore unreported.If the US state of Kansas were a country, it would have a tornado density of 4.5 per 10,000km² which is more than double the figure for England. The smallest country in the world is Vatican City - if there were ever to be a tornado recorded here, then that one storm would catapult it to the top of the tornado density league. So tornado density statistics can say about as much about the size of a country, as they tell us about the likelihood of seeing a twister. Tornado crosses M25 and shocks drivers
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