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The International Journal of Meteorology www.ijmet.org Volume 38, number 381 September/October 2013 The South Wales Tornado of 27 October 1913 Phenomenal West Country Thunderstorm of 4 August 1938 Photo Special: USA Storm Chase 2013 Tornadoes in Great Britain and Ireland to 1960: Part 5 To advertise on these pages please email [email protected] Follow us at www.facebook.com/tempesttours TempestToursSCE® "Nature is the place where miracles not only happen, but happen all the time." - Thomas Wolfe Ready for adventure! You're looking at the real deal. The Tempest Tours team of veteran storm chasers have a combined 150 years experience chasing storms. It's in their blood. Some were chasing tornadoes long before Twister was scribbled on a napkin by Michael Crichton. Photo by Marcia Perez. Additional photos by William T. Reid, Martin Lisius and Brian Morganti. BOOK YOUR STORM CHASING ADVENTURE NOW AT WWW.TEMPESTTOURS.COM Tempest Tours, Inc. PO Box 121084 Arlington, Texas 76012 Tel. (817) 274-9313 www.tempesttours.com Member - National Weather Association and National Tour Association. TORRO members receive $100 off any tour (per person). Use code TORRO$100 on your tour registration form. © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY 193 September/October 2013 Vol. 38, No. 381 The International Journal of Meteorology Volume 38 - 2013 Number 381 Email: [email protected] www.ijmet.org ISSN 1748-2992 (since 1975) “An international magazine for everyone interested in weather and climate, and in their influence on the human and physical environment.” 194 © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY September/October 2013 Vol. 38, No. 381 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY This Journal is published by The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO), a privately supported research body serving the international public interest. Editor: Paul Knightley, 18 Fakenham Close, Reading, RG6 4AB, United Kingdom [email protected] NOTES AND GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION Research papers, letters, books and scientific reports for review, news items, conference information, advertising and other communications should be addressed to the Editor in the first instance. Authors should send their contributions initially to [email protected] in UK English. Research papers should commence with a short abstract summarising its content and contain full contact details. Keywords relevant to the paper are also appreciated. A full alphabetical reference list must be included at the end of the paper – there should be no papers within this list that are not quoted in the text or vice versa. References should be referred to in the text by the author’s name and year of publication e.g. Browning et al. (1995). Responsibility for opinions expressed in articles rests with the authors who should obtain copyright permission where necessary. References should not be used to excess. The text should be sent through in MS Word or similar. All figures, diagrams, photos etc must be numbered and supplied as independent graphics files separate to each other and from the text file with no embedded captions. The graphics should also be sent in the highest resolution possible so they are suitable for printing. Please note that for universal citation purposes the recommended abbreviation for the The Journal of Meteorology (ISSN 0307 – 5966) was J. Meteorology, UK. The recommended abbreviation for the International Journal of Meteorology (ISSN 1748 – 2992) is Int. J. Meteorology, UK. All contributors will receive a free copy of the Journal that their work features in. Photographs should also be emailed to [email protected] as digital originals where possible or as high resolution image files (bmp, tiff, jpg etc) digitised at least 300 dpi. Please include as much detail as possible about the photograph(s) e.g. what it features, where and when it was taken, and supply contact details. The International Journal of Meteorology is a non-profit making research periodical. Donations are always gratefully welcomed and go towards supporting our valuable research. Published by Artetech Publishing Company, UK. ISSN 1748-2992 © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY 195 September/October 2013 Vol. 38, No. 381 The International Journal of Meteorology Editor: PAUL KNIGHTLEY, MeteoGroup UK [email protected] September/October 2013, Vol.38, No. 381 INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD Prof. GRAEME D. BUCHAN CONTENTS Lincoln University, NZ. Prof. TIMOTHY P. BURT Uni- versity of Durham. MATT THE SOUTH WALES TORNADO OF 27 OCTOBER 1913 CLARK, TORRO. Dr ROB- PAUL R. BROWN ..........................................................196 ERT A. CROWDER (Formerly) Lincoln College, NZ. Dr ROB- THE PHENOMENAL WEST COUNTRY ERT K DOE (Formerly) Uni- versity of Portsmouth, UK. Prof THUNDERSTORM OF 4 AUGUST 1938 JEAN DESSENS Universite JONATHAN D. C. WEBB...............................................206 Paul Sabatier, Fr. Prof DEREK ELSOM (Formerly) Oxford PHOTO SPECIAL: USA STORM CHASE 2013 Brookes University, UK Prof NATHAN EDWARDS....................................................219 GREGORY FORBES (Former- ly) Penn State University, USA Prof H M HASANEAN Cairo TORNADOES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND TO University, Egypt. Dr KEIRAN 1960: PART 5: YEARS 1901-1930 HICKEY National University of PAUL R. BROWN, G. TERENCE MEADEN Ireland, Galway. Dr LESLEK AND MICHAEL W. ROWE....................................... 226 KOLENDOWICZ Adam Mickie- wicz University of Poznan, Po- land. Dr TERENCE MEADEN, BOOK REVIEW: CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT THE TORRO. Dr PAUL MESSEN- SCIENCE TELLS US GER University of Glamorgan, PETER ROGERS......................................................... 236 UK Dr TEMI OLOGUNORISA Nasarawa State University, Nigeria. Dr ALLEN H.PERRY WEATHER IMAGES: CURIOUS CLOUDS, BOULMER, University College of Swansea, ENGLAND UK. Prof RICHARD E PETER- TIM BURT......................................................................237 SON Texas Tech University, USA. Prof JOHN T SNOW Uni- versity of Oklahoma, USA. Dr GREG SPELLMAN, University Front cover image: © NATHAN EDWARDS. College Northampton, UK. Dr Lightning pierces supercell structure. Arcadia, Nebraska, JOHN TYRRELL University USA, 26 May 2013 College Cork, Ireland. Dr DEN- NIS A WHEELER University of Sunderland, UK Back cover image: © NATHAN EDWARDS. Impressive supercell structure between Beaver, OK and Booker, TX in the Panhandles, USA, 3 June 2013. 196 © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY September/October 2013 Vol. 38, No. 381 THE SOUTH WALES TORNADO OF 27 OCTOBER 1913 BY PAUL R. BROWN Tornado and Storm Research Organisation Abstract: One hundred years ago, on 27 October 1913, a tornado of T7 strength passed through the Taff Valley in Glamorgan. This paper describes the synoptic pattern and the effects of the tornado, using newspaper accounts of the time and an official report compiled later in the Meteorological Office. Other tornadoes of the same day are briefly discussed. INTRODUCTION During the afternoon and evening of Monday 27 October 1913 a thunderstorm (or series of thunderstorms) moved north from Devon through east Wales to Lancashire. In addition to heavy rain and hail, the storm produced eight tornadoes along its track. The first of these, in the Taff Valley of Glamorgan, was later classified at T7 on the International Tornado Intensity Scale, i.e. strongly devastating tornado with wind speeds of 163-185 knots (84-95 m/s), making it one of only two tornadoes to have reached that strength in the British Isles during the twentieth century (the other was in west London on 8 December 1954). Indeed, in the whole TORRO database of tornadoes going back to the eleventh century only eight have been classified at T7 or higher. Five people were killed, more than 100 houses severely damaged, and numerous trees blown down. SOURCES The storm was widely reported in the newspapers of the time. It was also the subject of an official investigation by Mr H. Billett, Professional Assistant in the Meteorological Office, under his immediate superior, Mr R. G. K. Lempfert, Superintendent of Forecasting, and on the authority of the Director, the renowned W. N. (later Sir Napier) Shaw, to whom a request for such investigation had been made by Mr Clement Edwards, Member of Parliament (Liberal Party) for East Glamorganshire. Billett spent three days at the scene of the damage (we do not know the dates of his visit but presumably fairly soon after the event), and his report was published as No.11 in the Meteorological Office’s series of Geophysical Memoirs (Billett, 1914). Details were also published in British Rainfall 1913 and, in relation to the Cheshire portion, the Meteorological Magazine (Hignett, 1914); and much later an account appeared in the Glamorgan Historian (Evans, 1975), based largely on Billett’s report. SYNOPTIC BACKGROUND October 1913 was a changeable month with a predominance of southerly weather types; it was generally mild and thunderstorms were unusually frequent but rainfall was very variable geographically. Figure 1 gives an indication of the synoptic patterns for 0000 and 1200 GMT 26 October, 0000 and 1200 GMT 27 October, and 0000 GMT 28 October. These dates were before the era of modern frontal analysis based on the Polar Front Theory, and the frontal types and positions that we have added have therefore been drawn theoretically © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METEOROLOGY 197 September/October 2013 Vol. 38, No. 381 Figure 1. Tentative 12-hourly synoptic charts from 0000 GMT 26 October 1913 to 0000 GMT 28 October 1913. 198 © THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL